Changing it up this week + have a short one for you, but for good reason:
What I’m about to share has made me 10x more productive, but is FAR from anything new or something I came up with. It was mostly one of those “no duh/facepalm” moments after struggling for months with the ability to focus.
So what’s the big secret that I’m now swearing by?
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When do I focus best?
That was the question I asked myself as I was struggling one afternoon to sit down + get into a task I knew I needed to get done.
I noticed it was starting to snowball on me as I kept deferring it for a few days + it mentally became a much bigger “thing” than it really was as a result. So like the overthinker + overanalyzer that I am, I worked backward from the outcome (me twiddling my thumbs because I couldn’t bring myself to focus) to the inputs that led to this not-ideal outcome.
My schedule at the time looked like this:
8:30-9a = map out plan for the day, catch up on slack/email
9a-noon = 1:1s, meetings, etc.
noon-1p = lunch
1-2p = “catch up” slack/email time, work through my to-do list
2-3:30p = meetings, working sessions, etc.
3:30-5:30p = where my calendar was most often “open” + time I could actually do work
Lovely day, isn’t it?
Yeah definitely not. Everything I did was reactive from the time I started my day until 3:30p. Then being realistic, that 3:30-5:30p time often had what I planned to do replaced by something that was “super urgent” + needed to be done yesterday.
On top of that, I’m notorious for having the post-lunch food coma, so that 1-2p time often meant task-snacking on items from my to-do list that felt good to check off, but weren’t really impactful in the big picture.
Back to the question posed at the top of this section, “when do I focus best?” this was the one that had me 🤦♂️’ing myself the most. For years I’ve been most productive in the mornings. That’s when my focus is highest + the day’s decision fatigue hasn’t set in yet.
But the way I structured my calendar completely ignored that.
So as I’ve started on this next stage of my career working with clients again, I decided to make this a non-negotiable + built it into my calendar from day 1.
My days now
By seeing these blocks already on my calendar, I treat them as if they’re a meeting already booked that can’t be moved. It also prevents others from scheduling time during those hours via a calendar booking link since those hours won’t show as available.
Note: yes, I know there’s 1 meeting smack in the middle of my Monday deep work time that productivity experts would cringe at, but it’s our weekly DemandLoops team sync that was scheduled long before I became part of the crew. Sharing because you’ll probably have a few other similar scenarios to this + it’s ok. This isn’t a binary exercise where it’s all or nothing, sometimes we have to be a little flexible.
I still use my ~8-9a time to plan out the day ahead + catch up on pressing slack/emails, but as soon as I’m done with those, I jump right in.
On my to-do list each day, I have 1-2 “most important work” items that sit above everything else. These are the items that get worked on during the morning focus time. That way I know that should nothing else in the day go to plan after my focus time, I’ll still be able to consider the day a success knowing I made significant progress on the most important work at the time.
As of recent weeks, some days that’s looked like any of the following:
Hubspot audit + analysis
Custom project scoping for potential clients
Google Ads review + scale plan
Lead management/process audit
Auditing 3 current markets a prospect was going after + running the numbers to make a recommendation for where to apply their focus vs. spreading thin trying to hit them all
ABM readiness audit + the plan to be able to move to this
Scale plan to 3x the number of meetings booked a client needs to hit their Q4 goal (without saying “just put it all into paid media!”)
Meaty projects + made harder when task-switching is involved, so I simply removed that variable.
Now I’m finding myself setting timelines for clients or myself that I’m delivering on multiple days in advance because I’m able to flow through the work so much faster than before by having clear focus on what I need to be doing AND only doing that during the time carved out for it.
That’s it - that’s the big secret
Figure out your most productive hours, block them off, + protect them as unmovable.
Definitely not sexy, and as I said, definitely not anything new or novel being shared here.
Just one of those things you hear people say enough times, finally decide to try for yourself, and then shake your head at yourself for not doing it sooner.
See you next week,
Sam