Learn how to improve personal productivity in today's hybrid workplaces

1. Rethinking your time and your calendar 

If you’re a surgeon or a retail associate, you probably have a fairly fixed  schedule and work location. But for millions of knowledge workers, there’s  often flexibility for how the workday and work week are structured, especially  now that the hybrid work world is here to stay.  

Meetings don’t have to interrupt your peak focus times, and brainstorming  sessions don’t have to happen when you’re feeling the least creative. And  even if you have a fixed schedule and location, you can decide when to check  emails, build reports, or meet with teammates.  

Here’s how to rethink your use of time and take control of your schedule: 

Understand your natural work rhythm 

This is the first step to being more productive and fulfilled at work. 

• Make a list of the times throughout the day and week when you feel most energized and focused. These are your peak times. 

• You can also make a list of the times throughout the day and the week when you are most likely to need a break. These are your reset times.

Block peak times 

Regardless of your working style, you should block your peak times at least 2–3 times per week. 

• If you can avoid it, don’t let these windows be scheduled with meetings or whittled away with distractions or other activities like checking emails. 

• Reserve peak times for activities that are analytical, strategic, or require deep focus. Maybe it’s writing a blog post, building a presentation, or completing some data analysis. 

Plan and theme your day 

Think about your week holistically and be intentional about your activities. 

• Which activities make the most sense on which days and at what times? 

• If you’re working in a hybrid model, what sorts of collaborative activities should you schedule for your office days versus your at-home days? 

Most people I talk to plan their work-from-home days so that they maximize their peak time activities, and then dedicate their in-office days to things like team building, socializing, and collaboration. It’s worth noting that some days naturally lend themselves to certain activities.

Avoid doing the small tasks first each day

Your natural inclination is to chip away at small wins like email and quick tasks to avoid doing the big stuff.

• Adopt the habit of tackling your biggest thing the moment you sit down to "work," before touching anything small, and you will see a huge difference in how much you get done in a day.

Minimize context shifts

Context shifting — jumping between various, unrelated tasks — means that you never find a groove for deep, focused work. According to an Asana study, on average people switch between apps 10–25 times per day to do their work. For every switch and attempt at multitasking, there’s a cost.

• Take advantage of natural affinities in your schedule and avoid context shifts when you can.

• When you’re looking at your calendar, think about activities that can prolong your focus on a single domain of work. For example, if you have your weekly one-on-one meeting with your manager and you also have your own direct reports, you might schedule your own team meeting right after your one-on-one, so that you can assign tasks and share information while it’s timely and fresh in your mind.

Commit the plan to (virtual) paper

As you plan your days, use a template that surfaces the key activities you want to accomplish, including an hour-by-hour plan.

• Use this Daily Plan template, which covers the day’s top three priorities, snack-size to-do’s, mindful moments, the hour-by-

hour plan, and the next day’s priorities, as well as the things to be grateful for.

• Complete the Daily Plan the afternoon or evening before — rather than leaving it until the morning, when emails and meetings are already piling up.

2. Transforming your inbox

According to research from Harvard Business School, as most knowledge workers went remote due to the pandemic in 2020, email usage spiked. To bridge the gap with colleagues, people sent significantly more emails every work day, and more of those emails were sent after hours. Plenty of people were trying to tame their inboxes before the pandemic, and the surge only made it more frustrating. But it doesn’t have to be a struggle.