Two months ago, my girlfriend and I got a new puppy.
Shortly after, she started her MBA program.
After that, I started meeting friends to play some covers once a week.
Then I started going to the gym more often.
Then I got back into Pokemon Fire Red again (big mistake).
And then I stopped being good at my job.
It’s easy to quantify scope creep at work, because you can look at the spreadsheets and see the hours and dollars spent on a project. We’ve virtually eliminated scope creep in our projects at Pink Robot Studios. But in my personal life? Yikes.
How did this happen? How did I realize it? And most importantly, how did I fix it without becoming work-obsessed and miserable?
Staying at 80%
Honestly, I can’t remember where I got this tip, but it’s one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received.
We are capable of being at 100% capacity, but it’s best to stay around 80%. That extra 20% you’re allowing yourself is space for the things that really matter in the moment to flourish.
My mistake was putting myself at 100%.
That left me only three to four hours a day to work, and zero hours a day for anything else that mattered.
That means by the time I started working, I was already more exhausted than I realized, and I wasn’t in a “work headspace.” My productivity went down faster and faster over time as fatigue built, and I eventually stopped being able to accomplish anything.
And at the same time, since I was exhausted from my schedule and upset that I couldn’t get anything done, I didn’t feel like I could truly relax. So whether I was working or not, I was having a bad time.
So how did I fix it?
Identifying the 80%
It’s often glorified online to have a strict sunup-to-sundown schedule where you achieve MAXIMUM PRODUCTIVITY®.
It looks great in videos, but if you ask me, that’s not a healthy way to look at life. We’re humans, not robots – we’re doing this whole AI thing now, so let’s let them do the robot stuff.
This 80% rule is all about staying human. That 20% leftover is for what drives you, fulfills you, and makes you feel alive in that moment.
This wasn’t the first time I had fallen into the trap of overstuffing my schedule, and it probably won’t be the last, but I have a good tactic for avoiding the trap as much as possible.
Every 15 minutes, write down what you’re doing, and mark it with a color or symbol – one for work, one for play, one for chores, and one each for everything else you deem important.
At the end of the week, look back at what you wrote down and graph it out. How much time was dedicated to each? Does it look healthy?
I know it seems like a lot, but here’s a trick: just do it for the next two hours. At the end of those two hours, decide if you want to keep doing it for another two. I think you’ll find it’s easier than you expect.
Achieving the 80%
Now comes the audit. Mark off any 15 minutes you think were not well-spent, or you didn’t enjoy. The goal here is to narrow it down to the things you need to do and like to do.
There’s a famous graph called the Eisenhower Matrix, coined by the president of the same name. I could have made a pretty version, but there’s plenty of those online. Why add to the noise?
Instead I’ve created an artist’s rendition here in Microsoft Paint. Hope you enjoy.
Here’s the concept: “what is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.” That’s a quote from the man himself. When analyzing a task, identify which quadrant of the matrix it lands in.
If you’re finding lots of your tasks end up in the red quadrants, you have a problem. And if everything ends up in the green, you also have a problem. We want a healthy balance which we can analyze at the start of each day.
I’ve found this matrix to be invaluable in my routine. I think it will be in yours too.
Most Importantly: Finding the 20%
Excellent work! You’ve managed to audit your time. Now comes the hard part: filling the extra 20%.
The problem is, if you just fill that time with other tasks that add nothing to your life, you’ve accomplished nothing. Scrolling on social media, watching trashy TV (well, this one is okay in moderation), making the same recipes for dinner every night…this isn’t what makes us human.
Remember, the goal here is to reclaim our productivity…and our humanity!
Write out a list of the activities that fulfill you – the things that you can’t help but smile when you think about. Now look back at your schedule for the week again. What do you see from your list on there? And what is missing?
For me, I noticed I was missing a few things: hiking/walking, writing music, trying new restaurants, and practicing my vocals. Now I start each day with a question: how can I do those three things today, or if not today, tomorrow?
I can’t say I’ve mastered it yet, but I will tell you one thing: I’m feeling much better than I was last week.
