Schedule your tasks with Clockify<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n To illustrate this – and all following aspects of your workday breakdown – we\u2019ll take a look at my schedule for a moment, and how I try to learn about my work habits and improve little by little every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is an example of how my priorities list may look for Wednesday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a new employee coming in, and I\u2019m mentoring them. It\u2019s both good for mine and their career, so most of my energy should go to this task. There\u2019s also some work I didn\u2019t manage to finish the day before, and even though the deadline is not until Monday, I can try to finish it today. Lastly, there\u2019s a presentation I really want to impress with. The rest is regular work I can take in my stride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the example, we can see how pinpointing what tasks matter to you the most eliminates the \u201cwhite noise\u201d of other work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You know exactly where to spend the most energy, which in turn helps you avoid wasting time and stressing out over other things. This list is easily the vital first step of every good workday breakdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n Time tracking software used by millions. Clockify is a time tracker and timesheet app that lets you track work hours across projects.<\/p>\n\n As a next step, define what work-related things you do to prepare for the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you write a to-do list?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you revise your goals for the week?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or do you contact your coworkers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe you make yourself coffee and check email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We all have different rituals that boost productivity, and they can even vary day-to-day. And if you don\u2019t have a ritual, this is a great time to find one. Here\u2019s another glance at my daily schedule:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Source: <\/b>Clockify workday breakdown template<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you can see from the table above, each day can start off with varying activities. And for Wednesday, I prepare for the second priority task – leftover work – by going over what I\u2019ve missed and how to go about finishing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An easy-going morning work ritual is a great way to introduce your day. Instead of starting with the most demanding tasks first, you conserve energy with something light, and get mentally prepared for tasks to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next large chunk in your breakdown is the actual work itself. The tougher tasks or, the meat and potatoes, if you will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are plenty of resources on breaking down large tasks into smaller chunks and scheduling them, so we won\u2019t go into detail here. However, it\u2019s important to mention them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n What I would, however, focus on, is breaking down this chunk of work into two segments: before your meal break and after it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Track your goals with Clockify<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019ve read some of our other articles on productivity, you could\u2019ve noticed how we mention managing energy levels throughout the day. And it\u2019s important to recognize how your energy varies after you\u2019ve had a good lunch at work. Most notably, ask yourself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Food plays a big role in the body\u2019s energy roller coaster, and we usually don\u2019t pay attention to it. Moreso because we\u2019re at home, or outside, or don\u2019t require too much focus. However, at work, it can become a detriment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sectioning off a work schedule into before and after lunch can help with several things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, it can reveal how different meals affect your focus. Heavier ones will make you sleepy, while lighter ones help you stay alert. That way you can, for example, notice you have a big meeting on Thursday at 3PM, and decide to eat fish and a salad instead of steak and potatoes, if the latter usually makes you crave a nap afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, you will start to make better scheduling<\/a> decisions. Shifting tasks around your energy levels allows you to craft a perfect work schedule that’ll always work out. Also, if you pair this action up with a time tracker, such as Clockify by CAKE.com<\/a>, you’ll know exactly how long each tasks takes you from start to finish before and after meals, and schedule your most important work accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n Time tracking software used by millions. Clockify is a time tracker and timesheet app that lets you track work hours across projects.<\/p>\n\n Finally, this forces you to not neglect food as a vital part of your day. We usually get so swamped with work, we shift our meal times until it\u2019s way too late, or completely omit them. This runs the risk of you getting too hungry, and opting for a quick snack, just to stave it off. What\u2019s more, you\u2019ll be less patient and more frustrated if you don\u2019t have a proper break with a meal. Which in turn impedes your work performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s an example from my schedule:<\/p>\n\n\n In this section, I decided to continue my morning with leftover work, while it\u2019s still fresh in my mind. A meeting before lunch break was scheduled, just in time to wind down. During lunch, an emergency issue popped up, but I postponed it until after lunch, to ensure I come to it refreshed. Training the new employee came after my coffee, as I noticed that caffeine negates the drowsiness from lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, you might be wondering if it\u2019s possible to achieve this kind of calculating mindset. The answer is yes, but with a lot of work, and trial and error. Let\u2019s take a look at how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Achieving this kind of organization\u2026 intuition, to call it, isn\u2019t impossible. It\u2019s important to remember that learning to listen to your body and pick up on your behavior and habits is something you have to actively do throughout the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The moment you notice a shift in focus or energy levels, take note of it, whether on a post-it, or through a voice recording app. It may seem unprofessional at first, that it\u2019s something unsuitable for