An Bui, Spelled An With 1 N

Conversation déjà vu – In the past 10 days or so, I’ve discussed the same topic with multiple people – time, or more accurately, lack thereof. The reality of my life and the others with whom I’ve discussed this topic is that we don’t have the time to do everything we want to do. We can’t have it all. The question is: how does one take a resource of a known, fixed quantity and use it more effectively or efficiently?

I most recently discussed this with Eytan Seidman, who is in the midst of a transition from his role as Principal Lead Program Manager on the Live Search team to a role in an entrepreneurial venture back on the East Coast. I met the charming Mr. Seidman at the SEOmoz party where I met Natala Menezes of adCenter. Highly intelligent, engaging, and thought-provoking, Eytan (and his time) is in high demand. His availability and my availability have yet to overlap.

Jeremiah Owyang blogged today about time management – “Manage Your Time Like You Manage Money,” and yesterday I recommended Marc Andreessen’s blog post, “The Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity,” to a friend. Both Jeremiah and Marc provide interesting insights to increasing effectiveness with one’s time.

Other productivity resources online include:

1. Lifehacker, one of Gawker Media’s blogs. Title should be self explanatory.
2. 43 Folders, Merlin Mann’s websites about personal productivity, life hacks, and life improvement.
3. Listible’s online life hack community.

Essentially, prioritization and decision making serve as the key components to productivity, personal or professional. Take the idea of touching each piece of paper once to 2008 – read each email once. Make a decision on it, then delete it.

Finally, less sleep + more coffee = more time to do.