CZ's time management method

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, the original author: CZ, compiled by Odaily translator Katie Gu.

Someone asked me today: "How do you have time to read so many books?" Here is my answer.I think the most important thing about time management is learning to say "no".

What you don't do is more important than what you do.I don't do hiccups and self-introductions in meetings. These take a lot of time and are often very inefficient. I refused directly, even to the point of being "impolite" in the eyes of ordinary people. For example, I directly"Communication Skills from CZ"

Sending this post to people (implying them that I don't like wasting time) might be rude, but it saves me time.

I like simplicity and clarity. That leaves time for other things. If something can be summed up, it just needs to be summed up.

I keep most meetings under 15 minutes, even face-to-face. And I started by saying I only had 15 minutes.

I would not attend a meeting if my presence was not absolutely required. I don't just listen, I ask for a synopsis that I can read in 30 seconds.

I don't gossip, whether it's professional or personal, online or in real life. I always ask directly, "What do you want me to do?" If the other person doesn't take action, I end or ignore the conversation. I'm not chatting for fun.

I quit chat groups that no longer require me to speak, whether at work or personally. This way I have one less thing to click. One less notification, one less popup.

I don't socialize much either. I'm not a "social hub" and I don't keep in touch with a lot of people. My social circle is small. I make sure to have some "hubs" (people with wide circles) in my social circle. I use them to get in touch with some people when I need them.

I do socialize with a few friends, but probably much less often than most.

I don't shop and I hate it. I buy most of my stuff online and in bulk. Buy 10 pairs of the same style of pants, shirts, socks and more at once. Most of the purchases are one of the top 5 recommendations in the search results, or recommended by AI based on my consumption preferences, so that I don't have to think about it.

I don't cook (talent issue). I ordered one of the first 3 things I saw on the menu and it took me no more than 10 seconds to order. I prefer quick meals to "romantic French dinners". Sorry France, it's not a matter of taste, it's just a matter of time. I always ask French chefs to serve "all the dishes" at once and try to ignore the offended looks on their faces.

I don't organize my room, desk or suitcase so it's always a mess.

I don't read the news unless someone sends me a link. Even so, I only glanced at it for 10 seconds. I read very fast.

I don't watch sports unless we have a sponsorship like CR7 or Argentina in the World Cup, I actually only watched the last game of the World Cup on TV, it was a great game. I know what I have to give up to make up time.

I don't watch TV. I used to watch a lot of movies, but now, I find most of them boring, maybe I'm getting old.

I don't use vibrato, video push, etc. For my back pain, I follow a few "osteopath/chiropractor/exercise" type accounts on Instagram, so I'm motivated to do some easy exercises every day.

I do spend a fair amount of time on Twitter and do some blogging as well.

I don't listen to music. I also hate loud music playing in restaurants or conference venues. I always tell them to keep their voices down. I like quiet places.

Basically, I'm a very, very boring person.

I listen to books. I listen to books while I shower, brush my teeth, and of course, when I go to the bathroom. I also listen to books when I'm in the car, when I'm at the airport. I listen to a book for an hour or so every day before bed (that alone easily amounts to a book a week). The place where I spend the most time listening to books is on the plane. If I'm inspired, I try to write a blog or something. When I am tired, I just listen to books. I can listen to 2-3 books on a long flight. I fly a lot and logged 600 hours in the air last year.

I listen to it at 2.5x speed most of the time (you get used to it after a while). The average time to listen to most books is about 4 hours.

How do I choose books? Some were recommended by friends. Some are recommended by AI based on my reading preferences.

For books that I don't like, once I find out I don't like them, I stop listening to them. I haven't listened to/read most of the books I bought.

For a book I like, I listen to it several times and buy the Kindle version to read it.