Plan Less to do More

Less planning might just be what you need to boost your productivity (or simply to make the most of your life).

Photo by Gaining Visuals on Unsplash

If you’ve ever read a single article on tips to boost productivity you’re probably aware that most (if not all) of them throw “Time Blocking” (or some variable of it) at you as their first fix-it-all solution.

A few years ago I suddenly became absolutely obsessed with productivity, especially after I discovered I had ADHD during the COVID pandemic. I consumed every book, article, video, app and seminar I could get my greedy, little, hyper focused hands on and started to systematically put everything I learned to the test.

One of my biggest issues was my inability to stick to a routine and changing that became my main goal. Of course, I came across the concept of “Time Blocking” and other popular time management techniques and immediately started to give them a try.

My all-or-nothing brain thought it would be a good idea to put every single tiny thing into my schedule so that I wouldn’t forget it. With Executive Dysfunction being one of my main problems, my first attempt at a schedule included times for drinking water, brushing my teeth, washing my face and other small tasks until it ended up being an unmanageable mess of microblocks.

I instinctively (and mistakenly) tried to plan my day down to the second to the point where I was pretty much micromanaging myself. Needless to say, this approach was a complete failure. Only a few days into my new routine I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of blocks in my calendar and started ignoring my task notifications. I made all the beginner mistakes and didn’t even last a week.

After a period of frustration, disappointment, demotivation, self-analysis and reflection I tried the technique a couple of more times, each time with less blocks until I found that perfect, sweet spot and I came to a huge realization: The less things I added to my calendar the more I actually got done.

Adding less blocks to my schedule didn’t mean I was planning to do less things, but rather that I was prioritizing the most important, time-sensitive things and that I was giving myself a lot of wiggle room for the smaller, routinely tasks.

Of course, getting to this point took some time and it was necessary to combine this approach with a couple other techniques to hack my brain into a productive state. I’m working on a full-length post where I get into all the details of this process but to summarize it:

1. I divided my day into 4 big blocks: Morning, Afternoon, Evening and Before Bed and only added the 3 biggest tasks that absolutely needed to be tackled in each block.

2. I kept the broken down “smaller steps” in a separate list, hidden away from my main schedule to avoid overwhelm and distractions and only opened said list when the time came to tackle that specific task.

3. I filled the “gaps” in my routine with Task Stacking and allowed myself to be more flexible with the smaller tasks (using the Pomodoro technique for focus).

This process resulted in my routine looking very concise and fairly vague, which helped me with avoiding visual overwhelm since every time I opened my To-Do list this tricked my brain into thinking the day ahead seemed very simple and it made me feel motivated.

For the first time in my life I was able to stick to a routine for more than two weeks at a time and I was getting more done without feeling pressured or stressed: My house was clean, my self-care game was top tier and I was checking things off my work to-do list like never before.

I quickly realized I could apply this same principle to my leisure time such as trips or hobbies and as soon as I started to do it the activities became much more enjoyable. Now I could actually have fun doing them.

For example, when planning a trip (travel has always been extremely stressful for me) instead of making a very detailed timetable I would just vaguely write down the activities or places I would want to do or visit on each day using the same big blocks I used in my daily routine: Morning, Afternoon and Evening.

Or say, my hobbie of Language Learning: Instead of telling myself to "study flashcards from 1:00 to 1:30, writing exercises from 1:35 to 2:05 and listening comprehension from 2:10 to 4:10 (essentially timeboxing) I would simply jot down “Flashcards” and “Writing” in the Afternoon and “Listening” in the evening.

In conclusion, focusing on the bigger picture and leaving plans broad and vague with lots of wiggle room for the smaller details will allow you to feel less pressured. In your head you know you have to do those smaller tasks too, but not seeing them inside super tight time blocks will considerably decrease the feeling of overwhelm.

I would like to invite you to think outside the box when it comes to productivity and don’t be afraid to break the rules. Every one of us is unique and you owe it to yourself to experiment and explore what works best for you, your personality and your lifestyle.

Finding the perfect formula might take some time but when you finally get it you will not doubt it was well worth the time. This is what worked for me.

Have you had a similar experience with conventional techniques? Have you found your perfect productivity hack yet? What’s working best for you? Tell me in the comments, I would love to know!