Tag: productivity

On Designing a Week That Fits

Posted on by Ricardo in Uncategorized

The other day, someone warned me about writing about productivity. They said, “Social media loves productivity hacks.” The warning was clear. Don’t chase attention.

If your takeaway from the recent series Designing a Workweek that Works is that I am chasing social media attention, then you missed the point. If your takeaway is that I was writing about productivity hacks, then you missed the point.

I don’t write about productivity or productivity hacks. I write about life, personal and professional, and how people navigate it. Designing a Workweek that Works isn’t about hacking a system. It is about building one. I am drawn to understanding systems and the ways humans leverage systems in daily life.

I help individuals and organizations build systems. I love doing it. Dare I say, I think it’s fun. It is fascinating. It is fulfilling. It is transformative. And yes, it is fun.

It is also hard work. It is work that is never guaranteed to succeed. In fact, it almost always fails in some way. Human systems are imperfect, just like the humans they serve. That is OK. If you can embrace that as a given, you learn to build flexible systems. You learn to iterate. It can sound dangerous in business, but it is not. It is crucial.

Designing a Workweek that Works is about creating a system that fits you and the work you do. The world of work changes, from manufacturing to service industries, from manual labor to knowledge work. Even when the “what” appears the same, the “how” changes. The “who” changes. There is a constant stream of change tugging at the work and the systems that support it.

The series outlined a structure that works for me because it reflects how attention, energy, and responsibility behave across a week. But structure is only the starting point. A workweek becomes durable when it is shaped around your constraints, your role, and the decisions only you can make. Without that customization, even a strong framework drifts back toward urgency and reaction.

The next step is not adopting someone else’s system more faithfully. It is designing your own default week deliberately so the structure holds under the pressure you carry.

Be adaptive. Dare to reconsider your workweek. Be intentional about how you use your time. If you do not, someone else will do it for you.

Designing a Workweek That Works — Part 4: Let the System Do the Remembering

Posted on by Ricardo in Uncategorized

Structure gets you clarity. A system gives you feedback.

But neither matters much if you still have to remember everything yourself.

Most productivity breakdowns don’t happen because the plan was wrong. They happen because attention gets pulled, energy drops, or the day simply fills up faster than expected.

You forget to start the deep work block.

You let admin spill past its boundary.

You skip the shutdown ritual because you’re tired.

Not because you don’t care. Because you’re human.

The Calendar Is a Tool, Not a Boss

At this point in the series, the move isn’t to add complexity. It’s to offload memory.

Your calendar is the simplest way to do that.

When work blocks live only in your head, or in a planning page you have to check manually, you’re still relying on recall. When they live on your calendar, they interrupt you at the right moment.

That small shift changes everything.

You’re no longer asking, “What should I be doing now?”

You’re responding to a clear boundary.

Free, Not Busy

There’s an important nuance here.

If you block time for deep work or secondary focus, mark it as Free, not Busy.

This keeps your calendar honest. It signals intention without creating artificial rigidity. If something truly important needs that space, you can move it deliberately instead of feeling trapped.

Structure works best when it guides you—not when it locks you in.

Notifications as Guardrails

A simple notification five minutes before each block begins is often enough.

Not a dramatic alarm. Just a nudge.

That nudge does what willpower can’t: it interrupts drift.

It reminds you that this hour has a purpose.

Over time, the rhythm becomes internal. The notification becomes reinforcement, not instruction.

When the Day Breaks

Even with structure and reminders, days will go sideways.

Meetings run long. Clients need something urgent. Energy crashes.

The goal isn’t to preserve the schedule at all costs. It’s to preserve the sequence.

If deep work disappears, don’t try to rebuild the morning at 4:00 p.m. Resume at the next block. Let the system carry you forward instead of chasing what was lost.

Automation Without Overengineering

There’s a temptation to connect everything to everything.

To sync task managers, dashboards, time trackers, and reporting tools.

Resist that impulse.

Automation should reduce cognitive load—not create a second system to maintain.

A weekly recurring calendar structure. A daily page with one outcome. A brief weekly review.

That’s enough.

If it starts to feel heavy, it’s already too much.

What This Really Buys You

This isn’t about squeezing more output from the same number of hours.

It’s about steadiness.

When your week has a default structure, a visible system, and light automation, you stop renegotiating your priorities every day.

You start showing up to work that already has a shape.

And that shape holds…even when motivation doesn’t.

This series began with a simple claim: productivity collapses when it depends on willpower.

The answer was never more intensity.

It was design.

Design a week that protects what matters. Build a feedback loop that tells the truth. Let your calendar carry the remembering so your mind can carry the thinking.

Over time, something subtle shifts.

You stop chasing the perfect day. You stop renegotiating your priorities. You stop mistaking urgency for importance.

Work begins to feel deliberate instead of reactive. Not because you became more disciplined.

Because the structure is doing its job.

This is how leaders buy back attention: by designing the week instead of reacting to it.

That’s the quiet power of a well-designed week.

And once you feel it, you won’t go back.

Designing a Workweek That Works — Part 3: Turning Structure Into a System

Posted on by Ricardo in Uncategorized

A good daily structure solves one problem.

