How I structure my workweek
Let's minimize decision fatigue and context switching
Note: This post was written with freelancers and solopreneurs in mind, but the ideas can also be adapted for those working in part-time or full-time roles.
Recently, I got this text from a client:
Hi Kat! In the mornings, I’m pretty happy with my schedule of writing and then doing some production work.
In the afternoons, I kind of get lost. I want to do so many things but get a bit overwhelmed with what exactly to do. And end up wasting the time. Do you have any tips for structuring the afternoon?
This is one of the most commonly asked questions I get from clients trying to:
manage their own schedules
find time outside “work-work” for creative projects
So instead of an essay, today I’ll be show-and-telling my workweek as an example. Please use this as a case study: hold it up against yourself to check for resonance. Take what you like, and leave the rest. Here we go!
“Themed days”
Before testing out and finding success with themed days, I had no rhyme or reason to how I spent my workweek.
This led to fits and starts: periods of high productivity, fatigue from “popcorning” around from task to task, followed by a feeling burned out and the Zeigarnik effect (which explains why our brains can’t stop thinking about things we haven’t done or left incomplete).
My themed days keep context switching under control and reduce decision fatigue. I know when I am doing what kind of work.
In Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown discusses Jack Dorsey’s often-cited themed days schedule when he was logging 16-hour days running both Twitter and Square. As I read it, I had two thoughts:
Running two companies by giving each a full 8-hour day sounds WILDLY unhealthy
Hmm, I do like themes though…
My themed days
I have clients from 1:30pm — 6pm, so my themed days are more precisely “themed mornings”.
Like my client above, you might have something consistently in the mornings, and you need more structure for the afternoons.
Here is my latest version:
Marketing & Money Mondays
“Tell” Tuesdays
Website, Wild Growth & Education Wednesdays
Thick-as-Thieves, Thumb-Through & Thinking Thursdays
Follow-up, Finish-up & Fun Fridays
Spiritual, Screen-Sabbath & “Spa” Saturday
Scrub, Setup & Strong Start Sunday
Here it is in more detail
Marketing & Money: all things marketing, tend to accounting, finances, etc.
“Tell” (writing): I thrive when one day out of the week is a 4-hour chunk of deep work
Website, “Wild Growth” & Education: my website needs regular updating and batching those tasks on one day feels great; there are “Most Important Thing” prioritized actions that help grow my practice and business; it’s important to me to keep up with professional development skills
Thick-as-thieves, Thumb-Through & Thinking: my calls/meetings with friends, family, and potential collaborators get their own day. I also like having a day where the focus is “thumbing through” (reading) and thinking, to keep connecting dots and feeling inspired.
Follow-up, Finish-up, & Fun: Closing as many loops as possible, re-pinging people so they might have time to respond during the weekend, and wind the week down!
Spiritual, Screen-Sabbath & “Spa”: Do something good for the soul, try to minimize screen time, and be relaaaaaaxed.
Scrub, Setup & Strong Start: Doing things Near-Future Kat will thank me for: cleaning my space, previewing the coming week, deciding on priorities, throwing tasks and appointments on the calendar
Gold nugget lessons
Work with who and how you are
Good systems are designed well, so you actually use them. I value fun, individuality, and good design. These apply to a workweek structure, too.
Example: Like a lot of people, I enjoy alliteration. As you can see, I went to some comical lengths to keep my theme days alliterative. Like, a lot of thesaurus use. But you know what? It amuses me, I feel ownership over each day, and thus I feel more dedicated to it. Copy-pasting someone else’s system just wouldn’t last.
Your values and core design elements might be different — consider what they are and try to get them in there.
Go with the flow (of the week)
For years, I stubbornly called my Fridays “Finance Fridays”: this was the day I chose to do accounting, finance, and general money-related tasks. I was committed to the alliteration thing.
It was a massive failure. I ended up booting finance tasks to Monday more often than not.
Finally someone gave me a weird look and exclaimed, “Finance Friday, Kat? Why not FUN Friday?!”
Friday is the end of the week, the taper down — you’ve used a lot of focused attention and willpower to get things done. The societal energy of a Friday is one of more levity and fun, so going with the flow adds up to thoughtful design here.
Also, you know how Mondays can feel so hard? Here’s my theory: Mondays should ideally be a slow ramp-up, because we’ve just finished the weekend a moment ago. I wonder whether we’d have “Sunday Scaries” at all if we let Monday actually bloom at its own pace.
What’s working
Using themed days saves me untold amounts of time and cognitive load.
When I want to grab lunch with a friend or potential collaborator, I try to schedule it on a Thursday that works for us both. It eliminates trying to decide when to meet, which is precious brain power and time.
I don’t wake up in the morning wondering what I am do that day. If I’ve been following along, I used Sunday to “set-up” for a “strong start”; I’ve designated my themed tasks and I’m ready to get started.
If Sunday was spent doing something else — which is often — it’s okay! I still know the theme of that day. I can choose what I think is the Most Important Thing and just do that. Some days just be like that.
It’s still a work in progress — like everything
Over the years, I’ve realized that collecting ideas, iterating, and re-calibrating my workweek is an active, on-going process.
There are weeks when Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is very much affecting me. For a while, I felt like those weeks were “bad”, or that I was just perpetually playing catch up.
Why the themed day system works for me: there’s enough space to be a human.
It says, “Here are today’s themes. Based on that, what’s the Most Important Task you can do today?”
Hope this inspires you to tweak or try a new approach to spending time. Would love to hear what ideas this bubbled up for you, or anything you’re noticing:
Cool! Gonna think about my own themes. One concern: Sometimes inspiration hits to write (or do finances?) on a different day of the week. Would feel wrong to resist it. Doesn't this happen to you sometimes?
OMG I needed this - we need to make Fridays fun again!