How To Save Time

I have a lot of flaws but a lack of productivity is not one of them. I run multiple businesses, a foundation, a bookstore and podcast studio. I’ve written books, taught graduate school, host a podcast, publish a weekly substack and a newspaper column. I travel a lot, go to plenty of Knicks and Mets games, work out regularly and try to be a very present dad, son, brother, boyfriend and friend.

It works, in part, because I tend to think and write and act fast. But it also works because I have clear systems and rules in place. To be clear, the point of this column is not about optimization. It’s about trying to ensure you have enough time to do the things that truly matter to you, whatever they are. Here are some of the things that help me:

• No social media: From what I can tell, social media wastes more time for more people than almost anything. I do have a few accounts managed by my team but I don’t even know the passwords for them. Personally, I don’t post, read, scroll, like, retweet or anything else. I don’t even look at YouTube.

• No tv news, no doomscrolling: My job requires me to know what’s happening in the world but I get my information from newspapers, a few websites and a few podcasts. TV news is almost entirely a waste of time (if you do want to watch it, local news is your best bet). Doomscrolling is not noble — it’s just an addiction like drugs or alcohol or gambling.

• Answer texts/ emails immediately: I respond to what I need to immediately. I don’t let it linger in the back of my mind. And if there’s something I can’t deal with immediately, I start it and don’t finish the day without having dealt with it.

• Be decisive about what not to respond to: I get not only a ton of flat out spam (we all do), but also lots of calls, emails and texts that responding to is a bad use of my time. I decide immediately what matters, deal with it and ignore the rest.

• Get stuff done in writing rather than calls or meetings whenever possible: If we can cover something over email or text or in a memo rather than a meeting or call, that’s a lot better. Talking for the sake of talking is a waste of time.

• Meetings don’t have to go the whole time: So what if a meeting is scheduled for an hour or half hour? If we can cover the topic in less time, great. End it and give everyone some of their time back.

• Outsource as much as you can afford to: This won’t be something everyone can do, but I choose to use a chunk of the money I make to buy back my time. I pay other people to do things that I don’t want or need to do personally: shopping, reservations, dry cleaning, laundry, cleaning, scheduling, paying bills, cooking. That’s a choice – I could pocket that money instead, but my time is more valuable. Even if you don’t have the ability to pay for this stuff, there are lots of AI agents now available that do many of these things.

• Hire the best people and keep them: The hiring process is always a huge time consumer. When I find good people, I do everything possible to hang onto them. I don’t micromanage them. And we do everything possible to maintain a culture that makes people want to work here and filters people who are a bad fit out as quickly as possible. If you have a team you can truly trust, that makes it a lot easier to then take on new projects.

• Use time pockets wisely: If I have a few minutes between meetings, I don’t scroll or watch YouTube. I answer emails and texts. I write. I do whatever needs to be done. It adds up.

• Travel efficiently: For flights, I only care about the best departure time. I don’t care about status or miles. I don’t even always fly the same airline on the same trip. Whatever fits my schedule best. The saved time is worth it.

• Make to do lists and know what needs to get done: For years, I wouldn’t end the work day until every call, text and email was dealt with and the next day’s to-do list was written. I stopped writing to-do lists because I felt like I was living too much just to cross stuff off, but by that point, I had internalized all of the concepts in this column so I didn’t need it. You might.

• Establish and stick to routines: Routines work for a reason – they force you to do what you need to do. For example, I work out almost every day around the same time and I make sure there’s room in my schedule for it. The more chaotic your approach to your routines or schedule, the more chaotic your life.

• Sleep is actually productive: It took me far too many years to realize this. Stupidly, I thought that a lack of sleep was a badge of honor. I was wrong. Sleep is essential. It makes us more productive. It makes us happier and better adjusted. Get enough sleep.

• Write things down: When I have an idea or realize there’s something I need to do, if I can’t do it then and there, I write it down so I know that I’ll come back to it.

• Get help when you need it: No one is perfect or infallible. We all struggle in many ways. When you need help, seek it out. For me, that’s weekly talk therapy and has included Marijuana Anonymous meetings too. White knuckling serious problems tends to mean they don’t get solved.

• Know the activities that you really enjoy and prioritize those: I have clear hobbies and I am proactive about doing them. I really like going to Knicks and Mets games. I like traveling. I like museums. I like to read. I like wandering around cities. By being proactive about it, I spend my free time actually doing them rather than wishing I could.

• Proactively work on relationships: Two things in life are proven to make people happy: relationships with unconditional love and support and things you do that give you meaning and purpose. I keep a running list of the fifty people most important to me. I go through it once a week and reach out to anyone I haven’t spoken to recently. No one has ever responded “why are you bothering me?” It sparks a nice exchange and sometimes plans to see each other. It makes me happy. I also prioritize spending money on tickets. I like bringing people to games because everyone enjoys it and it allows me to see several people at once.

• Spend your time editing: The best way to write something well and quickly is to get it down on paper as fast as possible and use almost all of your time for editing. That prevents you from procrastinating and the editing makes the final product much, much better.

• Know what doesn’t matter and stop wasting time chasing it: Society tells people to pursue things that just don’t matter that much. Status is fleeting and generally useless, except in your head. You need enough money to live and do what you want but beyond that, focusing on achieving a certain level of wealth for the sake of it is also dumb. No one really cares (and anyone who does is definitely not worth your time). And chasing likes is the ultimate time waster.

• Know what you can and can’t control: This is kind of like the AA serenity prayer. If you can understand which things you can control and which you can’t, you can stop spending time and energy on those you can’t and focus on those you can. It’s worth figuring out before you do something. Also, there are going to be periods in your life where you’re just really busy and really exhausted (especially if you have young kids). That’s how it goes.

These are approaches that have worked for me. Everyone is different and not everything above may be useful or realistic or affordable for everyone. But if you do feel like you don’t have enough time, some of these ideas may be worth considering. I hope they help!