Not all days need to look the same

Experiment with your schedule to find the right weekly rhythm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is that not all days need to look
the same. While it is important to have a good

(00:23):
rhythm for your work days, that rhythm can change to
allow you to spend more time on certain activities, particularly
if you are working from home. These days, you might
have a fair amount of flexibility in your schedule, so
it's worth trying it out. We all have certain times

(00:45):
of day when we work best. Most people are more
focused in the morning, so it's good to do deep
and difficult work. Then that checking call about a project
that's not really changed since the last check in, Well,
that's better done when you are brain dead, which for
most of us happens in mid afternoon. But sometimes it's

(01:08):
helpful to spend an entire day, or at least an
entire morning, doing a certain kind of work. Our brains
can really get in the groove. So as you plan
out your week, no that not all days need to
look the same, think about how you might strategically make

(01:28):
different days look a little different. Maybe Monday morning is
for long term speculative projects. Maybe you try to schedule
as many of your meetings as possible for Tuesday, and
then keep Wednesdays completely open so you're able to deal
with new things that have come up or whatever is
demanding your attention in the moment. Maybe you always carve

(01:51):
out Thursday afternoons for meetings with direct reports, or you
take those nice to do but not urgent calls on
Friday mornings, and as I always suggest, you can plan
your upcoming weeks on Friday afternoons. Will it always work
to keep the schedule, No, of course not. But by
recognizing that not all days need to look the same,

(02:15):
you can make sure that you do carve out time
fairly regularly for important things. You won't be able to
always have meeting free mornings, but you could probably arrange
for at least two a week. Then you'll be able
to take advantage of this time for deeper thinking. And similarly,
some afternoons won't have meetings and you can think about

(02:37):
other things you might usually do then, like planning on Fridays.
We live our lives in weeks, not days. Thinking in
terms of a hundred sixty eight hours, not twenty four
reminds us that things don't have to happen daily in
order to count in our lives. Indeed, not all day

(03:00):
ease need to look the same, especially with working from
home as many people are these days, we can use
some of our inherent time flexibility to embrace new weekly rhythms.
So today, plot out what an ideal work week would
look like for you. What activities would you like to
build into your work schedule once or twice a week?

(03:23):
When do you think these would best fit? Strategize about
how you can preserve time for these things. When you
look at the whole work week as a unit, it
is amazing what you can get done, certainly more than
if you just take things day by day. In the meantime,
this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

(03:47):
the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to
hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's B the number four,

(04:09):
then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media
dot com That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
the letters. Thanks so much. I look forward to Staying
in Touch Before Breakfast is a production of i heart Radio.

(04:31):
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