A system solves the next one: consistency.

You can understand your ideal workday perfectly and still fail to live it—simply because nothing is helping you remember, notice drift, or recover when the week goes sideways.

In the first two posts, I made the case for structure over willpower, and walked through a daily block-based design. In this post, we move from knowing to operating.

Not with more tools.

With just enough structure to create feedback.

The Mistake Most Systems Make

Most productivity systems collapse under their own weight.

They ask you to track too much, plan too far ahead, or maintain a level of precision that only works on calm weeks. Over time, the system becomes another obligation—something you feel behind on.

A functional system does the opposite.

It reduces what you have to think about.

Planning Is Weekly. Execution Is Daily.

One of the simplest and most important distinctions you can make is this:

  • Planning belongs at the weekly level.
  • Execution belongs at the daily level.

When you blur that line, you end up re-planning every morning and second-guessing yourself all day.

A weekly view is where priorities, constraints, and tradeoffs belong. A daily view is where you show up and do the work that was already decided.

The Daily Page: A Place to Work, Not Think

A daily page should answer exactly two questions:

  1. What is the single most important outcome for today?
  2. Did I honor the structure I said I would?

That’s it.

This is why daily pages work best when they are deliberately simple:

  • One primary outcome
  • A small number of checkboxes tied to work blocks
  • A brief end-of-day note

If your daily page invites reflection, analysis, or optimization during the day, it’s doing too much.

A Concrete Example

Here’s what a daily page looks like in practice.

Not a task list.
Not a journal.
Not a planning session.

Just enough structure to support execution.

Daily Page (Example):

  • Primary Outcome: Finish the outline for Part 3 of this series.
  • Work Blocks (checked at end of day):
    ☐ Deep Work ☑ Secondary Focus ☑ Admin Contained ☑ Client / Execution ☑ Shutdown Ritual
  • End-of-Day Note: Deep work slipped due to an unexpected call. Resumed at the next block without rebuilding the day.

That’s the whole page.

No optimization. No commentary. Just visibility.

The Weekly Page: Where Thinking Belongs

The weekly page serves a different purpose.

It’s where you zoom out and ask:

  • What actually mattered this week?
  • Where did the structure hold?
  • Where did it break?

Importantly, this review is not about judgment.

It’s about pattern recognition.

One missed deep work block means nothing. The same block failing three weeks in a row means the system needs adjustment.

A Weekly Snapshot

Zooming out, the weekly view answers a different question.

Not “What did I do?” but “Where did the structure hold?”

A typical week might look like this:

  • Deep Work honored: 2/5 days
  • Admin Contained honored: 5/5 days
  • Client / Execution honored: 5/5 days

That’s not failure.

That’s information.

It tells you exactly what needs to change next week—without guilt or guesswork.

Why Simple Tracking Works

Tracking often gets a bad reputation because it’s used as a stick.

In a well-designed system, tracking is just a mirror.

You’re not scoring productivity to feel good or bad. You’re looking for signals:

  • Which blocks are consistently honored?
  • Which ones erode under pressure?
  • Where are boundaries unclear?

This feedback loop is what turns a schedule into a system.

Don’t Automate Too Early

There’s a temptation to jump straight to automation.

Resist it.

Automation amplifies whatever already exists. If the structure isn’t clear and the habits aren’t stable, automation just hides the problem.

Start with visibility. Add automation only when the system is already working.

The Goal Is Reliability, Not Optimization

Most people abandon systems because they’re chasing the perfect week.

That’s the wrong goal.

A good system holds up on average weeks—when energy is uneven, interruptions happen, and motivation fluctuates.

Reliability beats optimization every time.

What Comes Next

In the final post, I’ll show how to let the system do more of the remembering—using simple automation and calendar support—without turning your week into a rigid machine.

The aim isn’t control.

It’s steadiness.

Designing a Workweek That Works — Part 2: The Daily Structure

Posted on by Ricardo in Uncategorized

Most people don’t need a better to-do list.

They need a day that doesn’t ask them to make the same decision over and over again.

In the first post, I made the case that productivity fails when it relies on willpower. The alternative isn’t more discipline or tighter prioritization—it’s structure. In this post, I’ll walk through the daily structure that makes a workweek run with less friction and fewer decisions.

This isn’t about squeezing more into your day.

It’s about deciding, in advance, what kind of work belongs where.

Start Later Than You Think

Most productivity schedules fail before the day even begins.

They assume an early, focused start that ignores reality: mornings are often fragmented. People are waking up, transitioning, handling family logistics, or simply not cognitively ready for deep work.

A usable structure starts when you’re actually ready to work.

For many people, that’s not 6:00 a.m. or even 8:00 a.m. It’s closer to when attention stabilizes.

Design the workday around readiness, not aspiration.

The Logic of Work Blocks

Instead of assigning tasks to specific times, assign types of work.

Each block has a single job. When a block knows what it’s for, it also knows what it’s not for.

This removes the quiet, constant negotiation that drains energy throughout the day.

