Plan Each Day to Get Some Creative Project Stuff Done, Finally

I set a new high-score on my at-home arcade game, Galaxian. It’s taken me months to improve my skills, and the relentless, unforgiving game—squadron after squadron of space spiders attack you with bombs and kamikaze missions—reminds me of how I plan my days.

I’m not great at planning my day on an hourly basis. Laying out all my tasks in a sequence, allotting 30, 60, or 90 minutes for this thing or that is just a non-starter. I live my day-to-day hour-by-hour and yet I can’t plan it. My whole being resists such detailed scheduling despite embracing that exact schedule.

I do it on the fly from the moment I wake up to when, eighteen hours later, I lay in bed and take up a book to read before sleep. Everything is in 30, 60, or 90 minutes segments. The reason I can’t plan it is because I can’t plan my feelings or energy levels.

Blocking out time slots is only a tiny part of how I work.

At any given moment of the day, I’m going to feel like doing one thing or another. Then I check myself to see if I have the energy for it. When I think of something (often referring to a to-do list to remind myself of what I hope to get done) I try out various options until there’s a fit.

To “feel” like doing something, I’m satisfying my curiosity, my craving for the satisfaction of doing it, and my obligation to take care of an assignment. From nine to five, I’m primarily doing obligations of my job. I have literal assignments, implied assignments, and initiatives I’ve set for myself.

Before and after the job (i.e., early morning and evenings), I have more leeway with my curiosity and cravings, pursuing a novel, building a website, or writing short humor.

When I talk about energy, I refer to my alertness, stamina, and creative urge. So I may feel like working on an essay, but I may recognize a lack of alertness, allowing my mind to wander when it should focus on the essay. Or I may not think I can last the amount of time needed for the next phase of writing that essay. Or I may have an itch to write humor rather than a personal essay.

On top of all that, I get interruptions from my job, my family, and my inner self, reminding me to do something I said I would but seem to have completely forgotten.

I envy people who can block out hour after hour on their planner and live that way. They sure know how to tick off items from the to-do list.

I’ve evolved this approach from years of practice using Getting Things Done, Master Your Workday, Franklin-Covey planners, and half a dozen more well-documented systems.

Basically, I start each day with intentions, targets, and goals for getting stuff done. It plays out like a game of Galaxian, in which you want to clear out the squadron of space spiders attacking you, but they zig when you think they're going to zag, or you drop focus during the blink of an eye and lose a ship, and maybe lose the game.

You have to reset and start over, which I find myself doing repeatedly each day with my intentions, targets, and goals.

I wonder if I’m alone in this, or if any of you have similar customized systems in place. Let me know. I’d like to think I’m not alone.