The Value of Sketching Out Your Day

Sometimes I find it helpful to sketch out my day as a way to take a look at how I’m spending my time, where I’m placing my attention, what I’m working on, and what I’m not.

So here’s what my typical work day looks like, not to suggest that yours should look anything like mine, but more as a nudge for you to try out this activity for yourself.

The first thing I do when I enter my office space is sit down with my coffee, grab a handful of books, and do some reading.

I find reading to be a great warmup for the day ahead, a warmup while I wake up. I typically have three books that I’m reading, a novel that I start with (usually reading a chapter or two), then a spiritual book to get my mind and body feeling good, and then a non-fiction book.

Right now the novel I’m reading is Adulthood Rites by Octavia Butler (I’ve been working through her entire catalog recently).

In the realm of spirituality, I’ve been enjoying the work of Adyashanti. I really enjoyed Falling Into Grace, and right now I’m reading The Direct Way. Shoutout to Matt Church of Thought Leaders for recommending those books.

The non-fiction book that I’m reading at the moment is High Conflict by Amanda Ripley. Shoutout to Hank Green for recently highlighting the importance of that book.

One thing I like to pay attention to throughout my day is the flow of energy. So with reading as a warmup as I take in some interesting ideas, I’m then ready to take on the first creative task of the day: record a sketched video to support other visual thinkers who are using drawings and diagrams to make sense of the world.

I find it helpful to do that recording before I open my computer, before I look at email or social media, before I open myself up to the outside world and let all those potential distractions and other voices in. And it just feels good to get some meaningful work done really early in the work day.

Since that video recording is a fairly high-energy output, I follow it up with more low-energy work, like checking email and editing then publishing that day’s video. I think of that as admin work, which is a nice change of pace from the earlier creative output.

After that there are really just two more things that I do.

First I identify a bigger, long-term project to work on. That might be a book that I’m writing, or a course or workshop that I’m developing, or brainstorming ideas for future videos. Those are long-term projects that won’t get completed in a single day, but that benefit from a daily push.

The other important component of the second half of my work day is to have some interactions with others. Sometimes that takes the form of a workshop that I’m hosting within my program Sketch Instinct, or a custom workshop that I’m hosting for an organization or an event, or maybe it’s a podcast interview.

Those conversations and workshops are a nice balance to the primarily solitary work that exists prior in the day, and it gives me the opportunity to explore the ideas that I’m developing about the world of visual thinking with others, to help them develop their skills and hear how they’re using them, which often informs future videos and projects.

Sometimes the sequencing of those last two areas of focus are reversed, and it varies how much time I’m able to dedicate to each of them.

I find it helpful to highlight these activities as the big three: recording a video, making progress on a long-term project, and engaging in a workshop or podcast conversation. On a good day, I’m able to do all three of those.

But I also acknowledge that making a video is the one thing that, if it’s the only thing I get done that day, will move the needle in my work. It’s the one thing that I can do that makes everything else easier, which is why I put it up front.

Here are some of the overarching principles that I think about in designing my day.

Pay attention to the flow of energy. I think a helpful reference point in that realm is the book The Power of Full Engagement, which proposes that instead of managing your time, you should manage your energy. Allow for variations throughout the day in the intensity of your energy output, and allow for recovery time as well. As human beings we’re not able to maintain 100% energy output throughout the entirety of the time that we’re awake, so allow for some fluctuation.

Speaking of energy, at the end of the timeline that I’ve sketched out is when I leave the office and go to the gym for some exercise before picking my kids up from school.

Another thing that I try to pay attention to is high-quality input in the form of the books that I’m reading at the start of the day as well as the articles or the videos that I choose to give attention to once I open myself up to the online world.

I try to balance that high-quality input with high-quality output, with a sketched video as the first piece of creative work, as well as the two additional pushes later in the day.

The last thing that I try to remind myself is that this will change. Sometimes I get caught in the trap of thinking that there’s one perfect daily routine that, once established, will work for me forever. That’s unrealistic, because change is inevitable. I will face external changes that I don’t have any control over. And I will desire internal changes as I get bored with some aspect of my routine or decide that a different one thing will better support my work. So giving yourself permission to adjust whatever your routine looks like is important.

With that, I encourage you to sketch out your own day, focusing perhaps on those chunks that you have control over, where you get to decide where to place your attention and energy.

If you’d like support developing your visual thinking skills so that you can build out models like the one I sketched out here, then come join us within Sketch Instinct.

Inside of that program you’ll learn how to summarize the books that you’re reading, process the challenges you face in your work, and share important ideas with your colleagues or others in your life.

The ability to sketch it out is indeed a versatile skillset, which is why I enjoy talking about it every day.

Cheers,

-Doug