How to schedule tasks to 2-3x productivity

Things to know

  • Deep Work – working in 2-4 hours, undistracted times boxes with laser focus
  • Shallow Work – work blocks that allow for common distractions
  • Willpower – is the fuel that we burn thru the day; When we sleep it is filling up

Before

I used to plan my day, starting from Deep Work blocks, and later in the day, I switched to Shallow Work. But I always started the day from the most critical tasks, which were often low effort.

This way, I often pushed the most complex and cognitively demanding tasks for later. But after 4 hours, I was done with Deep Work. I could not manage high effort work anymore.

Now

I found out it is essential to match the type of task with the correct working block. High effort tasks should be executed in Deep Work. Low effort tasks should be performed in Shallow Work. And Social Tasks should be done after all of them.

Pros:

  • allows for maintaining stable energy and engagement level
  • allows for delivering 2-3x more tasks (my private experience)
  • helps to avoid situations when you want to work but you can not
  • clear and known limits of how much I can actually do

Cons:

  • requires more planning and management of tasks, like adding labels: priority, deadline, and work_type (high effort, low effort, social)

Final thoughts

It may sound simple but is not. Such an approach But the profits exceed the costs.

My impression is that it is a huge game-changer. It leveraged my overall work satisfaction, reduced any remorse. It allowed me to increase how long I can work and how much I can do.

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