Put the smallest things on your calendar
Rules for dinner parties + the meaning of confidence (Issue #329)
“I need a deadline,” a friend of mine used to say when they were struggling to get something done. They knew they could do it, but if given seemingly infinite time they never would.
I feel the same way. All the time. (Right now, actually, I’m writing this on a 30-minute deadline before a meeting.) My “timeboxing” habit — aka setting aside 30min or one-hour blocks for various tasks so I actually get them done — started during the pandemic, when time felt expansive and neverending (in an overwhelming and kind of depressing way!). Since then, I’ve used my calendar more or less as a reminder service, with to-dos stacked on top of each other for 30 minutes each. It’s a way to turn Parkinson’s Law (work expands to fill available time) to my advantage.
Way back in the Medium archive, design leader shared his personal approach to developing short “sprints” for yourself so you can do things you care about. He adds some nuance to the habit, encouraging you to set super small chunks of time aside to get things done — think, 10 minutes or less. This compressed span of time is a true “time box.” “The more time you give yourself in a time box,” he writes, “the less likely you’ll be able to finish the task.”
Sherwin notes that 10 minutes obviously isn’t enough to complete a complex task (like writing an entire newsletter) but it is enough to do one highly defined piece of it — like developing an outline.
In Harvard Business Review, Neha Kirpalani cites one more advantage to mincing your day into small bits and noting them on your calendar: you’ll remember what you did. You’ll be able to look back at it tomorrow, next month, or next year. You’ll be able to, in Kirpalani’s words, better reflect upon and better articulate how you’ve spent your life.
—
📖 My open tabs…
- , who edits AI for a living: “If AI is going to talk to us, it should speak in ways that don’t just inform — but also respect, soothe, and connect.”
- Talent is like a wave: “it draws you in and lifts you up when you first realize that you have a natural skill.” ()
- A rule for dinner parties in 2025, according to Priya Parker, author of The Art of Gathering: No one can say “I’m fine” or “I’m good,” and “If you laugh so hard you cry, you get the first bite of dessert.”
💡 Your daily dose of practical wisdom
“You learn to be confident not by realising that you’re great, but by learning that everyone else is just as stupid, scared and lost as you are. We’re all making it up as we go along, and that’s fine.” — School of Life
Deepen your understanding every day with the Medium Newsletter. Sign up here.
Edited by
Questions, feedback, or story suggestions? Email us: tips@medium.com
Like what you see in this newsletter but not already a Medium member? Read without limits or ads, fund great writers, and join a community that believes in human storytelling.
