If cooking is just a matter of adding heat to food at different intervals of time, then getting ahead is just getting work done earlier rather than later.

In spite of the simplicity, it turns out that there are a million ways to prepare, add heat, and serve ingredients. That’s why the culinary arts exist. A good chef has practiced turning the most meager ingredients into a meal, over and over again.

There’s a similar art to getting work done ahead of time. A life with less burnout, less procrastination, and less stress, are all results of falling behind less (or falling behind more gracefully). You’ll still never get your to-do list done, but you will set yourself up to take care of the things you need to do.

You wouldn’t call what a chef does ingredient management, so I don’t think phrases like “time management” or “prioritization” sufficiently describe it. While we are getting better at talking about it, it still seems like undiscovered territory.