Hi everyone.
So, this video aims to provide insight on how to structure your day and week
in order to get the most out of it.
At the moment, I am working on multiple projects
and I identified that structure and proper evaluation
of psychological and physiological parameters
is the key to ensuring a productive schedule.
Without structure, and without understanding your mind and body,
your chances of enjoying a full and balanced lifestyle
decrease dramatically and your motivation and mood suffer in respect.
Regardless of how busy you are in your life,
the schedule I’ll suggest today will prove quite helpful.
I decided to name it “The Da Vinci Schedule”
because it is inspired by the legend himself.
Leonardo Da Vinci was a celebrated polymath
and he has famously said that “Just as a well-filled day brings blessed sleep,
so a well-employed life brings a blessed death.”
This adage has had a major impact on my life
along with another one from the great psychiatrist Irvin Yalom that reads:
“Death anxiety is greater in those who feel that they have lived an unfulfilled life.”
In my pursuit of a fulfilled and well-examined life,
they both inspired me to keep re-engineering my schedule
in order to make it more creative, purposeful, and fun.
“The Da Vinci Schedule” is the result of this process.
The main conundrums “The Da Vinci Schedule” tries to tackle are:
How to be creative and enter flow on a daily basis
How to not allow interruptions to ruin your flow
How to stop procrastinating and get things done
How to make sure you don't experience burnout
How to make sure you socialize enough and balance work with play
The main idea behind it
is to allow yourself enough fluidity in your schedule
without getting overwhelmed by a profuse amount of tasks.
Here is how it works:
A lot of people suggest that the planning should start on the first day of the week
so you can allow yourself some time to recover from the weekend.
In my opinion that is wrong.
The planning should start on Sunday evening.
That is because Monday should be your “deep-dive” day.
Think of Monday as the equivalent of your early hours in the morning,
but for the week.
In the morning, your mind is rested
and it can amaze you with the productivity it can deliver.
Your “early hours” for the week are Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday.
In order to take advantage of that parallel,
you need to plan your tasks on Sunday.
Every Sunday evening, around 7-8 pm,
sit at your desk, reflect on your weekend, focus,
and start planning your week.
From my point of view,
this is what your weekly and daily plan should look like in rough terms:
Let me elaborate.
Firstly, we need to use the following categorization for the daily plan:
Morning Routine
Deep Work
Admin Work
Fitness
Networking/Socializing
Play
I decided to divide deep work into those two categories
because deep work is a spectrum.
That spectrum is susceptible to each individual’s preferences.
For instance, I have two activities that require deep work:
Writing and video editing.
Due to my electrical engineering background
I find anything related to technology quite easy
so for me video editing is easier than writing.
Therefore, video editing is treated as soft deep work
and writing as intense deep work.
In essence, what this means is that
depending on how you evaluate your deep work tasks,
the intense ones need to be carried out Monday to Wednesday
and the soft ones Thursday to Friday.
Admin work includes things like email,
document organization, ordering supplies, scheduling meetings, etc.
In short, everything that can be done by a personal assistant,
but, when you can’t afford one, you need to complete yourself.
These tasks are very important
and oftentimes can take more time than expected.
Therefore, it is crucial to evaluate,
via trial and error, the time required to complete them and plan accordingly.
When you work in a company,
meetings are a crucial element of your schedule.
Yes, they are important, and, in my experience,
they can definitely improve team-building and project flow,
but, more often than not, they don’t add value to your working flow.
My rule for meetings is called the “early-late rule.”
What this rule proposes is that
in order to ensure that a meeting won't interrupt your deep-work flow,
meetings need to be scheduled either early in the morning or late in the afternoon.
That is before 10 am and after 2 pm.
Fitness for me includes cardio and weightlifting or bodyweight training.
I run for 2-3 miles almost every morning
and I work out at home 3-4 times per week.
Running is incorporated in my morning routine,
which I will discuss in a bit.
As far as my workout is concerned,
I like to work out right after work in order to
avoid late evening fatigue.
I make sure to eat something around 4 pm
and I work out around 6 pm.
In terms of organization, workouts occur usually Monday-Wednesday-Friday
and maybe once during the weekend.
