How to Structure Your Time

Take ownership of your time for effective personal development

Why

So you’re a millennial with plenty of time on your hands. Whether you’ve had (or you’re headed towards) a quarter life crisis or breakthrough — the one constant is that you’re looking for fulfillment in your life. But you don’t want to do well at just one thing, you want to excel in multiple areas of your life. Your 20’s are your defining decade. If you think about it — what you do with your time now will set the tone and habits for the rest of your life. Sure your 20’s should be fun but it’s important to be mindful about how you envision your personal and professional future.

How

You have a limited amount of time on this earth but the one thing you do have control over is what you do with your time. So take out your calendar and remember this:

If it’s not on your calendar, it’s not real.

I use this framework from my buddy Tim Ferriss to think about how I want to structure my days. Tim boiled down life into 3 main areas which are your Health, Wealth, and Wisdom. But I’ve broken them down even more in ways that make sense to me. Let’s take a closer look at what these areas include.

Health

When I think about health I break it down into these 3 areas. They all affect each other in various ways. Getting healthy all around should be your foundation for an effective life — because no health, no wealth right?

Physical

Are you active? Are you physically fit at a level that you’re happy with? This should be a no brainer. Whether it’s joining a sports recreational team or a gym, everyone can afford to get their ass off the couch at least 3x a week. Aside from fitness, get yourself a doctor or some health insurance while your at it. Eat your fruits and vegetables.

Mental

That’s right. What’s your internal dialogue like? Are you your best cheerleader or worst critic? If your moods drastically change from hour to hour, it might mean you need to get yourself checked. A healthy mind means you know how to deal with your feelings effectively.

Spiritual

This isn’t some woo woo stuff. Spiritual health includes both physical + mental with a twist of community and fulfillment. This deals with a high sense of self-awareness and knowing how you affect those around you. A spiritually healthy person has a strong sense of self-compassion.

Wealth

When I speak about wealth, it’s beyond material or financial wealth. A wealthy life in it’s core is a life with abundance. But a life with abundance is nothing without a healthy body, mind, and spirit. Here are the 3 ways I break down wealth.

Making a positive impact

This might be my personal definition of wealth — and it’s by creating positive impact in lives of others. I feel a personal sense of achievement and abundance when I see my people succeed. What are you doing in your life daily to create value for others?

Gaining more money and time

In it’s most traditional sense, a wealthy person has an abundance of money to get things they want or need. Do you make enough money to meet your needs and more? More importantly, do you have the time to appreciate and enjoy the things that make you happy? People with money but no time for things they personally value don’t sound so wealthy to me.

Growing your network and relationships

My old boss who was a former exec at LinkedIn would always say this:

Your network is your networth.

From a high level, I’ve found that piece of advice to be remarkably true. If you were to lose everything you own right now, who would you turn to build yourself up again? Sure you can be incredibly smart and clever and nobody can ever take away your knowledge. But who will help you get your foot in the door to opportunities? Placing yourself in multiple circles and seeking mentorship gives you so many advantages in life.

And relationships. Find those people in your life who bring out the best in you and nurture those relationships. No words are truer than:

You are the average of the 5 closest people to you.

Change your circles and you change your outcomes. And I’m not saying you should surround yourself with people who make you feel good. The most important thing is to surround yourself with people who help you grow. This means people who point out your flaws and help you fix them. Find those people in life who will do right by you — your tribe.

Wisdom

Whenever you meet a person who seems wise — you can feel that they don’t just know a lot of things but they apply what they know. At an intuitive level they’ve connected all the dots in their mind and teach you new things to some degree. Wisdom is flexible intelligence that adapts to complex situations. Here are the 3 ways I break down wisdom — by now you can tell I like breaking things into threes.

Reading

Have you ever noticed that the most successful people were all voracious readers? They consume and consume knowledge knowing that there is too much to learn or that their way of thinking is outdated. It’s never too late to start picking up a book or listening to an audiobook. Read before you sleep or while you commute. We have the greatest access to information than of any other time. Technology makes it so easy now. Take advantage of it.

Writing

Clarity in writing means clarity in thought. This is another thing that influential people do — they write or draw everything down. When you translate thoughts onto paper, you’re actually synthesizing your thoughts in that messy head of yours.

We teach what we need to learn. And write what we need to know.

And it doesn’t mean you have to write for an audience. Journaling is another powerful way to write to structure your thoughts. It’s also cathartic.

Learning by doing/side projects

We all have a vocation in life. Sometimes that doesn’t always take the form of our professional career due to certain life circumstances. Either way, it’s imperative in life that we pursue what most excites us. I specifically avoid the word passion because passion in life fades. So when I say ‘things that excite you’, I want to know what things are you currently obsessed with? When you’re working or thinking about it, does it get you in a state of flow? Write it down and work on it. There is no greater learning opportunity than to pursue things that most excite you. The reason is because you do whatever it takes and learn whatever you need to learn to get the job done. That momentum is one of the most powerful forces in life.

What

Now that we have a framework to work with, how do you want to structure your time in a way that hits all of these critical areas daily? I say daily because the most important things in life are things we can do consistently.

For example, would you drink and party every day for the rest of your life? Hell no. But would you workout everyday for the rest of your life? Of course, why not. Okay, maybe that’s a little extreme but you get the point. The things that are most worth doing are worth doing consistently. Think of your life as if you were an Olympic athlete. You do what you need to do nearly everyday to be world class. Your life, too, can be world class.

Let me show you how I schedule my life in a way that I see myself hitting all these important areas in life.

This is the ideal calendar that I like to follow as closely as possible. It hits all my macros in a balanced and sustainable way.

No Screen Saturdays

Since I work in tech, I like to take Saturdays away from screens — especially emails and social media. I keep it to communication and navigation.

Weekends

My weekends vary. Some days I may be spending the day with friends out doors or playing sports with them. Other days I may be volunteering my time with a local food nonprofit/organization.

Conclusion

I hope this helps you figure out a better way to take control of your time and remember:

If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.