😵‍💫 My last week was really fragmented.

I had many appointments that made it difficult for me to get into a deep work mode. I wanted to accomplish some important goals for my app cocoona. But as you can imagine, I was unproductive.

On this Monday, the day started to become fragmented again.

I didn't want this to be yet another unproductive day. However, most of the common tips didn't work for me or I couldn't influence them (batch your meetings, make them shorter, ...).

I asked myself what I could do to stay productive even on such fragmented days. When I was procrastinating in a short time block before an appointment, I was thinking about sushi and an idea came into my mind.

🍣 How sushi rolls are made

Do you know how to make sushi rolls?

Of course, there are different types of sushi rolls and how they are made may vary. But put simply, you have a large Nori sheet, place the rice and other ingredients on it, and then roll it up tightly using a bamboo mat.

You probably know that usually, the sushi rolls you eat (e. g. Maki roll) are smaller. That's because the big rolls are cut into several smaller rolls using a knife.

🚀 What can we learn from making sushi rolls?

On Monday, I made very small sushi rolls.

The only difference was that I didn't really make sushi rolls. I created really small tasks. I mean really small! My blocks of time were too short for deep work or completing larger tasks.

But with these very, very tiny sushi rolls on my table (well, my tasks ...), I could complete several of them in my short blocks of time. My list of 4 tasks was divided into 30 subtasks. Even if I only had 15 minutes, I could grab at least one or two small tasks and complete them.

Now you will probably tell me: Alright Tobi, you divided your tasks into subtasks. This is no rocket science!

Well, yes! And I think that's why it's so simple and at the same time so effective. I wondered why I didn't do this earlier.

I felt so much more productive. Why? Because I could complete them in these short time blocks. The difference is, that you can now work on them, but also complete them.

"Interruption, even if short, delays the total time required to complete a task by a significant fraction." - Cal Newport

🗒️ TL;DR

• On fragmented days with many appointments/meetings, divide your tasks into very, very small tasks.

• Think your task is small? Try to divide it once more!

• This will allow you not only to work on them but also complete them within your short time blocks, even it's only 15 minutes.

• Consequently, you will feel and actually be much more productive since you don't need to pay the high price for the interruption and try to get mentally back to your large task again after a meeting.

• Therefore, it's also much easier to continue with the work. You will just grab the next small task instead of trying to remember where you stopped.