🛠️ How to Organize Your Day Using the 3Ts Method

Hi friends,

I know I’m late. I’m sorry. It’s been crazy with Eid, family, and days off from work.

Lately, I have been spending way too much time on social media. On average, I spend about 10 hours a week just on Instagram. Imagine if I spent 10 more hours a week reading—how many more books could I read a year? Now, I’m no longer the kind of person who aims to entirely get off social media. I tried it for almost two years while in college and learned a few lessons. But the issue now is that my days also lack specific structure, and I’m getting less done on a given day. Whenever I’m stressed about how I spend my time and feel the need to create a to-do list, I pull out my phone and numb myself. If I don’t address this problem, I will stop writing, lose momentum in creating videos, and become the kind of person who spends more than half of their waking hours at work and the other half between their phone and pretending to spend time with family. It’s a dangerous place to be in. This is not unfamiliar; I have been here before, and in fact, I get here at least once a year.

So I do two things: I tackle my social media use and replace it with activities I want to prioritize:

Time Limitation: I set a daily one-hour limit on all my social media platforms, including emails and WhatsApp. I also set operational windows for those apps—meaning, I can’t open them after 9 PM and not before 10 AM. This works like magic for me because if I don’t use my phone after 9 PM, I find myself reading after putting my daughter to sleep or spending time with my wife. And if I don’t use my phone from the time I wake up until 10 AM, I usually avoid using any apps until my lunchtime at 12 PM. You can turn on both of these settings on an iPhone using App Limits and Downtime (Settings->Screen Time). If you're an Android user, well, you should unsubscribe... just kidding! 😜

To shift my time priorities, I use a method I call "The Three Things" (or 3Ts): Essentially, during the morning hours—usually before I start my workday at my desk—I take out a sticky note and write down the three things that, if done that day, will make everything else easier or irrelevant. These don’t always mean doing the hardest tasks but usually involve those with the most leverage. For example, today my 3Ts are: send the newsletter, go to The Children’s Museum with family, and publish a YouTube video. Are these the only things I will do today? No. But if I accomplish them, I consider my day a success. If I don’t, then it means something else pulled my attention and needs to be examined.

I don’t want my day to be filled with endless tasks, shifting from one to the other in robotic mode. Nor do I want my day to be sporadically productive while mostly hijacked by my phone. I aim for a balance that leans more towards doing and creating things instead of consuming.

Enjoy!

📖 Books I’m reading?

I just finished The Catcher in the Rye, and loved it. I’m thinking to reread Gravel Heart by Abdulrazak Gurnah, but I’m not totally sure yet. Will probably browse my bookshelves to see if there is another novel I haven’t read.

💎 New From Me

Here is the video I punished today, which is about a topic I wrote about on a pervious newsletter (some of you might find this story annoying at this point 😁).

🔖 Quote I’m pondering

Read what you love until you love to read

— Naval Ravikant

📸 Through My Lens

Please give me feedback on the newsletter by replying to this email. Do you find it worth your time? What do you want more or less of? Or other suggestions?

Thank you for reading!

Mohamed