How to Get More Done and Waste Less Time 

I think many of us are experts at being busy but not necessarily productive lol

What I found very useful is to schedule my day the night before and block social media until 8PM. It makes me feel disciplined and achieve way more stuff than before.

Dude, you look so much happier, healthier as well as relaxed. Keep up the hustle. I do really appreciate your work.

My therapist taught me this method 2 years ago and I forgot it. Now I need it so badly, and you just uploaded this video. Magic.

I have to pee urgently, but my math test is more important, so I delegated the task to my little brother who kindly went pee for me.

I'm about to start trying this method out. With someone who struggles with terrible ADHD, I'm fully capable of sitting down and making a to-do list...but actually putting them into action and physically staying on track throughout the day without getting distracted or pulled into doing something else is the hardest most frustrating part.

I use the Eisenhower Matrix when I assign priorities in Todoist: Red flag = Urgent and important; Orange flag = Important but not urgent; Blue flag = Urgent but not important; Transparent flag = Neither urgent or important.

You’re the only “content creator”, whose sponsorship ads are genuinely convincing.

One strategy I use is setting goals at the beginning of the day. The sense of accomplishment is priceless, when I finish them all. Of course, you need to be realistic when setting the goals.

I learned this concept of focusing on what's *_IMPORTANT & NOT URGENT_* when you have the time to do so. It's a powerful way to spend your time productively

Thanks for the video. As someone who is trying to get back into school, trying to play guitar each and every day, read, lose weight, and be a better man in general, I really like all the productivity videos you upload. Admittedly, I get easily distracted by my phone and social media and I never want to do any of the things that a better suited for my time. Having a structured plan for my day might help me. I never planned out my day or anything so this will be a brand new experience for me. Thanks again!

I first learnt about this in Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It has helped me so much. Great video Thomas 👏

*Learn the difference between important and URGENT* Makes life 10x easier

My second year of college starts on Monday. I'm gonna watch your videos again and this time, I'll try to implement your tips more effectively

*_Those Skillshare transitions_* are as smooth as ever thomas

I really appreciate how you put a lot of effort & work into your videos to produce such unique content!

I wake up with 20 different things in the *DO* box, just end up pushing through quickly, you eventually get so good that it becomes second nature.

I've taught this method to people working in bars / clubs too. If it's a hectic night it can be super helpful to identify which things need to go first. The difference between important and unimportant urgent tasks is a particularly sneaky one. By the way, a tool that can help you with identifying which box things go in it asking yourself the question "Do I need to do this now?" in different ways - Do * I * need to do this now? (questioning whether you can delegate) - Do I need to do this * now * ? (questioning urgency) - Do I need to do * this * now? (same)

Thank you for all your videos. If it wasn’t for you, i would have quit 100 times. Starting out as a small youtuber is a pain in the a**. The way you give so much information in every single video makes me wanna read and search more. Anddd... “The faster you Learn, the faster your Earn.”

As a normal student without the biggest financial means or my own company, I see no use in the delegation/autamation. What I see as a chore is already automated if I can, and I can't afford something like a cleaner or the like. Maybe this method is not the greatest for the majority of us? Furthermore, if it is neither important nor urgent it is seldom on my to-do list. I don't write "Browse reddit for 2 hours" on my list, and when it happens I am aware that it happens and that it shouldn't be. It feels like no use writing it in the "delete" section. Good video none the less.

First, great video Thomas! Second, sorry for my English writing (I'm still learning). But let's dive into some of my comments. I get the usefulness of this method. Still, I think that David Allen's advice on how to prioritize is essencial for this discussion: first, you need to create and maintain an inventory of all things you want, ought, should, have to accomplish which includes your actions/tasks, projects, goals, areas of focus, etc. If you don't have any of these, you can't actually decide if something is (not) important or urgent. Then, Thomas touches on the discussion that when using this method you should sometimes ask you "why" you're doing things that you could be getting rid of in the first place (which is a real good tip). But again you need to capture and clarify these thoughts first -- you need to list them. Essentially, you will always be feeling that things are important plus urgent because you are not dealing with everything you actually need to tackle but just with those things that are on the top of your mind (and probably they are urgent rather than important). As David says, you don't manage priorities, you have *them* -- and they can change in the blink of an eye. At the end of day, my advice is that you need to reflect on the all the things that pop up in your life in a regular basis to guarantee you are actually doing the meaningful stuff. Thanks!

