How to Theme your Week to be more productive

This past year, I’ve really focused on how to maximize my time. Recently I learned about the idea to theme your time. This simple strategy revolutionized my time! I often wear many hats in my life: mother, partner, friend, employee, entrepreneur, student, coach, etc. Much like you, I wanted my time to feel purposeful and not too busy, overwhelmed, or stressed. 

I moved from a calendar that looked like this:

To a calendar that looked like this:

As you can see, I had things all over the place. None of my time was “dedicated” to similar items, which meant I would need to jump from one task to another. So I spent a few days overhauling my calendar and worked to batch like items together. I now have bigger blocks of free work time to do deep work, and I was able to align my work with my most productive time of day. 

For me mornings are my most productive time, I’m an eat the frog first kind of gal. I like to do my most important, challenging, or impactful work in the morning. I’m fresh, focused, and slightly caffeinated. 

By doing this, I’ve shifted my habit of working on something, to actually producing once I sit down to work. Giving myself time, a deadline, and an opportunity to have the space I need makes it much easier to accomplish what I need to get done. Over the years, I’ve learned that if you don’t manage your calendar, the calendar controls you, and people can demand or take up the time that keeps you from reaching your goals.