Staying productive when everything feels urgent

We’ve all been there. One day you’re in control, the next you’re racing from meeting to meeting, unable to focus long enough to move anything forward in any meaningful way - unless, that is, you start protecting your time. When everything feels urgent and your calendar is under siege, the key to making progress lies in consciously carving out space for what matters most.

A snowballing workload

Years ago, I was a pure practitioner. I had a manageable amount of work and a nice clear schedule to complete it in. If the volume of tasks exceeded the number of hours in the day, I could simply inform my manager and they’d resolve the equation, either with more people or a streamlined backlog.

But progress far enough in any career and that won’t last long. My expanded workload now consists not only of the doing itself, but also of strategising, planning, administrating, and managing - and with those responsibilities come all the related meetings, leaving my calendar much more crowded.

This conundrum isn’t reserved for management types alone. As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, technology roles are becoming more demanding across the board. Companies are trying to do more with less, retracting perks and burdening workers with responsibilities that were previously spread across multiple roles, all in the name of “agility”.

That out-of-control feeling is triggered by the absence of agency. You're on the hook for the work, but lack the authority to do anything

There are few feelings worse than when the scales tip and your inbox is suddenly filling up more quickly than you can empty it. That out-of-control feeling is triggered by a perceived - and possibly real - absence of agency. You don’t have enough time to do everything you’re on the hook for, but you lack the authority to turn down work or bring in additional people to help.

Even considering what to focus on first only burns more time. If your normal working hours are not enough to get everything done, it may be tempting to stay late to bring your to-do list under control - but will that actually help in the long run, or will it only mean you’re less productive tomorrow due to the resulting fatigue? It can feel like an insurmountable challenge.

Working within constraints

A typical recommendation to get ahead of this chaos is to take the time to note down your most important tasks for the day. Entrepreneur and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, for example, is often cited for his approach of scribbling his three to five most pressing tasks on an index card just before he goes to bed, ready to begin the next day on the front foot.

The thinking here makes obvious sense. Your time is finite and in a modern business environment there is always a lot going on. Therefore it is optimal to focus on a small number of actions that will make the most impact, and recording these in advance will help you to avoid trivial distractions.

However, there are obvious issues with this approach if you’re not a self-employed founder or a C-level leader with full control over your calendar:

1. It’s likely that you’ll receive urgent tasks from your manager or your customers, and not checking your emails until midday because you were engaging in focused work probably isn’t going to cut it.

2. As a low- or mid-level employee, your time is not seen as sacred. People will see spare slots in your calendar and fill them, leaving you with no time to get on with the things on your high-priority list.

Therefore while you might start the day with the best intentions, it’s very easy for things to descend into the kind of firefighting you sought to avoid.

The solution: Prioritisation + time blocking

Over time, I have settled on a straightforward approach that minimises the risk of that happening. The following tactic has emerged naturally for me over years - partly as a product of my inclination towards organisation, but also as a custom hybrid of various productivity systems out there online.

I bolster the prioritisation system touted by gurus like Andreessen with time blocking. This means I not only identify the day’s most important tasks, but I also protect the time needed to get my head down and complete them.

At the beginning of each day, I review my calendar. Inevitably, some of my time is already reserved for meetings. Those were subject to filtering prior to accepting the invites¹, and generally stay where they are.

Then I turn to my to-do list. Working in order of priority, I estimate how long each task is likely to take and block out time on my calendar, as close to the start of the day as possible. I bundle small tasks (e.g. email replies) into a single block to avoid overcomplicating things and wasting time.

I am careful not to book back-to-back tasks through the entire duration of the day. A spare 30-minute block here and there provides the opportunity to catch up on overrunning tasks and deal with any interruptions, new urgent requests, or personal emergencies that crop up. A ring-fenced lunch break is also non-negotiable - nobody can work for eight or more hours straight.²

Benefits of the hybrid system

It’s a simple system - anything more intricate would risk consuming more of my time than it saved - but blocking out time in this way has a surprising number of direct and indirect benefits to my focus and productivity:

• I have time to do the things that matter. With my calendar already booked, it is unlikely that anyone will push additional meeting invites, meaning a greater overall productivity-to-meeting ratio.

• My IM status is automatically set to Busy. People are less likely to interrupt my focused work if that little circle is red rather than green.

• The cognitive load of selecting tasks is removed. There is a cognitive penalty to task switching, and time blocking not only allows me to focus on a single task for a set period, but also removes the need to consider what to do next. The next block arrives, and the next task is there ready to go, making it easier to maintain momentum.³

• When interruptions do occur, they impact low-priority work. By frontloading my day with the most important work, other urgent tasks that “must be completed by COP” can be handled by pushing low-priority blocks further out. The big stuff still gets done.

The prioritisation element ensures high-impact work is at the top of the pile, while time blocking ensures my colleagues - and my brain - know I’m focused on something and should only be interrupted for urgent matters. Together, they’re effective in restoring productivity and taking back control of my day.

Your calendar is a reflection of your priorities. Make it intentional.

Notes and references

1. Never be afraid to decline a meeting invite if you think all the necessary information could be provided in a quick email.

2. I’ve found a good tactic is to set my lunch block to 45 minutes. This defends my lunch time, ensuring I always have time to rest and eat. But also, because nobody books 15-minute meetings, it buys me some time to catch up on my inbox before the next block.

3. I’m acutely aware that turning complex knowledge work into something akin to a factory assembly line could also be viewed as a criticism of this approach. It won’t be for everyone.