a work environment, but look at it as an investment. The more insight you gain, the better you\u2019ll be at scheduling your tasks for the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, take some time to research healthy productivity-brain-boosting recipes. It can be a great additional experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the same vein, pay extra care to your most (un)common distractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They can derail your entire afternoon and lead to the postponing of certain tasks, or to completely forgetting about them. If you have particular problems with identifying what your time wasters are, then you can use the same tactic as with energy levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you\u2019re making a breakdown of your workday, try to catch yourself the moment you start browsing social media for longer than 5 minutes, every time you agree to help a coworker without thinking of your own workload, or every impromptu meeting called by your manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Above is an example of two distractions over two separate days. Summarizing and analyzing them like in our table will give you the necessary details on where most of your time is wasted. So, you can start working on solutions, or ways to avoid said distractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We often don\u2019t give two thoughts about why we get distracted or when. But using a method like this can vastly improve how you approach distractions, and increases your success in eliminating them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, simply installing a website blocker isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A workday cooldown is the transition between work and free time. It includes tasks that we like to call \u201cend of workday rituals<\/a>\u201d. Just like you have morning rituals to boost preparedness for the day, so should you have some for easing into the end of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Usually, we finish our last task of the day, shut off the computer, and start wondering what to do next (if we don\u2019t have chores like dishes, food, picking up kids, appointments, etc). And even with the latter, the transition is so sudden, it takes our brains quite a while to shut off \u201cwork mode\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A close friend of mine once said how he used to walk home for 40 minutes instead of biking, because he needed to walk off the frustration of the day. Because if he came home sooner, he would just bring it into his personal life, and it would \u201ctaint\u201d the rest of his off-work time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, you need some minute tasks at the end of the day to signal your brain to begin winding down. Let\u2019s take a look at the ones below:<\/p>\n\n\n The images above are parts of my schedule showing the end of workday tasks – writing the day summary (on the right), and making a to-do list draft for the next day. These are so painfully simple, yet very effective in giving you a sense of closure. The workday is behind you, and now it\u2019s time to rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The excerpts of the schedule we\u2019ve used here are from a template you can find on our blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is not just a timesheet, but a schedule focusing on breaking down your day to give you the most useful insight into your workflow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you would like to try it for yourself, you can download the PDF templates from the following links:<\/p>\n\n\n \u23ec Download the Workday breakdown template here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n \u23ec Download the Priorities list template here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n \u23ec Download the Workday distractions breakdown template here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Organizing your workday and making sure that you know what you are supposed to do at any given time can make your work life much easier. You can do this by creating a list of priorities and grouping tasks into less and more important ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"priorities\"](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/priorities-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhy do I need a priorities list?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Illustration\"](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/cake-blog\/theme\/images\/banners\/clockify\/landing-1@2x.png)
\n <\/picture>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n\n\n\nDraw out a before work section<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"start](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/start-of-workday-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhy do I need a \u201cbefore work\u201d section?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Draw out a during work section<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
Why do I need the \u201cbefore and after meal\u201d section?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n <\/picture>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n\n\n\n![\"workday](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/wednesday-2-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHow to be mindful of energy levels<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Note your distractions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"distraction](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/distractions-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nInclude a workday cooldown<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Why do I need a workday cooldown?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"end](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/end-of-workday-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n![\"workday](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/wednesday-4-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nClockify\u2019s workday breakdown template<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"workday](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/workday-breakdown.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n![\"priorities](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/priorities-list.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n![\"distraction](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/distraction-breakdown.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nTake control of your workday with Clockify by CAKE.com<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Clockify](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Clockify-task-timer.png\")
![\"Clockify](\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Clockify-dashboard.jpg\")