How to scale yourself?

Last week, I asked my wife — “What do you think I am good at?”

She replied, “I think you have a really good work-life balance”. This was so pleasant to hear. After all, who is more qualified to attest this than one’s spouse?

I have a ~2 year old son. I have a full time job in a hot startup. I have some personal projects brewing on the side. I have signed up for this cohort course on writing and many more things. All these things require time commitment. And I must admit, not all of it is perfectly managed. Every now and then, something spills off the plate. But on an average basis, it’s going great.

But by no means, this is accidental. I put in conscious efforts to constantly figure out ways to scale myself.

Time is a limited resource. Being able to do more in less time is a real superpower.

But its no rocket science. Anyone can get better at this. Here are some of my techniques you can try -

1. Act immediately

If a task requires you a few minutes to complete, do it right away. It’s absolutely not worth it to keep a brain thread hanging for small tasks e.g. replying messages

2. Defer and batch

We often encounter many tasks that won’t produce much value immediately. Make a note and add to your backlog list. When you have capacity to take on more, go through the list. If possible, batch them together e.g. house repair works, code cleanup

3. Eliminate

Many tasks have poor ROI. Ruthlessly eliminate them. e.g. meetings, some social events etc.

4. Delegate

Determine your hourly cost from your yearly income. Tasks that you can get done effectively by someone else at lesser cost can be delegated. e.g. taxes, pick/delivery, driving etc.

5. Parallelise

Sometimes there are tasks that you can do in parallel. e.g. walk on the treadmill during standup meetings.

6. Invest

Treat anything that can make you more productive as an investment. e.g buying paid versions of apps, better laptops etc.

Do try these and share your experiences.

Originally published at https://nileshm.com.