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 amantha@inventium.com.au

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