👯 How to Multiply Your Time

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This week: We’re diving into time multiplying — what it is, how it can help you get more done today, and how it can free up more of your time tomorrow. Let’s dive in!

📈 What Does “Multiplying” Your Time Mean?

Multiplying your time means using tools, systems, or resources to passively create more time for yourself in the future.

No one can literally create more time, of course — but you can reclaim some of your time by automating certain tasks.

Let’s say you spend 10 minutes each morning setting up your daily habit tracker, writing down the same list of habits in the same order and format.

Auto-generating this list gives you those 10 minutes back not just today, but every day.

We’ll share some more ideas and examples later on. For now, let’s look at how multiplying your time differs from simply managing it.

⏳ Managing vs. Multiplying Your Time

With time management, you’re simply assigning your time to different tasks, rather than freeing up extra time.

Ironically, planning and prioritizing your tasks can be pretty time-consuming.

Remembering when you last did something, figuring out when you need to do it next, deciding when or how to actually do it — these admin decisions take up a lot of time and mental energy.

Time multiplying is all about reducing some of this burden on your brain and automating tasks that repeat frequently or don’t require much input from you.

You may not be able to fully automate every task. But the right systems can drastically reduce the time you spend thinking about and working on tasks — both now and in the future!

🔑 3 Key Questions for Getting Started

The sooner you start automating, the more time you’ll get back.

To decide which tasks you can automate, review your list and ask yourself:

1. Is this going to appear on my list again in the future?

2. If so, how can I make it easier or quicker? Or take it off my plate altogether?

3. Will doing this task now make other tasks easier or less time-consuming in the future?

With these questions in mind, check out a few ways the Flocus team uses time multiplying in our own lives!

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Now, let’s jump into time multiplier tips that you can apply right away!

🥘 7 More Ideas for Multiplying Your Time

Here are just a few of the simple, automated systems the team here at Flocus uses to free up more time and mental energy:

1. Autopay for utility bills

2. Meal prepping

3. Email filters for automatically sorting and deleting emails

4. Reusable shopping lists

5. Calendar reminders for repeating tasks (like replacing your toothbrush)

6. Integrated mood tracker linked to affirmations, journal prompts, and therapy techniques

7. Chore tracker that logs when a chore was last completed, when it’s next due, etc.

Now that you’ve got some ideas, you might be wondering how to automate all this stuff. That’s totally up to you, but we’re big fans of the Notion app for productivity. (Peep our favorite free templates below!)

🪅 Flocus Picks

A curated list of things worth sharing.

• The 75 Best Free Notion Templates (Blog Post) — The best free Notion templates for work, home, school, and everything in between!

• r/HomeAutomation (Reddit) — Check out the r/HomeAutomation subreddit for more ideas for saving time around the house.

• 10 Ways to Use Time Multipliers to Get Things Done (LinkedIn) — A post by Ron Haynes, MBA, detailing different time multiplication tools and their benefits.

🖥️ Flocus: All-in-One Dashboard

Let Flocus be your productivity companion! Our free, browser-based dashboard features a custom Pomodoro timer, ambient sounds, aesthetic backgrounds, focus stats, and a whole lot more.

👀 We just dropped a fresh new update with lots of new timer alert sounds, improved ambient sounds, and even a brand new sakura theme for spring. Check it out!

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Like any system, the tools you use to multiply your time will need a little maintenance now and then. But the sooner you set them up, the more time you’ll give back to Future You!

Until next week,

Flocus Team