Hi. I’m Stepa Mitaki. Morning Walk is a personal weekly newsletter where I share some musings on tech, working on startups, productivity and some nerdy stuff.
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In this issue
Different modes of working and how I use them in my system
Some interesting things I read/watched/listened to lately
📝 Different modes of working and how I use them in my system
This week I’ve spent an entire workday at the coworking space. I usually like to switch places from time to time and work from different locations (cafes, libraries, coworking spaces, or even parks). Still, during this winter season, I’ve gotten into a bad habit of being lazy and unwilling to go out much. Winter is finally wearing off here in Moscow, and I’m slowly getting back to leaving the house more.
What happened at the coworking space was one of my most productive days in weeks. I started around 10 am and finished everything I had planned for the day around 1 pm. Was that the magic of switching locations? Yes, but there is more to it than the simple feeling of a novel environment.
I’ve started to analyze what made that coworking experience so efficient. Is it the novelty? Is it the feeling of being watched by other people? Is it the general productive vibe around you? Is there something more to it?
It’s all of those components, but it’s also the nature of the tasks I had planned. Throughout my working life, I have worked up a set of task types of work modes I’m operating at.
Most things I do fall into one out of six buckets, and these buckets live on the spectrum depending on how much creative energy they involve.
BrainDead
This is purely mechanical work. I don’t have to think. I don’t have to make big decisions, just mechanically do some tasks.
Some examples of it: pay the rent; set up an appointment; book a table at a restaurant.
You might say that you need to make decisions on schedule at the latter two, but it’s so low energy that I prefer to assign it to this bucket.
Admin
This one is still primarily mechanical work, but it does involve some quick thinking and decision-making. A good example of an Admin task is processing email. I try to go through emails as quickly as possible, so I don’t spend more than five minutes on each of them. And within those five minutes, I need to make a quick decision on one of four actions: a) delete; b) quick reply and forget; c) forward and delegate; d) keep and add a task to the to-do list.
Some other examples: review someone’s work; prepare for the meeting; buy flight tickets.
Research
This usually takes at least 20-30 minutes, and research is never done for research’s sake. Once you have collected the data, you need to do some thinking and decision-making. And usually, it’s heavier than in Admin tasks.
Examples: book a rental car; pick analytics tool
Writing
It’s not just writing per se but writing for the sake of thinking too. This requires more focus and typically at least a couple of takes.
Examples: compose brief, specs, JD, extensive feedback.
Planning
I falsely used to try to plan my week on Sundays. I was under the impression that I could easily spend an hour or so and fill in my whole week with small decomposed tasks. All I’d had to do during the week was just to complete them. What I quickly realized is that planning is a much bigger animal. You can’t plan several different projects in bulk. It’s too much context switching, and it’s much better to do one by one. Now I even plan todos for the day like “Plan next steps on Project X.”
Examples: brainstorm next steps on Project X; outline todos on Project Y; delegate tasks for the week for someone.
Complex Creating
This is the most complicated one. Lots of people would tell you that to complete a big task you need to split it into smaller ones. But it never works for me for complex creative projects. Take presentations, for instance. Sure, you start with the outline, but everything quickly turns into chaos after that. I might start with making slides #3 and #8, find an excellent picture for slide #6, decide to restructure all of the slides completely and finish slide #2. And this might go for days or even weeks. When faced with a task like this, I prefer to dedicate my entire day to that task only.
Examples: create a website; compose pitch deck; prepare presentation; prepare the speech.
This system helps me plan my workload at least a little.
If I have a Complex Creating task, I don’t plan anything else for that day except for the BrainDead or Admin tasks.
I prefer to start my day with Writing or Planning tasks and finish them first.
I prefect to tackle all Admin tasks in bulk after lunch.
Research is better to be done in the evening.
But coming back to the coworking experience, I realized that I could perform only specific kinds of tasks there. So I decided to expand my system to include spaces likewise.
BrainDead: anywhere; preferable after lunch (when energy is low).
Admin: public space (coworking/library/cafe); after lunch.
Research: public space or at home; in the evening.
Writing: public space or at home; in the morning.
Planning: only at home; in the morning.
Complex Creating: only at home; no magic time found yet. Best results so far – in the afternoon, late evening, or at night.
Why can I perform specific tasks only at home? Because I feel more freely. I typically talk to myself a lot or walk in circles during these moments. And that helps a lot. I don’t like to be constrained to do that by some people around me. I start thinking not about the task at hand but about these people, which breaks my flow.
And as I already said, complex creating always turns into chaos. And I prefer to keep that chaos in my surroundings too.
👓 Things I've been reading/watching/enjoying
Wander | Find your happy place
I’m still trying to wrap my head around what Wander exactly is, but it sounds super exciting so far. It’s like Airbnb but for more extended stays (vacation or remote getaways) designed explicitly for that.
A couple of key points from Packy McCormick:
Wander buys and operates homes themselves (which increases quality)
Homes are designed for work and play. They feature great work desks or workstations (most Airbnbs are designed for vacations).
Each house is phenomenal (higher-end product offering)
Every house comes with a Tesla car (what!? 🤯)
The Surprising Impact of Meeting-Free Days
“Today’s knowledge workers typically spend more than 85% of their time in meetings, which studies show negatively affects people’s psychological, physical, and mental well-being.”
Please consider establishing meeting-free days if you are a business owner, CEO, or have many direct reports. I personally have Tuesdays and Fridays without any meetings. These are the best days for deep work.
The Oscar Puzzle
I’m learning more and more about healthtech, and Oscar (health insurance) has been mentioned so many times in conversations with people from the industry. It’s insane. Finally, one of my favorite business analysts detailed their business strategy and what it takes to disrupt such a regulated industry. Highly recommended for your weekend read!
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Until next week 👋🏻
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