Organize Your Schedule by Mental State, Not by Project
If you are struggling to get the job done and feel alternately nervous, distracted, and tired, try this alternative planning approach. Writer and podcaster David Kadavi organizes his tasks based on their mental workload , separating high-level creative tasks, such as generating ideas, from less complex tasks, such as research, and more mundane tasks, such as administration. Kadavi’s Medium post describes six types of mental work and how he categorizes them on his weekly schedule.
Kadavi’s schedule uses the extra mental energy it has at the start of the week or day. He spends mornings and Mondays doing creative work such as brainstorming, midweek afternoons polishing existing projects (such as editing a book), and completing various administrative work on Fridays.
Most of us don’t have the flexibility of a self-employed “creative entrepreneur” like Kadavi. But you may have the freedom to save most of your paperwork or organization for the afternoon, or schedule more creative meetings early in the week. Or do the opposite if that’s how your mental energy works. The point is to be aware of what kind of work you are doing and when your mind is most ready for it.
The philosophy of the mental state is aimed at solving all productivity problems: splitting up ideas generation sessions helps to avoid creative burnout; scheduling time for the administrator means fewer things don’t go unnoticed. It is best to choose and only apply what works for you, as is the case with most productivity systems published through the Medium post.
Don’t organize your tasks by project, but by state of mind | Middle