Reclaiming my Calendar - Tools and Results
I'm trying new methods to trim busywork, and prioritize my main goals. Here's how it's been going, and the tools I'm using.
Background
I met with a friend in NOLA not long ago. She told me how she'd started prioritizing her calendar based on her main goal of finding a beta tester for her startup.
On a practical level, this looked saying no to meetings, events, and opportunities that distracted her from this goal.
I realized that a lot of what I'm doing as a founder is busywork, and I wanted to change that. But how?
Goals
Rather than a vague metric (move closer to my MVP or first customer every day), I'm opting for concrete metrics. Here is what I decided on for the first week:
Use a habit planning tool
Every day, I want to spend focused time coding, reading, and writing. The first is to move me towards an MVP every day. The others are for personal development, becoming a more thorough and consistent thinker, and becoming a better communicator.
Use a calendar planning tool
I wanted my calendar to be the source of truth for how my time is spent. If I do something spontaneously, I want to pop it on my calendar for data tracking purposes. If I miss a habit, I want to record that, for accountability.
Prioritizing
I want to have a todo list. But I don't want to be swamped by tasks that are merely urgent, but unimportant. I currently use todoist for todos. But it doesn't help me when I'm trying to go after tasks that are important, but not urgent.
Tools
Reclaim.ai
I decided to opt for Reclaim.ai, because it has a free tier, and handles my habit and calendar goals. It also integrates really well with Google Calendar. It also has some bonuses, like good stat tracking, smart 1:1 meetings, and auto-scheduling habits and tasks.
Todoist
There isn't a lot to say here. I'm not blown away by todoist. But it is reasonably intuitive, and serves to track a list of items, as well as timelines for each item.
Baller Todo
Baller Todo is an indie project that I've fallen in love with. Its UI is clunky. Its colors are ugly. But it works.
Workflow
- Items land in my todoist inbox. I set them to appear whenever they become relevant.
- I move them to Baller Todo, and remove them from todoist.
- I add them as tasks to Reclaim.ai. Once complete, I remove them from Baller.
Review
So far, this new workflow has been really good for my productivity.
I've consistently missed meditation. But everything else has been significantly improved since I've started using Reclaim. My new habits are slowly solidifying.
I don't have stats on what my deep work time was pre Reclaim, but it's up a lot. Being intentional about this has helped me make progress on important tasks much faster than I previously was moving.
Wrapup and tool list
This workflow is a big improvement over my previous set of tools and processes.
Tools Shortlist (Not an #ad. I just like these.)
Reclaim.ai
Baller Todo
Todoist
Let me know what you think. :)