How I Manage My Time - 8 Tips that Changed My Life
About this video
Jeff Su shares eight time management tips he developed over three years of making YouTube videos alongside a full-time tech job. (1) Create a ‘God’s eye view’: a bookmarked dashboard or spreadsheet per life area (finances, work projects, weight via Apple Health) that auto-updates, so a weekly review spots problems without redoing manual calculations. (2) Use checklists: his Notion daily planner generates six non-negotiable morning tasks, he runs a ‘plan for upcoming week’ checklist on Monday mornings, and he has followed a checklist for every video (this is his 145th). (3) The ‘anti-McDonald’s habit’: contrary to using every spare minute, he cites Andrew Huberman that 99% of people need a 2-to-5-minute transition between tasks, so short gaps between meetings should only be used for low-focus work like email, not deep work. (4) Inbox Zero: process oldest emails first; act immediately on anything under 2 minutes, apply a follow-up label if it needs more, a waiting label if delegated, a reference label if needed later, and archive the rest. (5) The ‘atomic 80/20 rule’: cap his morning routine at 45 minutes and keep only the vital habits (a 10-minute stretch, skincare, reviewing quotes/vocabulary saved on Readwise, planning the day in Notion), and likewise read one AI newsletter consistently rather than subscribing to ten. (6) Prompt with intention: identify one to three repetitive tasks, build and save prompts for those specifically (his examples: weekly snippets, interpreting financial reports, coffee-chat questions, turning video scripts into blog posts). (7) The recovery forecast: if going out Friday night, block Saturday 9:00-12:00 for recovery, and block travel/commute/jet-lag time so he never overcommits. (8) Capture and organize: dump every incoming idea, email, and request into a to-do app immediately, then sort each into its proper home later.
Key takeaways
- Build a ‘God’s eye view’ dashboard for each life area and review it weekly so problems surface without manual recalculation
- Use checklists for recurring routines (morning tasks, weekly planning, repeatable work processes) to cut errors and decision fatigue
- Reserve 2-to-5-minute gaps between meetings for low-focus tasks like email only; deep work needs a real transition period
- Apply Inbox Zero: under-2-minute emails get handled now, others get follow-up, waiting, or reference labels, and everything else is archived
- Cap routines (his morning routine is 45 minutes max) and keep only the 20% of habits that produce most of the results, done consistently
Episode details: published October 31, 2023 · 10:03 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Jeff Su’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.
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