Overflowing small things

I regularly listen to Cal Newport's podcast where he discusses topics around productivity and lifestyle planning, but I've never fully bought into his systems. I like the idea of putting in place autopilot activities, where you identity habits that are important enough to you that you make them happen automatically as part of your regular routine. I've done this for exercise before I start work, as well as writing this blog 2-3 times per week. On the days that I'm not actually writing and publishing on this blog, I try to reflect and expand on ideas that I've captured in my Notion, so in some way shape or form, my autopilot activity there is working through my ideas on a daily basis.

The part of his system that I haven't embraced up to this point is the idea of timeblocking individual days. I thought that I could do without this level of planning, but lately I'm getting the sense that I need to make a change. Cal said something on his latest podcast that really struck a chord with me - he essentially said that without structure and boundaries, small things can overflow and take over your day really quickly. And before you know it, you feel stressed out and like you don't have enough time, even though you're not accomplishing anything important.

I've been getting this sense the last couple of days, as I've had lots of little tasks related to customer support and some of my consulting projects, where I feel like I'm running from thing to thing, but I'm not working enough on the big projects that are actually moving my business forward. Starting with today, I'm going to start experimenting with different ways of planning my day to see if that helps. I'm sure I will write more about it in the future if I find something that works well for me.