Given Elon Musk has so many companies and projects he’s working on — such as SpaceX, Tesla, the Boring Company, SolarCity, and more, people often wonder how he manages to stay on top of it all.
However, Musk himself has actually revealed his very simple yet effective productivity hack in an interview a few years ago:
He says that he splits his time so that he’s mostly only ever focused on one company at a time.
Specifically, during an interview with journalist Alison van Diggelen in 2013, he described flying back and forth between Northern and Southern California, generally splitting his week between his two main companies in the following way:
Monday: SpaceX
Tuesday: Tesla
Wednesday: Tesla
Thursday: SpaceX
Friday: SpaceX
Saturday: Tesla
Sunday: Tesla or SpaceX
Of course, we’re not all working on building multiple companies. However, we will all have multiple focuses and varying priorities calling for our attention.
So, deciding your key priorities and having a primary focus for each day is a good way to ensure you’re focused on what matters most and don’t get distracted.
Author and entrepreneur, Ari Meisel has also put an interesting spin on this. Not only does he batch all his activities together, but he also alternates his environments to match the work he’s doing.
For example, on Mondays and Fridays, he’s focused on writing a lot of blog post, so he does this work from the SOHO HOUSE in New York, where the internet connection is poor and thus stops him from being distracted
On Tuesdays, he’s focused on making calls and being in meetings, so he goes to his friend’s apartment, where it’s a much more engaging and creative environment.
He also does a lot of podcasting, so he often records about 5 podcast episodes in a single session from a downtown studio.
This sort of lumping of tasks saves a lot of mental energy from switching tasks and will give you more time. If you aren’t already doing something like it, it’s worth considering.