How to increase your productivity: create a detailed work schedule

When you are your own boss having a good weekly schedule is absolutely essential for getting the most out of your productivity. I’ve written a guide on an easy to use schedule for people who either are more creative inclined or have a pretty fixed routine, which you can find here.

But if you are more of a detail oriented person or organized or your work is more varied the E3D system can be perfect for you to create a weekly schedule that is very effective for increasing your productivity. I found this system in the book ‘The Unchained Man, The Alpha Male 2.0’, written by IT Consultant/Lifestyle Coach Caleb Jones, who in turned based it on the research done by a smart guy named Steve Horner. Steve Horner refined and improved the daily ‘to-do’ list and Caleb further improved this system calling it the E3D system. In my opinion it is an excellent system to improve your time management and in turn your productivity.

The E3D System

The E3D scheduling system is great for increasing your productivity and is most effective for people who are:

• Detail oriented
• By nature very organized
• Or have a varied work life where priorities can change on a weekly basis

I myself as a more creative person am more a fan of the Check System, which gives you a broad weekly schedule. This system is also great for improving your productivity, but if you see yourself in one of the categories above than the E3D system will be more to your liking. And this guide is all about that scheduling system.

Getting started: choose your scheduling platform

The first thing you should do is choosing your favorite scheduling tool (or platform). There are still many people that don’t use any schedule, whether written or cloud based. But as a business owner or freelancer having one is absolutely vital for getting things done. However, since you will probably be a more organized person, I reckon this won’t be a problem for you.

Depending on your own personal preferences you can choose:

• A notebook
• Old fashioned calendar
• Agenda
• Excel Sheet
• Google Calender
• Trello or any other cloud based schedule

The most important thing is that you choose a scheduling tool that works best for you personally.

The main components of the E3D System

The E3D system consists of 5 main components you have to maintain on a regular basis:

• Your goals list
• Your projects list
• Your to-do list
• Your Once-as list
• A calendar system

I will explain each component or category in the following paragraphs in more detail.

Your goals list

The goals list is short and should contain 2 long term goals you want to achieve within at least 6 months or longer.

Why only 2 goals? Because, according to Caleb, most humans will lose focus when they choose 3 or more goals they want to achieve. If for instance you want to build a business, become an accomplished salsa dancer, learn how to play the guitar and want to lose 8 lbs all at the same time you probably won’t achieve any of them.

Focusing on 2 goals however is much easier. You will keep your eyes on the ball and as soon as you have achieved one goal you can cross it off this list and a ad new one. 

A goal is not the same thing as a project. A goal can be building a business, losing weight or finishing college. A project is one of the means of reaching your goal.

So for instance, building a website for your business is a project. While building a website that earns you at least $3000,00 a month is a goal. See the difference?

Try to prioritize your goals according to which goals you need to achieve first. For example if you’re heavily overweight then one of your top goals should be losing weight. Or if you’re in the last year of college, then a goal should be finishing your education.

Also I recommend including both a business type goal and personal goal next to each other. Achieving both business and personal goals will keep you happy and productive.

Your projects list

Your projects are the short term tasks you need to do to acquire your overall goals. They can consist of several subtasks, which you need to write down as well in this list. Building a website is a project. Buying the domain name for this website is a task.

Trying to loose 10lbs in 2 weeks is a project. Buying a tracksuit to wear to the gym is a task. 

Create a list of numerous projects you need to do in the coming months (or even year) and using your 2 main goals choose 2 projects to focus on at first. Just as with your goals, if you only target 2 projects at the same time you will stay on track.

Those 2 projects are the first projects you will be doing, using the E3D schedule

Your to-do list

Your to-do list are both the daily and weekly tasks you need to do for your projects and the individual tasks every person has to do, such as buying groceries, going to the gym, cleaning the house etcetera.

So, for instance on a given day you will have the following tasks: 

• Buy domain name (for your project)
• Install WordPress (for your project)
• Buy food (individual task)
• Call sister (individual task)

Create a list with all the to-do tasks you can think of and group them in the following categories: A, B and C.

Group A is for every task that must to be done as soon as possible.

Group B is for the items that also should be done, but are not as critical

Group C is for the items that would be nice to do.

Now, sort the items in every group according to priority and number them. So number A1 is the task that you need to do first, then A2, etcetera.

Once-as list

These are recurring tasks you need to do every few week, once a month or just once a year. Such as getting a haircut, going to the dentist, paying your bills. Even getting an oil change or paying your taxes need to be on this list.

Write (or type) everything down you can think of, using the scheduling tool of your choice.

A Calendar System

It doesn’t matter which system or tool you use, as long you use one. Whether Trello, Google Calendar or an old fashioned notebook, choose whatever works for you and go with it.