Below is a simple Monday–Friday structure that I use for my work week. The exact times matter less than the order and intent. Everybody’s work week looks different.

The Core Daily Blocks

Deep Work

Focused work on your most important tasks.

This block is reserved for thinking, creating, solving, or deciding—anything that requires sustained attention. It comes first because it’s the most fragile. Once the day fills up, it rarely happens.

Protect this block. If it slips, notice it—don’t compensate by pushing it late.

Secondary Focus

Support tasks that advance priorities.

This is where preparation, refinement, and follow-through live. The work still matters, but it doesn’t require the same cognitive intensity as deep work.

It benefits from momentum rather than silence.

Admin Contained

Quick, controlled administrative work.

Email, scheduling, logistics—these tasks expand without boundaries. This block exists to prevent that expansion.

When admin has a container, it stops bleeding into everything else.

Client / Execution

Deliverables and client-focused work.

This block is outward-facing. Meetings, delivery, collaboration, and execution belong here.

By placing it later in the day, you protect the work that only you can do.

Shutdown Ritual

End-of-day review and prep.

This short block closes the loop. You capture loose ends, note what matters tomorrow, and mark the day as complete.

Without a shutdown ritual, work lingers mentally, even when you’re not working.

Why Order Matters More Than Duration

People often fixate on how long each block should be.

That’s the wrong question.

The sequence does the heavy lifting. Deep work first, admin later, execution after thinking—not because it’s optimal on paper, but because it reflects how energy actually degrades across the day.

Structure works when it aligns with reality.

What to Do When the Day Goes Sideways

Some days won’t cooperate.

Meetings move. Emergencies happen. Blocks get disrupted.

The goal isn’t perfection. It’s containment.

When a block is broken, don’t rebuild the whole day. Resume at the next block boundary. This prevents one disruption from consuming everything.

A Default Week, Not a Rigid One

This structure isn’t a cage. It’s a default.

On good days, it hums quietly in the background. On bad days, it gives you something to return to.

That’s the real value.

What Comes Next

In the next post, I’ll show how to turn this structure into a simple system using daily and weekly pages—without creating another productivity project.

The goal isn’t optimization.

It’s reliability.

Designing a Workweek That Works — Part 1: Why Productivity Systems Fail

Posted on by Ricardo in Uncategorized

Why Most Productivity Systems Fail (and What Actually Works)

Most productivity systems fail for a simple reason: they ask people to make good decisions all day long.

They assume you’ll wake up motivated, stay disciplined, choose the right task at the right time, and resist distraction through sheer force of will. When that inevitably breaks down, the system gets blamed—or quietly abandoned.

The problem isn’t effort. It’s design.

Productivity Isn’t About Doing More

Search for productivity advice and you’ll find endless tools promising to help you do more: better to-do lists, smarter prioritization frameworks, more detailed plans. What they rarely address is the thing that actually governs your behavior: time.

You don’t fail to get important work done because you forgot what mattered. You fail because, in the moment, something else felt easier, louder, or more urgent.

Any productivity system that relies on repeated, in-the-moment judgment is fragile.

Willpower Is a Terrible Productivity Strategy

Willpower fluctuates. Energy dips. Context shifts. Interruptions happen.

Yet most productivity systems still assume you’ll be able to continuously choose well throughout the day. That’s not realistic—especially for leaders, creatives, or knowledge workers doing complex work.

Strong productivity systems remove decisions before the day begins.

The Shift That Actually Works: From Tasks to Structure

Instead of asking, “What should I work on now?” a better question is:

“What kind of work belongs in this part of the day?”

This is where most productivity methods break down. They try to optimize tasks instead of structuring time.

When time is constrained, behavior follows.

Work Blocks, Not To-Do Lists

The foundation of a sustainable productivity system is a small number of clearly defined work blocks—each with a single purpose and boundary.

For example, I use the following blocks as the framework for my average work day:

  • Deep Work: Focused work on your most important tasks.
  • Secondary Focus: Support tasks that advance priorities.
  • Admin Contained: Quick, controlled administrative work.
  • Client / Execution: Deliverables and client-focused work.
  • Shutdown Ritual: End-of-day review and prep.

Notice what’s missing: detailed task lists.

The block determines how you work. Tasks simply fill the container.

Why Time-Blocking Improves Productivity

When you organize work this way:

  • You stop renegotiating your priorities every hour.
  • You prevent administrative work from consuming creative time.
  • You always know what kind of work you should not be doing.

Most importantly, you stop depending on motivation to stay productive.

Constraint Creates Freedom

Paradoxically, fewer choices create more freedom.

When deep work happens in a protected window, it gets done. When administrative tasks are contained, they stop leaking into everything else. When the day ends with a shutdown ritual, work doesn’t follow you indefinitely.

This isn’t rigid scheduling. It’s structured flexibility.

It’s about building a default workweek that holds up on average days, not just ideal ones.

What Comes Next

In the next post, I’ll walk through a simple Monday–Friday productivity schedule—why it’s designed the way it is, and how to adapt it without overengineering.

No hacks. No hustle.

Just a productivity system that respects how work actually gets done.