Monday Hour One

There is a big difference between saying a project is on your list and knowing exactly when you will finish it.

When someone tells me they’re finishing a project Tuesday at eleven, I can tell they’re using their calendar. When they tell me they know they need to do it because it’s on their list, the work still doesn’t have a time.

Monday Hour One is the process we use to make that shift. You get everything out of your brain, decide when you will do it, put it on your calendar, and throw the list away.

It sounds simple. The challenging part isn’t choosing the right calendar. It’s learning to honor what you have decided to do.

I developed this program with coaches and time-management experts Lauren Cash and Tyson Bradley. In Episode 306, we explored both the practical process and the relationship with yourself that makes it work.

Get the work out of your brain

Use the first hour of your workweek to write down everything you think you need to do. Include what is on your mind for this week and the future.

As Tyson explained, your brain is a processor rather than a place to store every task. Getting the list onto paper lets you see it outside yourself.

Then examine what is there. Why are you doing each thing? Does it matter to you? Does it fit the goal you want to create?

Lauren compared planning to getting directions before traveling. Starting to drive because you’re late, without deciding how to get there, doesn’t save you time. It also helps to ask whether you actually want the destination.

Some projects on your list may not make sense for your goals at all. Planning gives you a chance to notice that before you keep spending time on them.

Schedule your freedom first

People sometimes tell me they don’t want to be tied down by a calendar. They want freedom.

In Monday Hour One, you plan your freedom first. Schedule your time with loved ones, workouts, personal care, and the things that matter most to you. Then fill in the work.

When you take free time by avoiding something you had planned, you can spend the whole time feeling guilty. Deliberately scheduling it gives you a different experience.

The calendar isn’t there to remove your free time. It helps you decide how you want to use your time, including the parts you want to keep free.

Decide how much time you will give a task

The question isn’t only how long something will take. It’s how long you want to give yourself to get it done.

That is a subtle but important shift. You stop handing the decision to the task and start taking responsibility for producing a result within a time.

For a project with several steps, break it down. Lauren gave the example of a podcast: decide how much time to spend outlining it, practicing, and recording.

Tyson emphasized choosing a time that you believe is possible and that still challenges you. Giving yourself far too much time can mean filling the space with distractions. Planning an amount you don’t believe you can honor can become another reason to judge yourself.

A focused time block creates gentle pressure. If I have thirty minutes to write a podcast outline, that is what I do. I don’t have time to check Facebook or clean my desktop first.

Be willing to produce B-minus work rather than using perfection as a reason to keep extending the task.

Put it on the calendar and throw away the list

After you have decided what matters and how much time you will give it, assign the work a place on your calendar.

Then throw away the to-do list. That is a key part of the process.

Keeping the list as your plan leaves the work waiting for some future moment when you might feel like doing it. The calendar gives it a time you have already chosen.

Writing the list can initially bring up thoughts about how much there is to do. Scheduling it can create relief—but only if you trust yourself to follow the calendar.

That is where the real work begins.

Expect not to feel like doing it

Suppose I schedule Wednesday for writing a sales page. When Wednesday comes, I may want to walk the dogs, look at Instagram, eat something, or do almost anything else.

Not wanting to do the work doesn’t mean the calendar is wrong. It is an opportunity to honor my commitment to myself.

If I had scheduled lunch with Tyson, I wouldn’t simply fail to show up. Why do we so readily discount an appointment we make with ourselves?

We can become accustomed to disappointing ourselves. Then we avoid planning because we assume we won’t follow through anyway.

Use the Model to look at that moment. What thought makes the distraction appealing? What feeling drives not doing the task? What do you believe about your ability to honor the plan?

This is why time management becomes work on self-trust. You practice showing yourself that what you decide matters.

Honor the next time block, too

When a task takes longer than the time you assigned, notice the decision you are making.

Lauren pointed out that continuing past the end means taking time from the next block. You may tell yourself you have to keep going, but you are changing a commitment you already made.

Practicing the process includes stopping when you planned to stop and being willing to deal with the consequences. That helps you learn to hold yourself to your decisions.

It also means looking at your thinking with compassion. The point isn’t to create a new system for criticizing yourself. It’s to understand what gets in the way of doing what you said you would do.

Learn it by using it

Monday Hour One is a skill. Understanding the explanation isn’t the same as practicing it, just as watching a cartwheel isn’t the same as learning to do one.

The planning may take longer than an hour at first. You will encounter thoughts and feelings you didn’t expect. That is part of learning how to manage your time and your mind together.

Tyson described helping people begin with honoring one day, or even one hour, and build from there.

Get the work out of your head. Decide what matters. Give it a time. Then practice showing up for yourself at that time.

The result is more than a completed project. It is a relationship with yourself in which your time, your decisions, and your commitments matter.