How to Plan Your Day for Maximum Productivity

Task batching is a planning technique to combine similar activities. Simply put tasks that are similar can be scheduled together, like texting a friend, emailing a client, or replying social media comments, which can all be planned to be held, say from 12:30 to 1:30.

Without Batching technique, you would be spreading them throughout the day (say texting a friend at 10:30, emailing the client at 12:00, and replying to social media comments at 2:00). This way of planning doesn’t look so bad on the surface, but switching between tasks offers considerable friction and therefore wastes your time.

4. Use Mornings for difficult Tasks

Morning is the most productive time of the day. You are naturally most active, energized, and focused at the start of the day. This means, your ability to learn and process new information is maximum during this time. So, it is best if you start the most difficult tasks in the morning.

For example, for me, writing an article is a much more difficult task than sorting out icons on my desktop. Therefore, I will prefer to write the article in the morning.

You may have heard the expression Eat the frog, which simply means you should start the most difficult task first.

5. Use Afternoons for Mundane Tasks

The afternoon is the time when your energy is depleting hence, it’s best to schedule simple and managing-type tasks in the afternoon.

A quote I read somewhere:

Use morning for making, and the afternoon for managing

Tasks like editing your selfies or reading social media comments don’t require much energy and therefore, can be scheduled for the afternoon.

6. Keep your Schedule Flexible.

When we sit to plan, we generally underestimate the amount of time certain tasks will take. That’s why it is important that you don’t fill each second of your day.

Keeping it flexible allows you to carter for uncertainties, like a traffic jam, slow internet connection, etc.