The Handled Method: Thirty Minutes on Each End of Your Day

For a long time, the day ran me

I used to start my day by looking at my calendar and letting it tell me what to do. There was never really a plan. Maybe I’d glance at tomorrow the night before, but most mornings it was just, okay, what’s going on today? I didn’t have a list of what had to get done. I went wherever the calendar or my inbox sent me, and it felt like the day was dragging me around.

I was working until nine thirty or ten at night. I’d stop for dinner, get my kid settled, and go right back to the computer.

The first thing that changed was small. I started putting actual work time on my calendar, just me at my desk doing the work, with no meetings or errands in it. That opened my eyes: I was busy enough that without some structure, the day would always win.

So I started what I now call the Handled Method: thirty minutes when I sit down in the morning, an Open, and thirty minutes when I stop at the end of the day, a Close, and an assistant I talk to out loud that holds every list so I don’t have to.

Now I never feel like I’m being run by my day. I’m running the day.

What the first week felt like

The first full week I committed to it, I stopped waking up anxious. I woke up already knowing I’d handled it the night before. All I had to think about was getting up, having my coffee, and getting my kid on the bus.

The biggest change was during the day. I wasn’t splitting my attention a thousand different ways anymore. When I was sitting across from someone, I was actually there with them, because I knew everything else was handled and written down.

I’m a feelings-first builder. When I start working with a client, I ask what their perfect day looks like and how they want to feel at the end of it. This is how I want to feel at the end of mine, and it’s too good a feeling to keep to myself.