Happy Friday! Just before I jump into my 30-minute weekly planning session to reflect on my upcoming priorities and goals, I wanted to share my daily planning workflow to maximize the time allocated to work.
James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, has this to say about daily habits:
Success is the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.
Everyone has a finite amount of time and resources. At some point, you have to switch from saying “yes” a lot to saying “no” a lot. Author Austin Kleon sums it up pretty well:
You just have to be as generous as you can, but selfish enough to get your work done.
Consuming Content
With inbound content such as emails, documents and meetings, many fail to realize that we consume a lot of information. A colleague of mine labelled said information as either 'infotainment vs information’. In an ideal world, we’d have a healthy balance of both. Now, let's dive into the information we deal with on a daily basis: email, calendar and articles.
I believe in inbox zero. When I go through my emails at select times a day, the goal is not to address them all at once. It is to declutter the inbox and get back to those emails based on importance and urgency. I use the flagging feature for these emails and I triage all relevant emails into 4 labels:
Action - Important emails that are not urgent
Backlog - Emails that are not important nor urgent, but will require me to take action
Waiting - Emails that I sent and am now awaiting action from someone else
Learnings - Any newsletters, podcasts, content that I would like to consume at a later point
Calendar Events
I do a quick scan in the morning with all upcoming meetings. I also see if there is anything that I need to do to prepare for a meeting today or if any meetings can be bundled.
Articles with a high Signal-to-Noise Ratio
First, what is the signal-to-noise ratio? From a content perspective, it is the ratio between the value extracted versus background noise. You want to consume content that provides a lot of value with as little consumption time and effort as possible.
I have my Learnings email inbox, in addition to articles saved on Instapaper.
My Typical Day
So what does my typical day look like? Over the past year, being fortunate enough to work from home allows me to adjust my schedule based on my energy levels.
7-9 am: morning routine, deep creative work on side-projects
9-5 pm: work
5-7 pm: any meetings/catch up with friends, power hour, side-project work
7-8 pm: dinner
8-10 pm: wind down, plan for the next day
What is the Power Hour?
Everyone has little administrative tasks that need to get done but the list keeps on growing and growing. I take all of these administrative tasks, prioritize them, and spend 30-60 minutes a day getting as much done as possible. This gives me a sense of accomplishment and helps me manage my expectations when I am unable to complete everything in one sitting.
Winding Down & Journaling
Journaling motivates me to make the most of each day. I find myself thinking,
What is going to be my story-worthy moment today?
My journaling questions:
Morning
What's one thing top of mind today?
What's the one thing I need to get done today to make progress?
Any dreams while asleep?
Evening
List things I'm grateful for: experiences, people, accomplishments, learnings, events
What prevented me from reaching my goals today?
What am I looking forward to in the near future?
Most story-worthy thing of the day:
How can you get started?
Review your current processes and systems. What’s going well, what isn't going well, and what can be improved?
Set 3 targets for each day in advance. Decide what you'll do, and when.
Start with the thing you are most motivated to do. Do it consistently.
Maintain momentum and immediately move to the next task.
Break things down into smaller chunks.
Questions for you:
What is your definition of a day well spent?
How could you align your day to be focused on single-tasking?
Share this with someone!
Below the Fold:
Quote: “Your list is your past and your future. Carry at all times. Prioritize: today, this week, and eventually. You will someday die with items still on your list, but for now, while you live, your list helps prioritize what can be done in your limited time.” —Tom Sachs
Video: Interview, Lenny Rachitsky (Airbnb, Lenny's Newsletter)
Book: Cracking the PM Career by Gayle Laakmann McDowell and Jackie Bavaro
Blog: How to Create a Chain Reaction of Good Habits by James Clear
Tweet:
Thank you to Shwetha, Emily, and Ananya for feedback and editing.