I bookmarked ‘This Google Employee Has a Brilliant Time Management Strategy‘ with every intent to never read it, or any of the other 45,879 articles I’ve bookmarked. But I’ve been struggling with scheduling recently. Like in the last 14 years. Something about the article called out to me and it kept creeping into my head. The kind of creep that’s usually reserved for cat videos or Late Night clips. So I rolled my eyes at myself and read it.
Color me impressed, with a shade of hero worship thrown in. Jeremiah Dillon has done something special here. He’s taken a few dozen good ideas about time management, many of which you’ve probably read about, and he’s compressed it into an email that just plain makes sense. I won’t quote from the post too liberally. Please go read it if you’re looking for a refresh on your weekly schedule. But his ideas are captured well with this general calendar:
Monday: Energy ramps out of the weekend — schedule low-demand tasks like setting goals, organizing, and planning.
Tuesday, Wednesday: Peak of energy — tackle the most difficult problems, write, brainstorm, schedule your Make Time.
Thursday: Energy begins to ebb — schedule meetings, especially when consensus is needed.
Friday: Lowest energy level — do open-ended work, long-term planning, and relationship building.
Always bias your Make Time toward the morning, before you hit a cycle of afternoon decision fatigue.
Yes, yes and yes. This looks like a breakdown of my inner week — you know, the one that makes the work week a success or wretched. Make Time is the term used to define the time where you, well, make. No meetings. No phone calls. No bill paying.
Do you need a time management refresh? What do you think of this idea? Let us know in the comments!
Does it just have to be for writers? Seems like a great approach for any time management issues. :)
You bet! It’s just that my world is all writing, all the time, so I see the world through that prism. Even in my sleep…
I am aware of some of this, and especially guard my morning time, though I’m also a pushover for when someone needs me. The real challenge is to not procrastinate away my morning productive time. It won’t come back in the afternoon.
Yeah, productive time seems to draw from the same well as decision-making. It’s limited and exhausts itself quickly. I luck out sometimes and get a surge of energy, but that’s a once a season kind of thing. In the end, for me, true productivity always seems to enjoy a schedule, focus and short bursts at the right time. I can make progress on something through sheer willpower, yes, but the good stuff comes out when everything is lined up perfectly.
Great. Simple and helpful. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing, Ben. Now, can you tell me how to increase sales into the stratosphere?
Sure! The answer is 42! ;-)