Hi Reader,

Ever since I became Creative Director at ConvertKit, my work has changed a lot.

Where before I was responsible for designing, art directing and project managing any marketing design needs, I'm now also responsible for building a brand creators love, reaching more creators with it, and managing the multidisciplinary crew that is the Brand team: A

designer, a filmmaker, a writer, and a content producer. That means spending time on strategic planning and team development, diving into data, and thinking about a much wider scope of work.

I'm doing a lot more context-switching lately, and I was struggling to get everything done that I needed to each week because of it. As I moved a design task in my bullet journal to the next week for the third time in a row I realised I needed to try something new to make this new scope of responsibility work for me. It was easy to get tasks done that my team needed, or that had more urgency behind them, but the bigger-picture tasks that would have longer-term benefits were falling through the cracks.

For a long time I've been setting a focus (or theme) for each month to help me make meaningful progress on my side projects. Setting a focus gives me permission to prioritise that thing, and while I will still work on other stuff throughout the month; the clear focus reminds me which project is most important. I decided to try apply this approach to each work day to reduce the level of context-switching I was doing.

I set up my work week as follows:

Monday – Data, metrics & planning.

I dig into the data to make sure I have my finger on the pulse of what’s happening with our metrics in preparation for our leadership team ‘State of the Business’ meeting, and spend the day making sure I’m up to date on various projects to know exactly what needs to happen next. If there’s any small tasks I need to do, like an email that needs to be sent or a task assigned, I try fit them in on Monday to get them out of the way.

Tuesday – Creating.

As a company wide ‘no recurring meetings’ day my calendar on Tuesday’s is usually pretty empty, allowing me to make headway with a design or writing project

Wednesday – Strategy.

A lot of thinking and research happens on Wednesday mornings. I spend time on big-picture things like market research, mapping out a new project or writing up a pitch. Setting aside time for this means I’m giving myself the space to think not just about how we’re doing as a team and a company right now, but making plans for the future. I have my 1 on 1 with my manager on Wednesday’s, as well as our Growth Leadership meeting, and I find that after spending the morning in a strategic mindset, I’m better prepared for those conversations.

Thursday – Team development.

This is a heavy meeting day for me with our Brand team meeting, all-team meeting and most of the 1 on 1’s with my team members happening. I spend the non-meeting hours focussed on things that need to be done to help my team develop their careers individually, or to help us operate better as a team whether that be prepping a promotion document, planning a team brainstorm activity, or learning how I can be a better manager.

Friday – Creating.

Another ‘no recurring meetings’ day where I can make progress on a creative project.

I’ve been working with this system for a couple of months now, and so far it’s solved my issue with context-switching. Of course, things come up and I may end up doing a team development task on a Tuesday or an urgent data project on a Wednesday, but for the most part it gives me a sense of calm to know that all the important things I need to do have their own time set aside.

So when I’m planning for my week on Monday I don’t have to stress about whether to prioritise diving into that competitor brand research or the homepage wireframe or the competency matrix for a team member next; I know automatically when I’ll work on each one.

Have you ever thought about doing this to give your week more structure? I’d love to hear about it if you have!

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Daily themes on the Design Life podcast

If you prefer to listen rather than read, or if you want more context around my daily themes, check out episode 219 of my podcast! In it, my co-host Femke and I talk about this daily themes idea and how it's been working for me.

Listen to the episode

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Productivity inspiration with Matt Ragland

My friend and ex-colleague Matt Ragland is a huge inspiration to me when it comes to productivity. He’s always trying new systems and sharing what he’s learned through his YouTube videos. If you’re ever feeling stuck in a rut and unsure how to get yourself in a motivated headspace to get your work done, I highly recommend hitting play on one of his videos.

Productivity looks different for everyone, and sometimes we need inspiration for new things we could try to help find more focus.

​Check out Matt’s YouTube channel​

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I hope you enjoyed hearing about my daily themes! It’s working well for me and, as with all productivity systems I’ve tried over the years, I’ll keep using these daily themes until they no longer serve me.

In a future issue, I’d love to share some productivity tips from you! So please, hit reply and tell me about something you do to find focus, plan your week or get things done.

Have a good week,

Charli