How I Work

How Tim Herrera went from dreading writing to being a writer and editor for the New York Times

Listen on

Episode notes

My guest today is Tim Herrera. Tim is the founding editor of Smarter Living for the New York Times, where he edits and reports stories about living a better, more fulfilling life. Before coming to The Times, he was a reporter and editor at The Washington Post, where he wrote about digital culture.

I am a regular subscriber to Smarter Living and I thought that surely the person editing this section of the times must have some awesome practices in his own life for living smarter. And Tim totally did. He has thought a lot about how he works and I think you’ll find a heap of really practical ideas in this interview.

We cover:

Tim’s favourite piece of advice from editing Smarter Living at the New York Times
Why Tim refuses to go to meetings
Why Tim prefers receiving messages on Twitter instead of email
Tim’s methods for managing his inbox
How to create a great story pitch to the New York Times
Common mistakes people make when pitching their ideas
How Tim works in bursts of productivity
Tim’s approach to managing his time on social media
The role Twitter plays in Tim’s work life
Tim’s advice for becoming a better writer
Common mistakes Tim sees writers make
How to craft a great headline
How Tim reframed the way he thinks about his own procrastination
Creating habits to eliminate the need for willpower

You can find Tim at Smarter Living, subscribe to Smarter Living here, and you can follow Tim on Twitter.

Visit amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at [email protected]

If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.