WOW!!! His work ethic was magnificent! Love it!!! Especially seeing as how I have soo many things I want to accomplish. Thank you for this

Big fan Thomas..U changed my life to big extent🔥💓

I only have RU-vid. I deleted my Facebook and Instagram accounts.. in RU-vid l actually learn something every time with your videos.

Hello! Thanks to your video I did my work and passed the session, thanks a lot Thomas :) You always charge me with motivation and useful information. Greetings from Belarus :D

I would like to see a video on how to get buy-in on this from partners, spouse, kids, etc. who don't have naturally that personality type to value the GTD/ productivity/ goal-setting approach. Great content!

One of your best videos so far, thanks for all the knowledge!

Finished school last semester but still am subscribed and love to keep up with new content from Thomas!

Thank you! I am working in a fine dining restaurant as a Front Desk, it is so difficult to manage all the tasks. Thank you! Its like a much more defined of big rocks first then small rocks last.

Big problem I have is that I'm retired (I know-poor baby) but *NOTHING* is urgent and there is very little that is important. That leaves *a lot* of time for zonning out.

Working in corporate, everything is both important and urgent

Your videos make me wanna do more and more. Thank you Thomas 🤓

interesting point you bring up about the camera angle thing. What strikes me is the idea of less is more or taking away produces more. wont always be the case but a nice observation you made none the less.

Love when your videos come out. Always take a break to watch

I posted a video on the Eisenhower method this week to. I like yours a lot better. I’m going to include a link to this video on the end screen. Great vid! 👍🏻

This is a fantastic video Thomas, thank you

I still think that social media can be useful for rising personal brand awareness, up to you to decide how much time you want to invest in it

Back here to gain more ideas on using this technique, your examples were really helpful!

Thank you for this video! Not only did I learn more about President Eisenhower, but how to tackle my HUGE To-Do list! Thanks so much!

It's the like the four quadrants from the 7 habits of highly effective people and it's actually very useful in managing the "not urgent but important" box.

Can you plz make a video on Habit Tracking and Goal Tracking methods

Changing the oil takes me about 25 minutes, personally. Get to be hands on and productive and gives one a sense of accomplishment. Only have to do it once or twice a year. I also spend about half less.

FULL RANGE OF MOTION ON PULL UPS THOMAS! But seriously, thanks for the wonderful content and tips, going for my PhD applications now and getting back in the skill set of school is easier with your videos.

Many people have talked about this. But after watching your video I will finally be able to use it. Thankssss.

Great video. I often have trouble being decisive, and this is a real, tangible thing I can use to fix that problem day-to-day.

Dude how do you light that setting so good. It looks like evening but still is lit very well.

4 hour work week book is a good read. Thats where I first learn about delegating.

1950 : spend time and save money 2020 : spend money and save time

Not the first time I’ve seen material but I hadn’t heard it called this before. Excellent explanation. I would like your take on determining what’s important in more detail.

A quick note about oil changes and automotive maintenance. I do a lot of work on my vehicles myself. Most people don't want to or know how to do this which is fine. My number one advice is to find a shop that you TRUST and has proven to be reliable and doesn't run scams. This does not always mean the dealership either. Case in point: I bought a used car from a Ford dealership and they offered me 1 free oil change. When it came time to change the oil, I was in the middle of moving and decided to take them up on it. A few weeks ago my sister in law(who now has the car) took it in for an oil change at the shop they always use and the drain plug had been overtightened so hard it stripped the threads of the oil pan. They were able to patch it, but the next time the oil is changed, I am going to have to replace the pan. I can't say for sure if the dealership did this on purpose or their technician was just incompetent, but the point is that I now have an extra expense and work to do all because I decided to trust a shop that I had not vetted.

This is great to remind yourself of as often as needed

While delegating/automating a task -- such as dishes -- is a good idea, sometimes I use that time of mindless task to solve mental problems. I have found the solution to my website design issues while folding laundry, washing dishes or raking the yard. However, I can't justify watching TV of surfing the web when there's other work to be done.

I think I will find Matrix very helpful, however I have watched it 3 times... a bit of Important/Not Urgent, but getting started RIGHT NOW. Thanks

Very nice video, Tom! If am not wrong saw that table on "7 habits of highly effective people".

Super helpful man

The Eisenhower Matrix worked because a letter size sheet of paper could be quartered and fit in the pocket of a man's dress shirt. The plan was handy, useful and garbage-free. The system I would use was a Basic Week Plan with certain tasks dedicated to a certain day of the week. I had 3 days, a cleaning day, grocery day and desk day. I needed these days to run my house. This tells you what is important for each day. If you have a yard day, that keeps you from running out to mow the lawn only to find the battery for the mower needs charging. With a Basic Week Plan you can stay in control of routine tasks of your life. And you can tell people I do errands on Wednesday and bake on Saturday, etc. Then they get used to YOUR routine when they want YOU to do something.

