01 Oct Aaron Hsu – Five answers on questions about Time Surfing

1. “What’s really made a difference for you with Time Surfing?”
Honestly, just doing it. I think it’s tempting to see one element of it and then just do that, without actually doing it all. While that can help with some things, I don’t think it really lets you do “Time Surfing,” and you won’t find it easy to replace lists that way. Everyone will have some of the rules that are harder to implement than others. Actually using those rules, even if they are harder for you, seems to make a big difference.

2. “Which tips or practices do you find yourself using the most?”
I treat the whole system as a whole, so I don’t think of it as a collection of tips and tricks that I pick and choose from. It’s more a philosophy of time management than anything else.

3. “Any specific habits or steps that led to quick, noticeable changes in how you manage your time?”
I think Paul is right in that you’ll want to start with the rules in order and work on each one in turn, adding the next one as the others become more stable in your life.

Rule #1 Do one thing at a time, and finish what you’re doing
Rule #2 Be aware of what you’re doing and accept it
I was already quite good at doing one thing at a time (and finishing what you started), so rule #1 was easy. Rule #2 was also somewhat easy because of all the practice with list-based systems that helped me to know what I’m doing at any given moment. That acceptance element can be a little tricky, but I actually think that wasn’t too hard for me.

Rule #3 Create breathers between activities
Rule #3, “Create breathers between activities” was something that I knew I should do instinctively, even if I avoided doing it, but I’m convinced that this has an outsized power over everything else, and that outsized effect is something that Paul mentions in the books as well. If you don’t follow rule #3, pretty much everything else will fall apart. For a while, though, I didn’t appreciate why it worked so well. A number of other sources have hammered this home as well, but some psychological research has demonstrated a potential mechanism at play with this rule. The short version is that taking a breather between activities seems to short-circuit the “immediate gratification” circuitry that drives many decisions. That empty space of non-action seems to undermine the tendency that I have to jump into a bad habit or make a hasty decision about what to do next that leads to a lack of focus or loss of intention. Instead, simply taking that simple breather results in me suddenly less likely to just jump on a distraction and much more likely to actually *want* to take on something more valuable.

There are some rules that I have a tendency to forget in the moment, and those are important to remember, but I think those fit better in your other questions.

4. “Any rookie mistakes I should watch out for as I get back into it?”
I’ve already mentioned neglecting rule #3 above as something that you shouldn’t do. However, for me, I think the main rookie mistake, at least from my perspective, would be the tendency to stop really applying rules after #3. Rules 4, 5, and 6 are just as essential to being able to finally do Rule #7 “Use your intuition when deciding what to do” as the others, but because they are focused on internal mental habits and work, they are easier to ignore. If you ignore the latter rules, IMO, the whole system falls down long term. Not following rules 4 – 6 is the equivalent of overloading your list in a long list system.

Rule #4 Give your full attention to drop-ins, creating a relationship with everything you want to do
Rule #4 about giving your full attention to drop ins and making a relationship with things you want to do is essential to actually managing the things you want to do, and it’s waaay too easy for people to want to avoid doing this. Remember, if you are doing Time Surfing, you can’t just discard your lists without having some way to deal with the fact that you still have things to do. The list is the easy way to keep track of things. Time Surfing asks you to think about those things in such a way that your mind engages with them at the moment it comes up. An easy mistake is that people think this only means when an external force puts it to you, but if the thing comes up in your mind, it’s *also* a drop-in, and you need to deal with just like someone who has dropped into your office unexpectedly.

Rule #5 Become aware of gnawing rats and transform them into white sheep
Rule #5 is just as easy to “avoid” doing as anything else, and if you don’t apply Rule #5, well, eventually, the whole thing breaks down. The reason that lists can be helpful is that they serve as a constant reminder of what could be done, and so you get some immediate signals about what you may be ignoring and what you still have to do. Of course, if those things aren’t a good fit, the list can create an emotional push against you that introduces a type of conflict and stress that makes it all too much work. But if you drop the list, you still need a way to deal with procrastination. Without the list, it’s easy for people to try to push things away from their mind and ignore them because they don’t want to deal with things. Rules 4 – 6, but especially rule #5 are essential for dealing with this tendency.

The rookie mistake with #5 is to instead fall back into the habit of just shoving things out of your mind or away from thinking about them instead of actually “turning them into white sheep.” But pushing them out of your mind is as good as saying that you’re never going to do them in Time Surfing. Instead, you need to sit with those things and face up to them, especially if they keep hanging over your head or you need to do them for some reason. Rule #5 is extremely powerful, but not if you avoid using it.

Rule #6 Observe background programs
Rule #7 Use your intuition when choosing what to do next
I think Rules #4 and #5 are the ones that people ignore or dismiss too easily, but #6 is probably the hardest to really fully appreciate. So many people let themselves be under a kind of chronic pressure that making clear decisions is severely hampered. Rule #6 is all about processing that pressure and the kind of stress that permeates the background. If you don’t do that, it can be hard to let yourself make any intentional, calm, clear decision. I find some people can’t follow rule #6 simply because they don’t even acknowledge the world rule #6 is trying to get you to. There are some people who have been under such heavy emotional stress or mental weight for so long that they can’t even conceive of a space where that isn’t the case. For them, sometimes, such a world is actually scary and they’ll avoid it, thinking that they need the pressure to live. I’ll hear something like, “Well, that sounds nice, but it’s just not possible.” Other people are so unaware of their own pressures and background programs that they don’t know how to apply #6; it can take some time to work through that, which is why it makes sense to have #6 as the last rule until you get to the #7 final “destination.”

5. “If you had to pick just a few key elements to focus on, what would they be?”

First, I’d say take the path outlined in the book, of picking up each rule in turn and giving yourself time to apply it. Don’t rush things. I think it isn’t unreasonable to expect it to take up to 3 months to really begin working through all the rules and applying them, depending on how naturally each rule comes to you.

Each rule builds on the previous ones, so taking them in order is really the best way to make progress.

Aaron Hsu, computing researcher in programming language design and implementation, Indiana, USA