Dear Creatives and other people with flexible schedules:

I used to work on a lot of different things every day. I would work on my podcast, and my music, and send emails and and and…all on the same day. Oh and that book that I was “writing”? Ha. Yeah, that never got my attention.

But then I starting having a “writing retreat” once a week with nothing else on my to-do list for that day. From there, everything changed.

I started to theme my days. All of them.

Now, I don’t stress about what I’m doing on another day. And I can do deep work on whatever is at hand.

Here are 4 reasons why this system could work for you.

All the best,

Sarah

P.S. When I started theming my days, I realized I had actually done this for years. For years, my working days had one theme: dissertation. And I did incredibly focused work. But then, I had a baby and finished my PhD. Most relevantly to my focus, I worked on many projects at the same time—a blog, a podcast, music, job applications, and childcare all mixed up together, with very little space for deep work. Until I started to theme my days, I didn’t realize what was missing. I’m so glad I figured this out!

4 Reasons You Should Theme Your Days

1. Prioritize What’s Truly Important

We all have big priorities that drive us. We’re creating a show, writing a book, launching a business. But these big priorities can get lost in the clutter of daily life. And we miss out on creating what’s truly important to us.

To theme your days, identify the really important pieces of your life. Then, assign everything a specific day or half day each week.

For example, my big things are: family, music, writing, and podcast. The other big piece is admin, because email and laundry have to happen sometime. Each one is assigned to days or half days throughout the week. (Of course, my family gets a day and a half AND nearly all early mornings and evenings!)

When I plan my work, I plan for those specific times. And when someone want to meet with me, I know to never ever schedule anything during my sacred writing time. (With an exception for voting, because that’s even more important.)

2. Get into Deep Work and Stay There

Deep work (as Cal Newport describes it), or flow is a state of intense, single-minded focus on your work.

In the old way, you might work on several projects all in the same morning. But your brain, awesome as it is, can’t get into a flow state, much less stay there, when you keep bouncing from project to project.

Theming your days means you can get deep into your work and stay there. You can stay in that flow state because you’ve already chosen your priorities and given long stretches of time to what matters to you.

3. Don’t Stress About What You’re *Not* Doing

When you theme your days, you make the executive decision about what to do when. And then the choice is made. You don’t have to keep making and remaking the decision.

Imagine working on a project and not getting that nagging feeling like you need to be somewhere else. Or like you’re forgetting something important. Or like “yes this work is important but ughhh those emails won’t write themselves.”

No more stress like this when you theme your days.

4. Keep Your Admin Time Limited and Intentional

For most jobs, especially creative ones, administrative work should be compressed. It’s necessary work, but if you don’t set firm boundaries around it, it will eat up your time and fog your mental space. Of course, some emails will need a quick response, but for most jobs, administrative tasks can get (and deserve) their own focused time.

Question: Are Themed Days Like Mega-Batching?

Sort of. With mega-matching, you do concentrated work on a single project for a long stretch of time like a day or week. Then you don’t work on it until your next session (e.g. next week or next month). So in that sense, theming your days is like mega-batching. (If you’d like to learn more about mega-batching, check out this podcast.)

However, I think theming your days is quite different from mega-batching. With mega-batching, you actually finish and ship whatever you’re working on. For example, you might write 10 blog posts. Or design one website.

But when you theme your days, you might not finish your project or even one step of your project. In fact, your “theme” might not be a project at all. For example, my music practice isn’t something I can finish: it’s a lifelong practice. And quality time with my family isn’t a project either. But both are incredibly important parts of my life that deserve my full focus.

Question: Are Themed Days Like Time Blocking?

Sort of. Time blocking is where you theme large chunks of your day. Then, you usually repeat that pattern every day of the work week. For example, you might have uninterrupted creative time in the morning. Then have the afternoon for meetings and admin work. And then reserve evenings for personal time.

When you theme your days, you take that concept and apply it to even bigger stretches of time.

So with time blocking, you might decide mornings are for creative time, and then work on 3-4 different projects in the same morning. But when you theme your days, you might work on your book three mornings a week, and your journal articles on the other two mornings.

The result? Deep work on what matters to you, and no more stressing about the work you’ve assigned to another time.

Have you tried theming your days? Let me know how it works for you!