Buzz
This week, we explore strategies to enhance time management skills with Tiffany Dufu, Founder and CEO of The Cru. Spoiler: it’s not about time-blocking, to-do lists, or the Pomodoro Technique. Instead, it’s about clarifying priorities, leveraging your calendar effectively, and asking the right questions to determine task importance.
Tiffany, author of Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less, also founded The Cru, a peer coaching platform designed to empower women.
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Key takeaways from this week’s episode
Insights from the Tiffany Dufu Interview
On identifying and focusing on your priorities:
Clarity about what truly matters is essential...When I ask people what’s important to them, they often list areas of their life, like career or family. My goal is to guide them toward understanding what they aim to accomplish in those areas. For me, it’s about advancing women and girls—that’s my purpose. My career is significant, but if it doesn’t contribute to this mission, it’s not fulfilling. Similarly, parenting is vital, but my ultimate goal is raising conscious global citizens. Once you define what matters most, it becomes a filter for your focus and actions. The next step is understanding your highest and best use—what you excel at effortlessly, often due to repetition, and what only you can do, tasks that would be irresponsible to delegate.
On why a calendar outperforms a to-do list:
I’ve completely abandoned to-do lists. They don’t work for me because I lack the discipline to account for life’s unpredictability. A day has 24 hours, and a week has seven days—time is finite. Yet, my to-do lists never acknowledged my limitations as a human being. I’d keep adding tasks, then feel guilty for not completing them, even though the list was often unrealistic. Now, I rely on my calendar as a tool for accountability. Whenever a task arises, I schedule it, no matter how trivial it seems. If I can’t fit it into my calendar, it forces me to reconsider whether I should commit to it or communicate my limitations to others.
For more of Tiffany’s insightful tips on effective time management, we encourage you to listen to the full episode.
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