Organizing your work around pre-calculated time blocks with SYSTEM 26 is a powerful way to bring focus to your work while reducing distractions and supporting physical wellbeing.
1. Pick your activity
Rather than working from a rigid schedule, standarizing your effort on pre-determined time blocks reduces the cognitive load associated with calculating how long a task will take. Simply select the activity you want to focus on and then select the best time block to begin.
2. Eliminate distractions
Before starting a block, mute notifications, put your phone away and commit to focus for the duration. The goal is pure focus.
3. Actually stop
After each deep work block, take at least 2 minutes to engage in physical activity such as stretching, taking a walk, organizing your desk.
4. Optimize your task list
Think about how you can support finite time bounding by breaking up tasks into small, achievable blocks, rather than amorphous projects with undefined stopping points.
5. Celebrate Milestones
When you reach your first 10 cycles, look back at what you’ve accomplished. Then look forward what you can achieve when you reach 100.