3 Buckets of Work Time

As my work life has gotten increasingly busier and is evolving, with a new and larger team, I’ve been rethinking a bit about how I structure my day to be more productive and fulfilled.

I’m now collaborating with an incredible team largely based in Europe and adjusting to the time differences from my home office in Oklahoma as well.

I’ve done this type of work before, but I’m getting a refresher while also keeping my burnout experiences in view and trying to watch myself a bit better.

I’m now in my late 40s …. and not in my 30s heyday of building and growing a company and team. I just don’t have the energy I once did to work 60 hour weeks and frankly, need to work smarter and healthy anyway.

I’m also balancing our family – my wife and our two young kids and their school in the midst of this and want to show up well for them.

So I’m writing this post for clarity for myself. And I get that best with reflection like this.

Let’s dive in ….

Looking at my calendar and work priorities, there seemed to be three clear buckets of work time for me currently:

1. Conversations – Communicating & Collaborating – This happens in meetings and then Slack/Teams. We’re an extremely efficient culture and know we need to get our work done, which is great. But as I’ve joined a new team and leadership, I’ve spent more time in this bucket than normal, but it’s really good to get aligned and clear.

2. Doing the Work – Execution & Delivery – For my role as Chief Evangelist, it’s primarily around video for internal (team) and external (customers) communications. Getting the word out.

3. Thinking About the Work – Strategy & Vision – I’ll say it: Dreaming. The Wonder and Invention part of Working Genius (my strengths). This is my favorite time and it’s mostly done alone. I cherish silence and solitude to do the dreaming part, the wondering part. When I get some clarity on an idea or path, then I’ll take it to other collaborators on my team to sharpen it.

Initial Takeaways and Thoughts:

• Not everything fits into nice little tidy buckets … there’s nuance here and overlap and gaps… BUT it does help me see some clarity in uncertainty or unknowns.
• And my core driver is fear and uncertainty. I have to acknowledge this. No matter the context or situation, it’s there for me. Even in the best of times, it’s always there somewhere. But in moments of change, transition and uncertainty, which has been the last month now (being part of 3 M&As for instance), I tend to amp up and overextend myself to seek some sense of clarity and control (safety). And excessively worry.
• Before any and all of this – I have been working on building up an internal sense of basic trust – of acceptance and letting go, piece by piece, as best I can. Some call that faith. I just call it the Something Bigger. But I want just keep building a basic sense internally that I’m doing the best I can (my part) … and the rest is just not up to me (not my part). And that’s OK. BUT as I’ve reflected on my life, things have worked out the way they needed to work out for my personal growth and evolution. And often better than I could have imagined. Life is often one big surprise.
• As much as I don’t always like it, I do need some routine and structure to my day. Some normal. Some expected order to my days. Some of that helps me with a sense of safety and peace and calm. They are anchors for me.
• But knowing myself, if I have more structure, I want it to feel energizing and freeing, and not forced. This is the inner creative in me. If I did the same thing every single day forever, I’d get bored and burned out. Some new is really good for me.
• I want to continue streamlining the Doing the Work part. But that comes with clarity of what I’m doing and focusing on. I like to get really efficient for the highest impact to our goals.
• I like threes. Thinking in 3’s keeps it simple, clear and impactful.
• When I was doing my calendar review, those three parts of work time stuck out instantly and resonated with me.
• Previously, I had fairly clear the 3 buckets of Execution & Delivery parts of my work. I knew them, repeated them often and was clear on what I needed to deliver that would be impactful. And could use more of my Thinking time to ideate and improve on my processes with feedback.
• Currently, I’m redefining and clarifying and updating my 3 buckets for Execution & Delivery with the new team, which will help me overall. Once I get that solidified, I feel clear and confident. I know what I’m doing and why and can focus on just delivering them and improving it.
• Wonder and Invention are often magically fulfilling times for me, especially when the first two take majority of my time. That second part is key and something for me to continually watch. If I had all dreaming time, I’d likely go a little crazy just hearing my own voice. I want and need the Delivery and Collaboration parts.
• One thing I’m testing is getting up at 6 a.m. my time and starting my day with the Conversations side. Catching up, connecting, responding to team.
• Tuesdays and Thursdays seem like freer time for Delivery and Dreaming — deep work and delivery, and time for thinking, dreaming, ideating.
• Mondays, Wednesdays in particular seem to be more Conversation/Collaborative time.
• For home and kids, I’m trying to lean more into good routines, which will help with the household management side. Trash, dishes, laundry and general pickup.
• In all of this I’m seeking to give myself more “grace” and space. I tend to take on responsibility that is sometimes not mine. Worry too much. And then I get overextended , exhausted as I build up some self-inflicted pressure and stress and I don’t show up for my family how I want to.

All of this is not new. Life works in cycles and seasons. Loops. And these themes will keep repeating until I take steps within myself.

And for the rest … I’m just trying to trust in the universe, the cosmos, the Something Bigger that I’ve seen bits and pieces of evidence for in my life, and the doors will open and close as they need to.

But in the meantime, I’m going to keep trying to make the best (and most) of it and keep doing my best …. and try to somehow enjoy the “not knowing” part.

After all, I stumbled into all of this … and backing into doors that I didn’t see or intend and simply walking through them opened up the world to me and I’m very very grateful for those experiences.