The Extreme Maker's Schedule
Paul Graham wrote an excellent essay called Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule, which I've seen and heard referenced several times over the past couple of months. It's about how programmers, writers, and other creative types need at least half-day blocks of uninterrupted time to work productively, unlike managers and business types.
I've discovered that I work best on a special case of the maker's schedule. I call it the Extreme Maker's Schedule. Half-day blocks are not enough for me. I work most productively in 72- or 96-hour blocks of uninterrupted time. On this schedule, I allocate 3-4 day blocks of time to a particular project. During this time I try to avoid even the smallest disruptions. I begin by ordering or preparing enough food for the creative period that I don't need to cook, e.g. by baking a lasagna. I clear my schedule entirely so that I have no meetings or events to attend. Even online distractions such as email, Facebook, and Twitter are to be avoided at all costs on this schedule. If I take a long time to respond to emails, this is why. A single email can derail my train of thought for the entire evening. Once the 72- or 96-hour block has begun, I work on nothing but the one particular project. It usually takes a couple of hours for the excitement and thoughts to start flowing, but once I get to this point, I find myself in a state of unimaginable creativity and productivity. Knowing that I have nothing else planned but that one project helps. These periods are often so intense that I end up sleeping in a series of naps, as a result of staying up late and then unintentionally waking up early full of excitement. While this sounds strange, it's likely that other creative types enjoy this schedule. It's much like being in college and working on a final project all week, or sprinting all weekend at a developer hackathon. Realistically, the Extreme Maker's Schedule is hard to follow in a normal world. It helps to be self-employed full-time, and to be single without dependents. It also helps to have a retreat to get away to, whether it's a distraction-free apartment or an out-of-town secret hideaway.
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