Web3 is one of the easiest places to get distracted! There is even a commonly used term for it – going down a rabbit hole!
While some distractions are educational and opportune moments, most are simply excuses we make to continue procrastinating and avoid that task that brings us no ‘fun’.
But complete, we must! So here are our 5 tips for managing your time in Web3:
1 – Set Work Hours
Sound too much like web 2? Well, that’s because you are the same person in both worlds!
By giving yourself a start and finish time for each day, you compartmentalise your “working” day as you would in any environment. This also means that the “fun” stuff keeps its lustre and doesn’t become grouped in with all the stuff you are trying to avoid!
2 – Keep a To Do List
Your day should begin and end in the same way – creating and updating your To Do List.
There’s a common saying – “Failure to plan, is a plan to fail.”
This means every day should have a list of items you want to achieve for the day. By setting a plan, you don’t rely on memory, and you also get to tick little achievements off as you go!
Find the list method that works for you – you might be a visual person so seeing items crossed off or placing each task on a post-it-note that you lay out in front of you and scrunch up and throw away when completed – (this can also be done using digital notes), might work to give you a sense of progress.
3 – Prioritise – Need vs Want
This goes back to doing the things you want to do versus the things that have to be done. One useful way of determining this is by categorising the tasks you have ahead of you. Try grouping them by colour coding or using categories that determine urgency and importance such as:
Need Now – this means it’s important and urgent
Need Later – this means it’s important but not required urgently
Want Now – this means it’s not important but should be done urgently
Want Later – this means it’s neither important nor urgent
What this does is helps you distinguish between the things you need to get done and the things you want to get done – as can be seen from the order above, the things that are needed are much more important than things that you deem as wants.
4 – Turn off Notifications
There are notifications for every platform and program we are a member of!
If Discord is not necessary, turn it and its notifications off. Same with Twitter and all other social media platforms not required to complete the task at hand.
Microsoft has a “do not disturb” function as do most phones – go on; face the silence and say no to potential distractions!
5 – Take Regular Breaks
No amount of time management is effective if it isn’t designed to suit the intended person or doesn’t cater to the physical and mental need for break time!
Each person has their own “right” formula, but the general rule is 50 mins work, 10 mins break.
With ideal focus spans varying from 20 mins all the way to hours of deep diving in one sitting, it’s important to give your mind and body the opportunity to step away and “recharge” before you continue. This promotes maximum efficiency and keeps you able to sustain effort over a longer period. This teamed with breaking down tasks to suit these time intervals can make both the tasks and the workload much easier to manage!