Omg this is such a good video. Sending this video to my friend and saving it for myself.

AMEN! to posting on IG being a waste of time! And de-stressing!

High quality content as usual! Time and life management is hard work! No shortcuts and magic pill :/

Are you able to do a video focused on active learning and mostly summary writing

Your podcast table should be an arc or triangle shape in order for you and your guest/s be facing tilted to the camera like having 60-70 degree angle so that the viewer can also see the other side of the your and your guest's face often, 'cause i think it's more viewer friendly in my suggested way than just like a face usually seen on a coin.

Hi Tom, I just wanted to say thank you because I enjoy your e-mail subscription and really find it useful, won't be cancelling any time soon!

I really enjoy watching these videos. Keep up the great work!

I’m sorry i know it’s a pretty serious topic but when you fell off the bed that’s where i got my inspiration to do this.

Hey thank you so much. This helps me a lot to set my priorities! :)

Sometimes I feel the urgent need to play my ukulele or kiss my cat 50 times. I think my judgment is too far off to use this matrix.

Very well spoken

1. | 2. Important | Important Urgant | Not Urgant ---------------- 3. | 4. Not Important | Not Important Urgant | Not Urgant ---------------- 1 - Do | 2 - Decide | 3 - Delegate | 4 - Delete ----------------- ----------------- “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.” ------------------ seldom - (adverb) not often; rarely. "Islay is seldom visited by tourists" ---- not common; infrequent. "a great but seldom pleasure" ------------

Thanks a lot for your book! It`s really awesome and helpful!

i liked this video it got rid of some of my anxiety it helped me come up with a plan

Used to use this, but it pushed me away from some of my hobbies, which were not urgent and were relatively less important than eg doing that extra school project, so be careful to have an extra list of all of those things that are neither urgent nor important, but make life good

your videos are intuitive i love them

I like the editor. He charismatic

Thanks! Added to „watch later“

Just in time. Thanks

This guy just made the Matrix so much more relatable. Thank you for this

Hello! I love your content and I binge watched all of it XD I was wondering why you don't switch from the 16:9 to the new 2:1 aspect ratio. I think it would be better since people who have newer phones generally crop zoom in and there is maybe content lost . Continue to make awesome videos🥵☺️

Let me know if the following works: Urgent/Productive-Urgent/NotProductive-Productive/NotUrgent-Not Urgent/Not Productive (Anything related to bodily/mental skill acquisition, hence internally productive, which already has mental/physical exercise basics available) Important(40-100%)-Less important(20-40%/often more than 40% important)-Not important(0-20%) I have a feeling the detailing will be rather concrete, and provide finality, at least for me.

At 6:18 yes, just like John Wick movie and what Jackie Chen say about, wide angle see all actions in sequence.

As always you do great Thank you so much for these beneficial videos💙💙💙💙💙💙

Hi sir thanks for the video, in the podcast example using multicam option in premiere lets you choose with cam you are looking very fast, no need to sync individually

thank you, i found that this is very useful and your content is really great❤️

This is so interesting! I’m going to try it as a Bullet journal module.

Such a helpful video! I just created a spreadsheet with my priorities with the system you suggested! Thank you!

Thank you so much 😊

Stephen coveys "7 habits of highly effective people'' has same prioritization method written in it.

Thanks I just realized RU-vid should be in my delete column lol

This video was quite useful, Thanks a lot!

this hit me so hard 😅 . thankyou for making this video . helps a ton! 💪

Wow Eisenhower seems great!!

My brain: "Not Urgent, Not Important but Necessary!"

Very useful information in business.. Thank you for Sharing 🙏

Great video! Helpful and informative as always.

Thank you, it's really help

Great tips that I will implement right now. Thanks for sharing this information.

Thanks for the video

Great video, thanks

Every task to do on my list gets symbols just in front of the tick box before the text !! Important and urgent !? Important not urgent ?! Not important but urgent ?? Not important nor urgent Sort this list alphabetically and you got your to do list... If you get all the tasks with ! In them done, then do your ?? Ones... don't be hesitant to delete them

Center angle podcast view: very Wes Anderson!

What about the "time wasters" that might be beneficial in helping us relax and clear our mind ? Video game, movies come to mind. Sure they don't seems to be productive time, but there is an argument to make that they are also important to not burnout.