The follow up to ‘Why Your Days Feel Chaotic’.
Momentum Move: Live the Template, Don't Overcomplicate It
Your default day isn't a rigid schedule. It's a framework for making better decisions.
When someone asks for a meeting during your deep work block, you know to suggest an alternative time.
When you feel scattered at 2 PM, you know to switch to lighter tasks instead of forcing focus.
When unexpected things come up (they always do), you have a template to return to.
The goal isn't to follow your template perfectly. The goal is to stop designing your day from scratch every morning.
Most people spend more time planning their weekend than they do planning their workdays.
Then they wonder why Monday through Friday feels chaotic.
Your default day becomes your competitive advantage. While others react to whatever comes next, you're already three steps ahead.
Build the template once. Live it daily. Watch how much more you accomplish when you stop leaving your energy to chance.
1. Map Your Energy Window (5 minutes)
Track your Energy Levels for one week:
Take a note of it every two hours and rate it 1-10. Notice when you feel sharp, creative or drained. Most people discover that they have 2-3 Peak Windows every day.
2. Assign Work Types To Energy (3 minutes)
Match Tasks to your Energy Levels:
Peak Energy: Deep Work, Creative Projects, Important Decisions
Medium Energy: Meetings, Admin Tasks, Planning
Low Energy: Email, Organizing, Routine Tasks
3. Build Your Template (10 minutes)
Create a Rough Schedule:
This should protect your Peak Hours for your most important work. Block these times like appointments with yourself.
7-9am - Deep Work (Peak Energy)
10-12pm - Meetings (Medium Energy)
1-3pm - Creative Work (2nd peak)
4. Add Energy Bridges (2 minutes)
Plan short transitions between major blocks:
A 5 Minute Walk, Deep Breathing, Hydration Break. These will keep you from crashing between activities.
This is a great alternative to the reflex reaction mode most of us operate in. As you say, it's not just time management and interruption management that are desperately needed, it's also connecting the types of work we're doing (rote, thinking, creative) with the energy we have at that time of the day. I love this.
In my work as a trainer, I get people to identify whether they are a morning or a night person, and then have them put their hardest work in their most alert hours. Your strategy takes that further. I'm glad you referenced breaks between energy zones, since those are critical to rebooting the brain and recovery from mental strain. Excellent breakdown.