How To Schedule Your Work Days To Get Sh*t Done

There’s nothing like spending 9 hours “working” only to realize the only thing you actually finished… was reheating your coffee. Three times.

I don’t know what’s worse…

Being “at work” and unable to focus?

Or being off work and still hearing email notifications in your dreams?

Either way, most people's calendars aren’t productivity systems—they’re emotionally abusive situationships with recurring calendar invites.

And apparently, we’re all just expected to figure out how to manage time while drowning in overwhelm.

So you end up leaking energy like a cracked bucket:

Back-to-back calls.

Context-hopping.

Saying yes to meetings you didn’t ask for.

Or worse—meetings that should’ve been ignored.

It’s not that you’re lazy.

You’ve just got a leaky bucket.

If you could actually see what was happening during the day… it’d look something like this:

Think of the faucet as your energy source.

It represents your focus, creative bandwidth, and internal battery.

But the way your workdays are set up?

That energy leaks out everywhere.

It’s not just “a lot going on.”

It’s the way your brain gets yanked around all day:

• Jumping from Zoom calls straight into 'deep work' you already missed a deadline on.

• Starting your day in your inbox instead of tackling what actually moves the needle.

• Getting halfway through a client proposal… before someone Slacks you “real quick.”

• Saying yes to a 20-minute meeting that should’ve been a Loom—then pretending you’re still focused.

• Switching tabs every 90 seconds because your brain never fully landed in the task.

• Treating every unplanned request like a four-alarm fire… even when it’s not.

It’s not just task-switching.

It’s cognitive whiplash.

And that’s what drains you.

So how do you fix the leaks?

You create a system for energy management.

And that starts with reworking the way you structure your days—so your brain isn’t stuck switching gears every 12 minutes.

Here’s how to start:

The Energy-Proof Calendar Framework

1. Assign Energy Zones To Your Day:

You can’t do deep, focused work right after a meeting about meeting agendas. Block off sacred focus time when your brain is sharp.

Give your day structure like:

• Morning = Creative work

• Afternoon = Admin & meetings

• Late day = Cleanup & replies

If your energy is a battery, stop trying to run high-performance programs on 3%.

2. Batch Your Tasks:

Jumping between deep focused work, customer calls, and team questions in a 90-minute window is a great way to fry your brain and forget what the hell you were doing.

Batch your work by task type.

• All creative work goes together.

• All comms go together.

• All admin together.

• All calls get a cage.

Even better if you can assign them to specific days.

3. Build In Buffer Blocks (On Purpose):

Stop scheduling back-to-back calls like you’re a robot. Give your brain white space to reset.

Even 10 minutes between things helps you land, re-center, and not go full blackout by 3 PM.

4. Pre-Decide What Gets Access

If you don’t tell your day what matters, everyone else will. So get clear on two things:

• What actually needs your attention today

• What’s allowed to interrupt that focus and what’s not

Set rules like:

• “I don’t check messages until after 2pm.”

• “Mornings are for deep work. If it’s not urgent, it waits.”

• “Calls don’t get booked on deep focus days.”

It’s not about being rigid. It’s about protecting your brain from shutting down with overwhelm.

Energy management isn’t a luxury, it’s the only reason you still have a functioning frontal lobe.

If your brain’s been begging for space, give it a schedule it can actually win in.

And this isn't something you do one time.

It's a practice and requires refinement.

So, cheers to less whiplash

More clarity

And finally...

A day that actually moves the needle instead of draining your will to live.