‘Schedule Maxxing’: how to become ridiculously productive

For six months, I worked two jobs.

• 6am–6pm: FX trader at a bank.
• 6pm–10:30pm: newsletter writer.

And somehow, I didn’t completely destroy myself.

This period taught me that productivity isn’t about squeezing more into your calendar. It’s about making sure your calendar reflects the future you keep saying you want.

I’ve called this process ‘Schedule Maxxing’:

Schedule Maxxing = Direction x Time x Capacity

• Direction: Who are you trying to become?
• Time: What’s the One Thing that gets you there fastest?
• Capacity: What allows you to execute consistently?

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Direction: Who are you trying to become?

Most people have an image in their head of the person they want to become:

• Earning thousands of dollars a month
• Working fully remote
• Respected by their peers
• Really, really, really, ridiculously good looking (IYKYK)

The problem is that we tend to treat that person as someone we’ll become later.

• Once I earn X, I’ll behave like them.
• Once I get the opportunity, I’ll work like them.
• Once my circumstances change, I’ll live like them.

I think that’s backwards.

You become that person by rehearsing their behaviours before you have their results.

So stop asking, “How do I eventually become that person?”

Ask: “What would that person do this Tuesday?”

This was the first shift I made in my own life.

When I was working at the bank, I always had this dream of working remotely from around the world, earning income on my own terms.

At the time, I was working as an FX trader at a bank. My days started at 6am and finished at 6pm.

But I knew that if I wanted a completely different life, I needed to start building it before I could leave the one I had.

So at 6pm, I’d close one laptop and open another.

From 6pm to 10:30pm, I worked as a newsletter writer.

I did that for six months.

It wasn’t glamorous. There were days when the absolute last thing I wanted to do after a 12-hour shift was write. But this was the first time in my life where my calendar actually reflected the future I kept saying I wanted.

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Time: What’s the One Thing that gets you there fastest?

If you’re serious about making your vision work, you need to be serious about your most precious resource.

A lot of people think that’s money.

Actually, it’s time.

Money is renewable. Time isn’t.

For this, I encourage you to think about the Pareto principle otherwise known as the 80/20 rule.

The idea is that roughly 80% of the results come from 20% of the inputs.

In other words, a small amount of focused effort can drive a disproportionate amount of your results.

When you picture your future self, really try to ask:

What’s the ONE thing I can do to make this happen?

And here, you need to think big. As difficult as it is, cast aside any anxiety or doubt and really try to ask yourself: what would it take to win?

A good One Thing should pass a simple test:

If I got significantly better at this over the next 12 months, would it materially change my life?

For me, the answer was writing.

I didn’t need to become better at 15 things. I didn’t need a personal brand, a huge audience or a perfectly optimized morning routine. I needed a skill somebody would pay me for.

So that became the priority.

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Capacity: What allows you to execute consistently?

Working 16-hour days isn’t something I’d recommend as a permanent lifestyle. But for those six months, I had a very specific reason for doing it: I was building my way out.

The question was: how could I keep executing without completely burning myself into the ground?

And throughout this period, one rule mattered to me: building my next chapter couldn’t become an excuse to do a bad job in my current one.

Direction gave me the destination. My One Thing gave me the plan. But I still needed the physical and mental capacity to actually execute it.

These five things became my foundations:

1. Sleep. Non-negotiable minimum of 7 hours a night. I don’t mess with my sleep, ever. I religiously wear a sleep tracking watch and I optimise my sleep score like it’s a game. In the 15 minutes before bed I’ll always read a fiction book. It helps switch off the ‘problem solving’ part of my brain.
2. Steps. Minimum of 7,000 steps a day. I know a lot of people say 10k, but for those of us with desk jobs, that can be hard to hit consistently. 7k is a target I can actually stick to, and I find it helps me sleep better too.
3. Exercise. You need cardio and strength. Strength means heavy weights at least twice a week. I notice a huge difference in my energy and focus when I do. And when I say cardio, I mean the kinds where you are sweating and fighting for your life. Running, cycling, boxing, etc. I notice I’m sharper and more focused when I’m training consistently.
4. Meditation. At least 10 minutes a day. I’m not going to tell you I do this every night of my life without fail. Sometimes I don’t. But when I’m consistent with it I can’t begin to describe how different I feel. For me, meditation creates a tiny gap between impulse → action. And inside that gap, I tend to make better decisions.
5. Nutrition. If you only eat crap, you’re slowing down your body and mind. I don’t do anything fancy here. I eat balanced meals with protein, carbs and fats, plenty of fruit and vegetables, and try to minimise heavily processed food.

These five are my foundations. I’m not perfect with all of them, but when they start slipping, my ability to execute usually slips with them. And if you want to go one level deeper, there are two more that have made a huge difference to me:

1. Stoicism. I had my biggest personal breakthrough thanks to Stoicism. I used to waste a lot of energy trying to influence things I couldn't control: what colleagues thought about my work, how other people perceived me, whether someone appreciated the effort I put into a relationship. Stoicism taught me to separate what I can influence from what I can't. I put my energy into the former and try to let go of the latter.
2. Education. It’s just mind blowing how much amazing free content is out there. Whatever skill you want to learn, there are creators out there teaching it for free. If you’re serious about becoming your dream self, start reading what they would read. In my next articles, I’ll cover some of the best education out there for marketing, sales and product.

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Next Steps

Before you close this article, open your calendar and answer three questions:

1. Who am I trying to become over the next 12 months?

2. What’s the One Thing that would move me closest to that person?

3. Where does that thing actually exist in my calendar this week?

Be honest with yourself on the last one.

If you can’t point to the hours, it’s not a priority yet.

Warmly,

Kimia