The E3D System in action

Now you have everything ready it’s time to actually implement the E3D scheduling system.

Every 3 days times schedule a 1 hour period into your calendar. Depending on your Calendar it can be a recurring appointment exactly after 3 days or you can schedule it manually.

Don’t fret if every now and then this appointment has been made after 4 days or just 2 days. You will be fine as long as these appointments remain part of your weekly routine.

1 Set a 1 hour timer on your watch or clock and don’t stop working on you E3D until it is done or the alarm sets of. When the alarm sets of and you’re not finished yet take a short brake. Return, set your alarm for 15 minutes this time and keep on working on your E3D list. Keep on working (and maybe taking a break every 15 minutes) until the list is done for this day.

2. Turn of your phone and internet connection for the duration of the appointment. Cut of all distractions.

3. Clean out all the items in your to-do list. All the tasks you have done in the last 3 days can be crossed out and replaced with new tasks that you need to do in the following 3 days. Some items can be changed or edited as a follow-up. So, for instance ‘calling Client A’ can change to ‘Email contract to Client A’.

4. Review both your 2 main goals and 2 main projects and see if any tasks specific to those projects are done or need editing. Also make sure your projects are still reflecting your goals.

5. Take a look at the tasks that are part of your projects. Every item that should be done as soon as possible becomes a priority. You do that by putting these tasks in the A Group of your to-do list.

For clarity sake, when putting a Project Task in your To-do list, you also delete this item in your ‘Project list’. So for example ‘buying a domain name’ is a task in your ‘project list’. You move this task to the A Group in the ‘To-do list’ and delete (or cross out) this in the ‘Project List’.

6. Schedule in any appointments with specific times over the next three days. These are doctors’ appointments, meeting with friends or having a date.

7. Schedule in at least 2 appointments in the next 3 days to work on your To-do list. Treat these as if meeting with your biggest client. 1 to 3 hours per appointment works fine.

8. Process all of your inboxes. Inboxes can be:

• Voicemails
• Voicenotes through whatsapp
• Emails
• Any letters you’ve received

Go through each item and see if they merit creating new tasks in your To-do list. For instance, after reading an email from a client asking you to call him you create a new item in your To-do list: ‘call client’. You put him in Group A, B or C depending on how urgent he needs to be called.

Do this with every email, whatsapp message or letter. Delete or archive every message depending on the priority. The consequence of this method means: an empty email inbox when you’re done!

9. If any new To-do items take fewer than 2 minutes to do, do them right now!  Adding tasks that only take 2 minutes to the To-do list is a waste of time.

However, if you find yourself spending more than 2 minutes on this item  stop immediately and add it to the new To-do list instead.

10. Take a look at your “Once-as’ list and see if there are any items you can or need to do in the next three days. Add these to your T-do list for the next three days.

Since these ‘Once-as’ items will be recurring you don’t have to delete them there.

11. Prioritize any new items in your ‘To-do’ list and put them in the A, B or C group, according to which tasks need doing first.

The items you added from the ‘Project’ list should always be put in Group A

12. Make a new smaller list in your ‘To-do’ list.  Here you put in all the items you want to do in the following three days. They will probably contain many if not most of Group A. And these are the tasks that you absolutely must finish in the next three days, before your next E3D appointment. This is now your active to-do list.

Make sure not to include too much items for you to finish, otherwise you will have a very stressful couple of days ahead of you. 

You need to be able to finish the items in this list in three days, while still having some time for yourself, a coffee break or unexpected occurrences that will eat into your time and productivity.

If by the next E3D appointment a couple of items on your main ‘to-do’ list have remained unfinished cut yourself some slack. Just add these to the new ‘to-list’for the next 3 days. The more you follow and maintain this system, the more you get a feeling for how much you can and can’t do.

13. Again prioritize the smaller ‘to-do’ list, according what tasks needs doing as fast as possible.

14. Schedule in your next E3D appointment

15. Print or write out your active, small ‘To-do’ list and carry it around with you, just like a shopping list.

16. Rince and repeat. You’ve now created a very detailed schedule for every 3 days (or 72 hours). Keep on doing the work with this E3D schedule and improving where needed. I can guarantee you that you will see a massive increase in your productivity!

Conclusion

This schedule will take some work to put together, especially in the beginning. But as I’ve said before, it is definitely worth the effort! Now, If like me you’re more inclined to using a less detailed schedule, try the Check System. This is my favorite. I do stress on using any schedule or time management system however. No successful entrepreneur can do without.

You can find this schedule in more detail in the excellent book ‘The Unchained Male. The Alpha 2.0’ by Caleb Jones. This is also great for any other tips on starting a business (or masculinity in general) and can be bought on Amazon.com or on his website calebjonesblog.org

Looking for a way to let AI help you with creating a weekly schedule? Read this article.