Ten small habits that plug time leaks
I just watched NindaaFer’s YouTube video about 10 small habits that can “give back” 20+ hours a week.
It’s not about working harder. It’s about plugging the time leaks we’ve come to think of as normal.
Working with your time and energy
1. Use a timer and break work up
Parkinson’s law: work takes up all the time you give it. Give it 3 hours and it takes 3 hours.
The fix is to break it into small blocks, say 50 minutes of work and 10 minutes of rest.
I really feel this one myself. Without a time limit, one task can drag on all day.
2. Work by your energy, not by the clock
- Morning, when your energy is high: deep work, like brainstorming, decision-making and writing.
- Afternoon, when your energy drops: light work, like admin, email and operations.
This is where we often get it wrong. We waste our mornings replying to chats, when those are our most productive golden hours.
3. Set up your environment before you start
It only takes a minute: close the tabs you don’t need, put your phone away, tidy your desk.
Often it’s not that you lack the intention. It’s that the distractions are too close. One notification can eat 30 minutes because you get carried away.
A good analogy: you want to diet, but there are snacks on your desk. The problem isn’t the intention, it’s the system.
4. Pair active and passive activities
Not every activity needs your full focus. Combine the ones that can be combined:
- An afternoon walk while brainstorming ideas
- The gym while listening to a podcast
This isn’t multitasking. It’s stacking one light thing on another light thing so small pockets of time don’t go to waste.
Small tasks and getting started
5. The one-minute rule
If it can be done in a minute, do it now.
Put things back where they belong. Move a file into its folder. Reply to a short chat.
What wears you out isn’t the big tasks. It’s all the small ones piling up in your head. Every one you finish is one less mental load.
6. Mel Robbins’ 5-second rule
The moment you feel a good urge, your brain immediately hands you excuses to put it off: “later, I’m tired, tomorrow.”
The fix: count down 5-4-3-2-1 and move right away.
- Want to exercise? Put your shoes on first.
- Want to write? Open the document first.
Mood isn’t something you wait for. Mood catches up once you start moving.
Planning and keeping things in order
7. Schedule it in your calendar, not just a to-do list
A long to-do list looks productive, but it often ends up as a “guilt list”.
Move your tasks into your calendar with realistic durations. If there’s no slot, delegate it or postpone it.
This forces you to see that your daily capacity is limited. You can’t kid yourself into 20 tasks a day.
8. Batch similar work
Every time you switch to a different kind of work, your brain needs time to “reload”.
You’re focused on a presentation → you open WhatsApp → you reply to a chat → getting back into the presentation takes 5–10 minutes just to remember where you were.
The fix: group similar work into one block. Email gets its own time. Chat gets its own time.
Your energy often runs out not because the work is heavy, but because you keep switching modes.
9. Pick 3 priorities a day
Every day, write down 3 things that, if you finish them, mean you “won” the day.
Not: reply to every email, scroll around for references.
But: finish the draft, send the proposal, exercise for 30 minutes.
The things with the most impact are usually the easiest to put off, because they’re heavy. We tend to do the easy ones first so we “feel busy”.
10. Give everything a “home”
- Physical: wallet, charger, keys → a fixed place.
- Digital: documents, work folders → organized.
Time rarely disappears because of big things. It usually leaks out in 3 minutes looking for a charger, 5 minutes looking for a file, 10 minutes opening folders one by one.
The target: be able to find anything in 30 seconds.
Plugging the small leaks
The bottom line: people who seem to “do it all” aren’t superhuman.
They just plug the small leaks most of us treat as normal.
Time can’t be bought back, and small habits seem to matter more than one big decision.
Watch the full video on NindaaFer’s YouTube channel (in Indonesian). It’s really worth watching.