Switching Routines

Hey - It’s Michael.

Spent the nicest time with my dad playing chess. Enjoy the newsletter.

You sit down and can’t get started. You either procrastinate and scroll or work on some low priority task.

Later you’re fully into it but lunch calls and it’s difficult to stop. You overwork and have lunch at your desk.

In the evening you finish just one more thing. It’s getting too late so you skip sports. At home your head is spinning and it’s hard to calm down.

Principle:

Use switching routines to get in and out of work mode.

A switching routine is a series of steps you take to prime your brain for work or for a break. Think of it as a habit on steroids.

Connected with the technique of timeboxing it’s an incredibly powerful tool to consistently get into a desired mental/emotional state that in turn is helpful to do whatever it is that you want to do.

If you look at top tennis players for example, most of them have specific rituals (hint: it’s a switching routine) they do after and before each point. This enables them to recover after each point and get focused for the next.

Our system is the same, only that you use it to get ready for work and stop working when it’s time to recover.

Design a series of steps that help you get in and out of work mode and write them down. Put this piece of paper on your work desk and follow it ruthlessly - then see what happens.

For me, I start every deep work morning with a short walk, a few minutes of exercise and journalling. No phone allowed. By the time I’m done with the journal I can’t wait to get started. At lunch time I have an alarm ringing - kinda like the break gong at school that primes me to reflect shortly on work, again do some exercise and meditation by which time I’m ready for food. Only then I may use the phone.

In the afternoon it’s the same game: some routine to get out of the break and into work and at the end of the day a routine to get out of work and into recovery.

What the routine looks like is not as important as having one in the first place. Naturally, the healthier the steps the better - but I guess that’s clear if you’ve been reading the newsletter for some time.

Stop rule

Stop using your willpower to get in and out of work mode.

“In the long-run… your willpower will never beat your environment. The more disciplined your environment is, the less disciplined you need to be.” - James Clear

How would I feel if I started every work day well-rested?

See you next week - Michael