Make Your Time Top-Heavy

1. Volume of Work. Put most your work earlier in your schedule. This could mean working all morning while having little to do in the evenings.
2. Importance of Work. Put your most important tasks first. Do the tasks that have a long-term impact before taking on the minor problems.
3. Difficulty of Work. Put the hardest tasks first, when you have the most energy. I love writing articles, but it takes a great deal of energy and thought before writing each post. Putting my writing work earlier lets me write when I’m the most energetic.

1. Daily Basis. Is your work shifted earlier into the morning or late into the night?
2. Weekly Basis. Are your Monday’s and Tuesday’s busiest, or are you finishing up everything Sunday night?
3. Long-Term Basis. Are you doing the bulk of work on your goals now, or planning to work harder in the future? If I have a project I expect to take 4 months, I make sure the first two contain the most work.

1. Start a Morning Ritual. Wake up earlier and plan out a routine for your first hour. This will make sure you can start working right away, instead of fighting off sleepiness for the first few hours.
2. Set Daily and Weekly Goals. I maintain a weekly and daily to-do list. Both of these lists help me chunk down the infinite number of tasks I have into something more manageable.
3. Preserve Your Rest Time. I make a commitment to take at least one day off completely each week. Having a guaranteed rest day makes it easier to work hard now.
4. Find Your Procrastination Items. Pick those things on your to-do list that you are most likely to procrastinate on. Then make sure to get those done first. Finishing the difficult work early on makes life less stressful.
5. Expect Interruptions. Schedule your week as if you expect unforseen work to be added. This way, if no extra work comes by, you have more time to relax later in the week. If new work does come, you’re prepared.
6. Set Your Own Hours. You can create more productive days by defining between what hours you will work. If you don’t allow work to expand into your personal time, it becomes easier to work top-heavy days.
7. Make Realistic To-Do Lists. Whenever I set my daily and weekly goals, I’m careful to only add on an amount I think I can handle. If you don’t believe you can everything done today, you won’t work as hard. Setting a slightly shorter list and finishing early is best.