Here's How Prepping for Sh*t Can Change Your Life
This Substack post contains the secret to why I am able to do so many projects effectively.
Listen to the audio of this Substack …
I recently had a discussion with my wife about prepping for things, and it was a way less boring chat than it could have been. Truth be told, I learned how different we approach prepping (to my beloved boomer and fellow Gen Xer readership: I am not referring to doomsday prepping … not in this Substack post, anyway).
My wife was telling me that she has started to calendar (used as a verb, y’all) in prepping for meetings, even seemingly small meetings that most people usually just wing. I think this is a terrific tip that I’m going to start doing. (Thanks, Moore. I owe you a shoulder rub.)
Since I left my full-time job a few months ago and started my own business (which includes my writing, editing, podcast production work other than Our Hen House, and coaching), I have far fewer meetings (blessed be)—but I definitely could have prepped more for the ones I had during my Zoom daze. My colleagues could have, as well; far too often, we’d all get on a Zoom that I was secretly dreading, talk about what we were watching on Netflix (I never admitted that I unplug with shows meant for teens), and then we’d all be like, “So this meeting is about what, again?”
You have no idea how much I loathe this.
CONFESSION TIME: I was just writing this post when I got a call—it was a meeting that was scheduled earlier today. The person on the other line asked me a pretty basic question, and I responded, “Shoot. I honestly should have prepped for this. I’m sorry.”
LOL? Life imitates art imitates life?
The call was, of course, completely fine. We shared a chuckle when I told my meeting buddy the subject of the Substack that I was literally in the middle of writing when she called and I found myself unprepared. Ha. Ha. Ha.
So, yes. Tip: #1: Prep for your work meetings, even if for just 15 minutes. Calendar that shit in. I could stand to get (much) better at this. Note to self.
And, honestly, work meetings should not be very long—or at least, the long ones should be the exception and should only exist for a really specific purpose. Preparing for these meetings ahead of time will set everyone up for the success of finishing early—or at least on time.
The second tip when it comes to prepping is something I am much better at: Tip #2: Calendar out each of your projects as soon as you commit to them. I’m fairly obsessive about this one.
So, basically, for me it looks like this: I accept an article assignment. It’s due on, let’s say, October 15. The first thing I do is go to October 15 on my calendar, and I write in both the all-day section and a specific time of day: “Hand in such-and-such article.”
(I tend to use the all-day section as a complement to my to-do list. I glance at it every morning, in addition to my Asana—which I recently synched with my calendar anyway, making it much less pressing to actually open Asana.)
Then, the magic happens. I schedule in two-hour time blocks to work on the article, working backward in my calendar until I reach today. Depending upon what other writing assignments I have, that might look like 7:30-9:30am (which I consider my prime writing time, and I always pair it with two back-to-back Caveday sprint sessions for an added boost of deep-work focus).
If that early-morning time block is already taken (which is it right now as I work on finalizing two book proposals), I will find another two-hour block in the day and do basically the same thing, including scheduling that Caveday time to hold myself a little more accountable.
Since I’m also balancing other focuses—three podcasts, helping to run a media nonprofit (thankfully, I have an incredible whipsmart team), the aforementioned coaching, and a few other lingering freelance gigs that don’t take up a ton of time but are nonetheless important—I only have a limited amount of time-blocking available for these one-off assignments.
Depending upon how complicated that assignment will be, I will either block out a total of, say, 10 or 20 hours. That’s two hours a day for … well, you do the math (I was a theater major).
Here’s the hard part for me: If I don’t have the time in my schedule to do this project justice, I must decline taking it. I’m sure that sounds incredibly obvious to at least some of you, but this can be really hard for people with my personality type, and, if I’m being honest, occasional time delusions.
Because even if we time-block shit, as I do, we must leave room for actual living—the non-work stuff. Showering. Walking the dogs. Watching teen shows on Netflix. Using the super-cool water flosser that’s in the shower. Selling shoes on Poshmark. Buying rollerskate-fabric dresses on Poshmark. Putting a time limit on my phone so that I stop looking at Poshmark!
Then, after I pair my time blocks with Caveday sessions, I might go in and get even more specific about what I will be working on during those sprints. The first two might be researching and outlining (though I hate outlining so probably not). The second two might be finding and reaching out to experts for quotes. The third two sessions might be working on a loose first draft, even if those include “T/K” placheholders (T/K is editor-speak for to come—and no, I don’t know why it’s a k instead of a c, but it is).
This kind of system always works for me. On the days that for whatever reason I can’t get to those calendared events, I will move something less important or timely to the following week and reschedule that writing session for then.
If I find that I’m moving things more often than not because I repeatedly don’t have enough time to get them done, well then, I have once again bitten off more than I can chew. Those are the difficult moments that I am doing my best to avoid by being radically honest with myself in the first place about what I can and can’t take on. If you know me well—or even if we met 30 seconds ago—you probably know that this is my biggest obstacle. My coach can attest to the fact that I am actively working on it.
OK, third and last piece of advice for today. Tip #3: Prep for tomorrow, prep for next week, prep for next year. At the end of each day, even if it’s for just five minutes, I review what I have the next day, make sure it looks realistic, move anything that is in my control to move (and not anything that impacts other people, because that’s just rude), and then I close my computer and kiss Birdie Dog’s cute tummy.
(Oh my god, it’s such a cute tummy!)
I try to do the same thing at the end of each month, spending a little longer reviewing the following month from a thousand feet high. And then at the end of the year, I pencil in my quarterly goals for the following year, even if they wind up being changed a few (or more than a few) times.
Making time for prepping and then following through with it (find someone to keep you accountable if you need to) can transform your work life, and sometimes your personal life (because you’ll have more time for it), if you practice it regularly. I find that it also gives me a much more realistic view of what I have on my plate and what I can or can’t do—and in what timeframe.
People frequently tell me that they don’t know when I sleep (duh, I sleep when I’m done watching my teen show!), but I don’t really understand that. Though I have a lot of balls in the air at any given time, the secret to effective time management (which I am always trying to improve upon, because as you can see, I am far from perfect here) is to calendar in everything, prep your little heart out, and leave spaces in between to stretch, eat the emergency hazelnuts that your wife lovingly put on your desk, and maybe walk around the block when it’s sorta raining in hopes that you’ll see a rainbow.
xo,
jazz
big fan of verbing nouns! (with a nod to bill watterson there)
and of you! or you-ing! me-ing and you-ing, whee! (whee-ing!)
Yes! I'm a BIG believer in preparing, which saves you time in the long run. I've always planned my year with big goals (personal and professional), then broken that down into quarterly, monthly, weekly goals and daily tasks with time blocks on the calendar. Thanks for sharing another approach to this!