Block-Based Founder Schedules

My Semi-Annual Blog Post on How I Schedule My Time

While I’ve never been diagnosed with ADHD, as soon as I saw Marc’s schedule, I laughed out loud because it so closely matched the way I’ve been controlling my own schedule for years.

Here’s what mine looks like:

What I like about a block-based schedule is that it holds up incredibly well, despite tumultuous changes in my career, industry, or job. Every day is essentially structured the same (ie: deep work in the mornings, social work in the afternoons), but I flip up the context, which appeals to my highly curious and exploratory nature.

Notably, there is almost never a week where every day perfectly fits this schedule. (Also notably, I get pretty grumpy if I lose out deep work blocks more than 2 days in a row.) I’m generally content when I can stick the landing on 4 days out of 5.

To get a sense for what this looks like in practice, here’s a preview of my week ahead, which includes 2 Build First AI workshops (1 on Monday, 1 on Wednesday), 1 in-person AI coaching session, 4 sales calls, 2 GTM meetings, 2 friend catch-ups, 1 theatre opening night, and 1 blocked day largely for product work.

Seeing my week laid out like this also gives me a chance to plan in advance what items I’d like to move forward so that I can use each deep work block as efficiently as possible. (But I’ll note that this is more easily said than done, as I get easily distracted.)

I first started iterating on a version of this “free agent” schedule when I worked at Union Square Ventures in a relatively autonomous and independent role. But I really refined this operations system as a fractional worker, when I not only had to account for managing my own momentum but also fitting in my kids.

Given so many years of practice, it was relatively easy for me to turn on “founder mode” energy in the same way when I first totally solo in January. But it’s certainly not perfect.

Here are some issues I’ve found:

• Solo vs. Collaborator Time
  This schedule only works in weeks when I am operating largely on my own. Introducing even just one other person’s schedule preferences and routines into the mix can throw my own into chaos, which is why it’s been hard for me to figure out how to introduce regular creative collaborators into my work this year. (I want to get better at this, because let’s be real, working with AI’s all the time is just not as fun.)

• Learning New Software Skills

  As it’s my first year building software as a creator, I vastly underestimated how much time it takes to learn about new technology, build that technology, debug what breaks, and keep it updated. I find myself sucked into rabbit-holes for hours on end, often at the expense of other things. (I tell myself this will pay off in the long term, but sometimes the “tinker time” is just a waste of time.)

• Prioritizing Content Creation
  You might notice I write a lot of content. You might feel like you can never keep up. That’s OK. This blog is largely for me, not for you. As I operate every day of every week on hyperdrive mode, writing has become a critical way for me to “clear the cache” on a near-daily basis. When I feel my stack overflowing, I need to write it out before I can get anything else done. Is this a time suck? Yes. Alas. It’s how I’m hard-wired to function.

• Avoiding the “Boring” Stuff
  Because I now have a truly infinite number of things I can choose to take on in any given day, I find myself consistently deprioritizing the stuff that I find “boring.” For me, this is largely things around admin, operations, and financial reporting. Obviously these are all very important parts of running a business. But one of the downsides of working for yourself is that you don’t have anyone waiting on you to “turn in your homework” on a monthly or quarterly basis. This is clearly a bad habit I need to reverse next year. (As a side note, I’ve really started to understand the value of why founders have advisors and boards.)

• Managing Kid + Family Externalities
  My founder schedule combined with my husband’s schedule as a sound designer is tough enough. But adding in the kid chaos makes every week feel like a sitcom. During weeks where I’m at conferences, events or offsite workshops, or weeks when the kids are off school or home sick, or my husband is out of town, everything gets tossed around all over again. I am trying to get better at adapting to this no-routine, routine, but it’s been the hardest part of keeping myself focused.

As a result of all of these challenges, I spend more night than I should in “block 3” of my schedule, in order to get something done that I didn’t accomplish earlier in the day. This makes it feel like my time management has gotten worse than ever.

That said, this year, I’ve managed to ship two apps on the app store, launch an emergent AI training business, and catalyze the first grant funding for our nascent block association. So I guess there have been enough “good enough” weeks to at least get a few things going.

I hope this schedule transparency is helpful to anyone who’s in their own solo operator mode…even if it’s just motivation to see that there is no “one size fits all” schedule. Just the one the works for you, most of the time.

