Follow your Energy, Not your Calendar
Hey friends, happy Sunday!
This week I've been putting the final touches to my new studio/agency which will be launching in the next few days.
In other news I just published my first Youtube video simply providing an overview of what I'll be doing on the channel, my website and this newsletter.
The video is pretty rough but the aim is to improve by 1% every time. The focus, for now, is to create a lot and enjoy the process of making videos.
Follow your Energy, Not your Calendar
This year I've been mixing up how I plan and structure my days. Going from a rigid time blocking system to a more relaxed to-do list system.
Before I'd plan out my day by the hour, trying to cram in as much as I possibly could. The issue with this system was that it felt like my calendar controlled every waking hour.
If I scheduled two hours to work on something the task would expand to fill that time. If I underestimated how long something would take then it would completely throw off the rest of my day.
Personally I find living by my calendar is a miserable way to live. When I plan out the week on a Sunday there's no way I can know that at 2 - 4 pm on a Wednesday I will want to work on a design.
So now I don't plan so granularly.
Instead of time blocking I scope out what needs to get done that week. If it's vital it gets tagged as "High" priority, if it's not urgent then I set it as "Medium" [I don't set anything low priority because I find anything low priority often isn't worth doing at all].
Then I loosely assign tasks to certain days of the week depending on their urgency and how much I've already got going on that day. From here when I work and what I work on is completely fluid.
Rather than regimenting exactly how my day is going to go I follow a rough routine in the morning and the evening, have a few daily habits set as reminders in an app called streaks, and then decide what to work on based on how I'm feeling.
Here is an overview of how my work and my energy overlap.
- Creative: Design or Write
- High energy: Record videos
- Focused: Development / Implementation
- Low Energy: Edit videos, do emails and general admin
- Curious: Learn or Read
- Tired: Workout or Walk
Instead of setting out my work in advance and trying to force my energy into a certain state I instead setup a system where no matter my energy level I always default to doing something productive.
The only time during the week that I have to stray from following my energy/mood is for the things that still live in my calendar [meetings, appointments etc] - thankfully there aren't many of these.
Simply working on whatever I'm feeling at any given time enables me to greatly improve my output whilst enjoying my work more.
Whenever I'm following my mood and energy guided by the to-do list - It feels like play. Following the calendar feels like work.
Ultimately if you really want to do something then you will get it done, but why not make the journey more enjoyable by working on your terms.
"You can't compete against someone who's having fun"
- Tiago Forte
Here are this week's finds:
⚙️ Sean’s Content Creation Flywheel
(Article)
Sean McCabe [seanwes] is one of the most prolific creators out there and his method for creation lines up perfectly with following your energy instead of your calendar.
This really short post lays out how he thinks about creation and how he’s been able to produce so much over the last few years.
Well worth checking out if you’re looking to create your own content in future.
🔮 Why the Future of Startups are Studios
(Article)
For the last few months I'd been weighing up starting a studio vs pursuing a business. Eventually I came to the conclusion that I want to build a studio / agency that would later transition more into building digital products + tools.
After figuring this out I stumbled on this post from Greg Isenberg on how he's building something similar at Late Checkout.
The path for Pickaxe [my studio] will certainly look a little different to this with more focus on building a portfolio of profitable micro-businesses similar to Fork Equity.
I think over the next few years we will see more and more companies adopting a part agency, part product studio model with lean teams who are able to move fast and work on interesting problems.
(Tweet)
You might have seen Burger King’s recent re-brand, I just wanted to mention how f’in good it looks.
Pulling off a re-brand like this for a company the size of Burger King must have been a complex project but they’ve executed it perfectly.
Burger King have really been pulling out some genius marketing moves over the last few years, like this one involving Stevenage FC and FIFA.
End Notes
If you enjoyed this edition of the Sunday Filter then I'd love it if you share it with a few friends. You can send them over here to sign up.
Have a great Sunday,
- Stephen