Time Management Reference

Eisenhower Matrix

4 quadrants: Urgent+Important (do now), Important+Not Urgent (schedule), Urgent+Not Important (delegate), Neither (eliminate)

Time Blocking

Assign every hour a specific task or category; defend blocks like meetings; context switching costs 23 minutes per switch

Pomodoro Technique

25 min focused work + 5 min break; 4 cycles then 15-30 min long break; timer creates urgency and prevents drift

2-Minute Rule (GTD)

If a task takes less than 2 minutes, do it immediately; queuing it costs more than completing it

Eat the Frog

Do the hardest/most important task first; willpower and focus are highest in the morning; everything after feels easy

Parkinson’s Law

Work expands to fill the time available; set tight deadlines; artificial constraints improve output quality

Pareto Principle

80% of results come from 20% of effort; identify and double down on high-leverage activities

Batching

Group similar tasks together; email at set times, meetings on specific days, admin in one block; reduces switching cost

Chronotype Awareness

Know your peak hours; schedule deep work during biological prime time; save admin/email for troughs

Ultradian Rhythms

90-minute focus cycles followed by 20-minute rest; matches natural brain oscillation; fight the pattern and quality drops

Decision Fatigue

Reduce trivial decisions; same breakfast, preset outfit, routinized mornings; preserve willpower for important choices

Active Recovery

Breaks must be truly different from work; walk outside, not scroll phone; nature exposure restores attention (ART theory)

Sleep as Productivity

7-9 hours is non-negotiable; one night of 4-6 hours reduces cognitive performance equivalent to being legally drunk

Multitasking

Human brains do not parallel-process cognitive tasks; what feels like multitasking is rapid context-switching with cumulative overhead

Inbox Zero Obsession

Responding to email is someone else’s priority list; batch-process 2-3 times per day, not continuously

Busy vs Productive

Activity is not accomplishment; track outcomes, not hours; "I was busy all day" with nothing shipped is a red flag

Planning Without Doing

Over-organizing notes, tools, systems as procrastination; the system serves the work, not the reverse

Ignoring Recovery

Grinding without rest produces diminishing returns; sustainable output requires deliberate recovery cycles

Morning (peak)

Deep work — coding, writing, architecture, complex problem-solving

Mid-day

Meetings, collaboration, code review, mentoring

Afternoon (trough)

Admin, email, documentation, routine tasks

Evening

Learning, personal projects, reading, skill development