By Nate Klemp
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The science of time management over the past couple decades offers a clever solution to our modern dilemma of always feeling distracted by notifications, emails and pings: time blocking. It's where you carve out small chunks of time each day reserved for productive work.
And yet the traditional approach to time blocking doesn't go far enough. It can give you a taste of your true creative potential, but you never quite get to experience the full meal.
Introducing the 'Mega Day.'
There's a simple formula for determining the return on investment (ROI) of time blocking. The more time you reserve, the greater your productivity returns. Carve out 15 minutes, and you will experience a small, but meaningful, gain. Carve out an hour or two, as most time blocking methodologies suggest, and you will experience even greater returns. But carve out an entire day that spans beyond the confines of 9am to 5pm, and you will experience a kind of productive enlightenment?
This is what I call the Mega Day. It's a strategy that came out of a period of extreme time scarcity several months ago. During this period, I was starting a new book, while simultaneously working in my company and writing these weekly columns for Inc.. The math didn't work. Not only did I not have enough time, I also didn't have the space to think big and bring my highest attention to these projects.
So I made a deal with myself. "Each week," I said, "I'm going to reserve one massive day for my highest and best, uninterrupted, work." Starting at 7am and ending at 7pm on each of these days, I didn't answer phone calls, return emails, or even open my inbox. I gave myself permission to dive head-first into the highest priority creative and productive tasks on my plate.
For the original article, visit: Inc.