On using Time, Being Efficient and choosing Projects

I recently spoke at a dinner for Principals, Deputy Principals and other Christchurch school leaders (out at remote Terrace Downs in the foothills of the Southern Alps).

I shared about the 9 principles I’ve learned from hosting seeds podcast and the 387 people I’ve talked to. Those learnings are in the short book “Seed Habits” that was released last year.

One person there was Polu Luatua who wrote me this message afterwards so I thought I would take the chance to share the answers in case it helps:

Malo lava Steven,

Thanks for your presentation at the leaders dinner tonight. I was so inspired and motivated to get more out of my life. I spoke to you briefly at the end about how you use your time to fit everything in. A couple things:

• Can you send me links to resources you have on that?

• Also, I notice you have a lot of projects and hats on. You seem like a risk taker and an activator. How do you start projects? Do you just get an idea and go for it?

Ma le fa’aaloalo tele lava,
Polu Luatua

Have reflected on these questions and decided to answer fully as others ask me similar things all the time.

My opening thought is that we all have time each day – you, me, that person we both admire: 24 hours in the day. I think we have a responsibility to use our time well because it is precious. We inhabit this space and moment in time – what we chose prior to this moment has shaped us, and what we choose now will alter the very essence of who we are becoming.

Don’t focus on only the “big decisions”. Life is a series of very small decisions – being consistent is what shapes us so that any one decision is easy as we in many ways already made it based on our habits and prior decisions. Some have called this principle “A long obedience in the same direction”.

In everything I do am trying to make connections with the past, future, myself and others. One of the most important points when deciding on involvement in a project is who I am in the process of transforming into. Each of us are different to say 10 years ago – so what will be like in 10 years from now? Applied to decisions this helps act as a filter – will this help me to meet interesting people, learn, have fun with it and encourage others to think deeply or in a new way?

Alongside this I try to say yes unless it’s not aligned with those considerations. I also am not aiming for perfection. If I was, it would be hard to release any podcast episode. But the raw nature of them, the uhhhms and mistakes makes them authentic and real. So realise early on that if you give yourself say 2 hours of focussed work on something it will yield 80% of the result. But to get to 100% and elusive perfection will probably take another 8 hours. I’ve learned to be content with producing more in less time (if you want to explore this, it’s called the Pareto principle).

Also seek out collaboration as it reduces the weight of what you need to bear. As an example I did 5 pages of a “Charities Healthcheck” then sought comments from others – 80 responses later the document had grown with collective wisdom and became a 6 part guide with dozens of relevant questions. This shows me an important principle: You can do more with others than you can on your own.

Don’t be afraid of failure. It is what holds people back from trying something new. But even a ‘failure’ is only compost for future success. So have an opportunity focussed mindset where you are willing to try things, learn from them, and move on.

Choose projects or initiatives that you feel passionate about, not things you feel like you “should” do. Seeds podcast is up to 387 episodes because I enjoy doing it as I focus in on talking to inspiring and interesting people. I meet many people who start a podcast and it fizzles after 5 episodes because they did not have a strong “why” they were starting it, and what brings joy.

As you try things seek out that elusive element of fun and the spark of joy. Life is too short to be constrained by doing things we don’t actually like doing.

Use your time well and be realistic about what you can do, but have multiple projects at any one time. People see things come out and assume it is quick – but usually it is months of prep work, like this Impact Investing legal opinion that just came out I had the idea a year ago and it took 6 months to write.

If you want to have access to more on this topic, I’ve also written on similar things in these posts:

• On being efficient and some tips on that are over here

• On what we are building with our lives and how we should aspire to grand things – the vision to construct a cathedral not just a wall

• A reflection on 10 lessons I have learned that I wish my younger self had known

• A recent episode of seeds on weaving in creativity into all of your life that I presented at my former high school to 55 students aged 16:

Hope these thoughts help!

Steven Moe
steven@theseeds.nz