I like to keep it like that
because it helps me plan meetups and other events throughout the week.
At least one or two times per week I like to attend meetups
and other networking events.
I consider this important because it allows me to challenge myself,
socialize, refine my thought articulation,
and help me explore different mindsets and life philosophies.
The meetups don't necessarily need to be business-related.
They can be philosophy meetups, literature meetups, or even fitness meetups.
The idea behind this approach is that you allow yourself to stay connected,
increase your social reach and also satisfy your need for belonging.
This is the time where you can fool around and indulge in pleasures.
These pleasures can vary from reading and watching YouTube videos,
to playing video games and going for drinks with friends.
It depends solely on you and your personal preferences,
but my experience has shown that
planning can help you enjoy that process even more.
For instance, I like to text some friends
and arrange with them during the week in advance.
Or I like to plan a movie on Wednesday evening.
Or I like to schedule a specific time where I practice some of my hobbies like
music, learning new languages, or playing call of duty.
The task list is the most powerful productivity tool.
It really encapsulates the essence of productivity
and helps you de-clutter your brain.
Every day, in the morning, write down your 5 most important tasks
and categorize them effectively.
One should include deep work, and the rest should belong to the admin work domain.
Flow occurs when you immerse yourself in uninterrupted deep work.
A trick to get there is to listen to music you enjoy,
preferably with a beat that can help brain waves coordinate and stimulate focus,
and shut down all external stimuli like email, phone, and irrelevant browser tabs.
You need a good 15 mins to enter flow
and you can work up to four hours in that state.
Therefore, I suggest working in that “mode” from 10 am to 2 pm.
I have experimented with morning routines quite extensively
and I have come to the conclusion that
a morning routine can be something very simple,
but also something quite elaborate.
Its goal is to focus on activities that can galvanize you,
motivate you, inspire you,
help you focus, and give you strength to continue your day fully energized.
For the purposes of this video, I will propose something
quite straightforward, but also very effective:
Wake up around 6.30-7am.
Run for 1-2 miles.
Take a cold shower.
Take good care of your skin.
If you fast, don’t eat anything.
If you don’t fast, cook yourself a big and healthy breakfast.
Read a book for 30 minutes.
Read the news or things that interest you for 20 minutes.
Meditate for 10-15 minutes.
Continue with the rest of your day.
At the moment, I have to take care of many projects,
which means that I also work during the weekends.
That, however, doesn’t mean that I allow myself to burn out.
I consider going out a very healthy habit
and at least once a week I like to go to a club or a bar.
If I go out till late, I sleep for at least 8 hours
and wake up repeating my usual morning routine.
Then, I spend time immersing into activities that I like.
That might include working on projects,
surfing on YouTube, meeting with friends etc.
In any case, your weekend is the time where everything is allowed
and anything you do should be stress-free.
Bringing structure to your weekly and daily schedule
is similar to de-cluttering your personal space.
When you eliminate clutter, your mind perceives your environment
as an organized area and that allows it to analyze patterns in a more effective way.
That way, you can enjoy an effectual daily schedule and go to bed fulfilled.
Just like Da Vinci.
So, here’s to structure.
And here’s to that wonderful man, Leonardo Da Vinci.
May he always be an inspiration to all of us.
Hi everyone.
Hope you enjoyed the video.
As always don’t forget to like, subscribe,
turn on notifications, and also let me know in the comments
what is your main obstacle when it comes to planning your day and week.
Also, I want you to know that I have written a very detailed ebook
that is called
“30 Challenges – 30 Days – Zero Excuses”
and it is very relevant to today’s topic.
I wrote it initially for me because I wanted to challenge myself
and push myself for 30 days to adopt habits
evangelized by the most influential figures in the personal development world.
In the book I analyze habits like meditation, small talk, power posing,
journaling, sleeping, and many more that can help you enjoy a more productive,
purposeful, and healthy life.
It has been read by thousands of people around the world
and all of them have experienced significant changes
in the way they lead their lives.
You can check it out here or in the description below.
I really suggest you to embark on this 30-day adventure.
You have nothing to lose and so much to gain.
Thanks for watching.
Take care, see you soon. Adrian out.