Strive for a harmonious balance in organizing your time for work and personal activities. Work-life harmony shouldn't be a trade-off, but rather a continuous cycle, where being satisfied in one aspect positively impacts the other. Everyone's work-life harmony will look different, whether it be coding for long hours, or spending time with your family. The important thing is to do what works the best for you.

Do the First Things First

Make sure each day you reserve enough space to do the one most important task (MIT) - the one task that will have the greatest impact on your work and goals. Having a clear MIT helps you stay focused on what's important, rather than getting sidetracked by distractions during the day.

Go through pinned Pages and see if there is something you can push.
See task scheduled for today in My Day.
Review Tasks from the Review panel.

After you’ve decided on which task you would like to accomplish today, find a time when you’re the most energetic and block it for that time. Try to avoid wasting time on low-impact tasks like playing with colors on UI when your code is buggy and makes your application impossible to use.

Take the time to identify your MIT each day and make it the first thing on your agenda. You can schedule it in advance, or pick one each morning and break it down to make your work smoother.

Immerse yourself in deep work

The majority of your meaningful work happens in a state of focused and uninterrupted flow. Deep work is the act of completely immersing yourself in problem solving and dedicating a substantial amount of time and energy to it without any distractions or interruptions. It involves using your full mental capacity, understanding new concepts, and producing value.

Limit Distractions

When there's a lot of noise and distractions around, it's hard to concentrate and stay focused. Getting rid of distractions is an essential first step to focus better for longer periods of time, especially when working on tough, important projects that need your full brain power. To limit distractions you can try:

Closing unnecessary windows and applications.
Turning off notifications - set "Do not disturb" or airplane mode.
Setting your calendar availability to “busy”.
Avoid context switching - capture new ideas thorugh undisturbive ways (modals, quick capture).

Quit multitasking

Focusing on one task at a time helps you work more efficiently by allowing you to fully concentrate and engage your cognitive abilities. When you multitask, you split your attention, making it harder to focus and do deep work.

Pick a task and work on it until it’s done, or until you get stuck. You can set up an end time with time blocking to refrain yourself from quitting prematurely.

Time Blocking

Schedule specific blocks of time - 30 or 90 minutes, for deep work. Once you’re over time, but still in the flow, feel free to enjoy the state and continue working while maintaining the momentum.

Be willing to be yelled at because you prioritize deep work. The goal is the intention to do the deep work and it's alright if you change your schedule because of it. Don't forget to communicate that you’re busy and working on something important to your peers.

Your schedule and priorities may change over time - be flexible and adaptable in your time blocking. No time block is set in stone and guarantees that you’ll do the work. Instead, think of it as your opportunity window to deliver value. Take a break or fill up a space with some tasks you've already planned when you complete your task much sooner than your block ends.

Group boring tasks

Sometimes you’ll find yourself swamped with a lot of boring tasks that tempt you to procrastinate. Grouping them with other boring duties helps you take advantage of the momentum you build while working on them.

Tip: If you need to reply to an email and comment on documentation, create a block of “administration” work, making it easier for you to be more efficient and switch between the boring issues.

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