Super skill: Being strategic with time
Why this matters today
This is the trap…
You keep adding to your to-do list, but you still feel behind.
Everything looks equally urgent, so your brain stays in chase mode.
Then one, notification or ‘quick scroll’ steals the hour you needed.
Ending the day feeling not-so-accomplished and more stressed.
Instead, you want to end it knowing you made time for what matters.
Let’s design that system:
Super skill
Today’s super skill is being strategic with time: planning, protecting attention, and making small minutes count.
Step 1. Get out of your to-do list and into your calendar.
Your to-do list lies to you.
It makes a 2-minute task look the same as a 2-hour project.
Instead, pick your top 3 priorities for the next 24 hours and put them into calendar blocks.
Name the block clearly. ‘Draft proposal.’ ‘Pay invoices.’ ‘Gym.’
If it is not for today, schedule it for when it is truly needed: Next week, next month, even next year.
Once it is placed, it is out of sight and out of mind.
Step 2. Train your attention to stay on task.
Most people try to manage time and always run out of it.
That’s because you cannot manage something that flows on its own. Einstein’s work tells us it is a dimension of experience.
What you can manage is attention.
Choose one task. Remove one distraction. Put your phone out of reach.
Set a 10-minute timer and practice staying with the task for the full 10.
When you get pulled away, notice it, name it, return. That’s mindfulness off the cushion.
Research often cites that it can take around 23 minutes to fully regain focus after a distraction! (so protection always beats recovery)
Step 3. Strategise your minutes.
If you tell yourself, “I’ll scroll for 15 minutes,” do the math first.
15 minutes × 30 days = 7.5 hours a month. That is 90 hours a year.
If your best deep work day is about 4 strong hours, those 15 minutes can add up to more than 22 deep work days across a year!
Imagine what you can achieve with that.
You do not need to plan every minute. You do need to respect where this minute goes.
Becoming Super
Becoming Super is not about ‘super productivity’.
It is knowing what matters, then holding your attention there. When you can do this on demand, you lead better, think more clearly, and come home with greater presence.
Attention training is the hidden lever behind real productivity, because focus is what turns minutes into outcomes. If you want to build this skill properly, with structure and practice, this is exactly what we do inside the MBCT course. Enrollment is now open.
Have a Super Sunday! 💪
With much joy,
Hashim