The Time Academy Podcast is a unique time management podcast that asks questions of our relationship with time.

Big ones and small ones but questions nonetheless.

For example, how did this podcast become your priority just now?

You may think, “this is not my priority” and yet surely our priorities are what we do, not what we say or think?

In fact, stepping back a little, how did you decide to allocate your time throughout your day today as you switched from one priority to another?

The podcast won’t likely offer many answers, but it will hopefully offer different questions. And let’s be honest – if you are not comfortable with questions this podcast may not be for you. Similarly, if you are just seeking ready answers, you’ll probably find insight elsewhere.

For me, possibility comes not from seeking answers but from learning to ask better questions and that ultimately is the purpose of this podcast.

Possibility comes not from seeking answers but from learning to ask better questions!

The 20 episodes consist of short reflections in which I share some of my own insights but most importantly I leave you with some questions that might offer a slightly different perspective. Each episode covers one topic and, as befits a reflection on time, only lasts a few minutes but will hopefully echo for some time thereafter!

If you find the reflections useful, please share them. I would also love to get your feedback and hear your stories so please feel free to email me at hello @ tomoleary.ie

Episode 20 – Your Priorities Are What You Do

Our priorities are what we do, not what we say or think.

Many people struggle with this, saying one thing whilst their actions tell a different story.

So, what priorities are you actually living?

Do these differ from the stories you tell yourself?

Indeed, how do you even know what your true priorities are?

Episode 19 – Time Defaults

Much of our lives are lived through default behaviour (habits, routines, rituals…).

Such behaviour can become so ingrained that we hardly notice it.

And yet it can highly condition how we allocate our time and energy.

What do you do on auto-pilot?

Episode 18 – Finding Balance

Life is in many ways a quest for balance.

• How balanced do you feel your life it?
• What part of your life is getting the short straw?
• What might you do about it?
• In short, where might you benefit from more balance in your life?

Episode 17 – Morning Routines

We clearly don’t know what a particular day may hold or what might best prepare us for that day.

And yet, it is clear that there probably are ways of better preparing for whatever that day has in store for us.

And that preparation starts with our morning routine.

Episode 16 – How Do I Allocate Time? (Part II)

This episode builds on and works with the same basic concepts as Episode 15 so if you haven’t listened to that yet my invitation is to do so now!

The first key point is that we do allocate time.

It is a deliberate choice.

• The question then is what rules govern how you allocate your time?
• What have you made your priority?
• How do you even know?

Episode 15 – How Do I Allocate Time? (Part I)

Whether we realise it or not we are continually answering the question of How do I Allocate Time?

And yet, are we aware of how exactly we make these decisions?

For example, how will you decide what exactly to do today?

Or even next?

Episode 14 – How Are Your Physical Environments Affecting You?

• Is place important to you?
• For example, does it matter where you work?
• Is one office the same as another?

In reality, our physical environments affect not only our health but also our productivity.

Episode 13 – Making the World Too Small

The idea of making the world too small is inspired by the poet David Whyte and yet the concept is eternal.

It is about the conversations we choose to have with ourselves and others, and equally importantly the conversations we choose to avoid.

So what conversations are you avoiding?

Where are you refusing to look?

Episode 12 – Doing versus Accomplishing

Whilst often used almost interchangeably, when you start unpicking Doing and Accomplishing you realise that they can lead to two very different life paths.

Imagine, instead of having a to-do list, you had a to-accomplish list?

How would that feel?

Episode 11 – How is Past Experience Affecting You?

We may think the past is past and so is gone and yet we are ultimately products of the past.

Our habits are memories of past experiences, our schedules are past commitments over our time, our thought patterns are ways of thinking from the past.

The past is thus only truly past when we set it down.

So, what are you carrying with you that you might put down?

Episode 10 – Time Tenses: Past, Present and Future

How much of your time do you feel you spend in the present?

What hold does the past have over you?

In fact, what hold does the future have over you?

Does one of the three tenses have more sway?

Episode 9 – To-do Lists and Stress

To-do lists are supposed to be helpful, right?

Sure, given our complex lives, they can help calm our brains, which have a tendency to hang on to the undone and the unfinished.

And yet, for many people they turn into millstones, nagging them about what remains to be done rather than congratulating them on what has been done.

Episode 8 – Urgent v. Important

The distinction between what is urgent and what is important goes to the heart of any discussion on time and productivity.

In fact, how do you distinguish?

In short, how do you know what is important for you today?

Episode 7 – Resetting Expectations

What do you expect from this podcast episode?

How does it help to build up a mental picture in advance?

And yet that is what many of us do all day by building up pictures of how we would like the future to be. Despite all this effort, how often does the future play out as we want? So why do we bother?

Episode 6 – Play and Creativity

Why have an episode on playfulness? What a waste of time! Adults are too busy to play. Right?

In practice, however, if we are too busy trying to crack a problem head on because we don’t have time for seeming idleness we can spend much longer than if we were to take the time to play and creatively explore whatever is in front of us.

Episode 5 – Not all Hours Are Created Equal

Not all hours are created equal and yet we often act as if they are, randomly scheduling activities throughout the day.

And yet this seemingly simple task of scheduling what when can have a direct impact on the outcome.

Episode 4 – Hard Work and Morality

The hard work mantra so prized by many may no longer be fit for purpose for modern knowledge workers.

Different attitudes and approaches to work may be more beneficial depending on what outcomes are being sought.

Episode 3 – Productivity and Not Being Enough

Ever feel like no matter how much you do there is still so much more to get done?

For many people, to-do lists are eternal with the focus on what hasn’t been done creating a sense of being incomplete, of not being enough.

Episode 2 – Thinking About Timescales

Playing with timescales allows you to create a vision (set a goal if you like) in one timescale and then focus on processes in the shorter ones (habits, routines, rituals).

Episode 1 – What Represents a Good Life for You?

This may feel a little off topic for a podcast primarily delving into time and productivity but the truth is that we spend much of our time, energy and attention answering this question in our daily actions.