While I’ve never been diagnosed with ADHD, as soon as I saw Marc’s schedule, I laughed out loud because it so closely matched the way I’ve been controlling my own schedule for years.

Here’s what mine looks like:

What I like about a block-based schedule is that it holds up incredibly well, despite tumultuous changes in my career, industry, or job. Every day is essentially structured the same (ie: deep work in the mornings, social work in the afternoons), but I flip up the context, which appeals to my highly curious and exploratory nature.

Notably, there is almost never a week where every day perfectly fits this schedule. (Also notably, I get pretty grumpy if I lose out deep work blocks more than 2 days in a row.) I’m generally content when I can stick the landing on 4 days out of 5.

To get a sense for what this looks like in practice, here’s a preview of my week ahead, which includes 2 Build First AI workshops (1 on Monday, 1 on Wednesday), 1 in-person AI coaching session, 4 sales calls, 2 GTM meetings, 2 friend catch-ups, 1 theatre opening night, and 1 blocked day largely for product work.

Seeing my week laid out like this also gives me a chance to plan in advance what items I’d like to move forward so that I can use each deep work block as efficiently as possible. (But I’ll note that this is more easily said than done, as I get easily distracted.)

I first started iterating on a version of this “free agent” schedule when I worked at Union Square Ventures in a relatively autonomous and independent role. But I really refined this operations system as a fractional worker, when I not only had to account for managing my own momentum but also fitting in my kids.

Given so many years of practice, it was relatively easy for me to turn on “founder mode” energy in the same way when I first totally solo in January. But it’s certainly not perfect.

Here are some issues I’ve found:

• Solo vs. Collaborator Time
  This schedule only works in weeks when I am operating largely on my own. Introducing even just one other person’s schedule preferences and routines into the mix can throw my own into chaos, which is why it’s been hard for me to figure out how to introduce regular creative collaborators into my work this year. (I want to get better at this, because let’s be real, working with AI’s all the time is just not as fun.)

• Learning New Software Skills

  As it’s my first year building software as a creator, I vastly underestimated how much time it takes to learn about new technology, build that technology, debug what breaks, and keep it updated. I find myself sucked into rabbit-holes for hours on end, often at the expense of other things. (I tell myself this will pay off in the long term, but sometimes the “tinker time” is just a waste of time.)

• Prioritizing Content Creation
  You might notice I write a lot of content. You might feel like you can never keep up. That’s OK. This blog is largely for me, not for you. As I operate every day of every week on hyperdrive mode, writing has become a critical way for me to “clear the cache” on a near-daily basis. When I feel my stack overflowing, I need to write it out before I can get anything else done. Is this a time suck? Yes. Alas. It’s how I’m hard-wired to function.

• Avoiding the “Boring” Stuff
  Because I now have a truly infinite number of things I can choose to take on in any given day, I find myself consistently deprioritizing the stuff that I find “boring.” For me, this is largely things around admin, operations, and financial reporting. Obviously these are all very important parts of running a business. But one of the downsides of working for yourself is that you don’t have anyone waiting on you to “turn in your homework” on a monthly or quarterly basis. This is clearly a bad habit I need to reverse next year. (As a side note, I’ve really started to understand the value of why founders have advisors and boards.)

• Managing Kid + Family Externalities
  My founder schedule combined with my husband’s schedule as a sound designer is tough enough. But adding in the kid chaos makes every week feel like a sitcom. During weeks where I’m at conferences, events or offsite workshops, or weeks when the kids are off school or home sick, or my husband is out of town, everything gets tossed around all over again. I am trying to get better at adapting to this no-routine, routine, but it’s been the hardest part of keeping myself focused.

As a result of all of these challenges, I spend more night than I should in “block 3” of my schedule, in order to get something done that I didn’t accomplish earlier in the day. This makes it feel like my time management has gotten worse than ever.

That said, this year, I’ve managed to ship two apps on the app store, launch an emergent AI training business, and catalyze the first grant funding for our nascent block association. So I guess there have been enough “good enough” weeks to at least get a few things going.

I hope this schedule transparency is helpful to anyone who’s in their own solo operator mode…even if it’s just motivation to see that there is no “one size fits all” schedule. Just the one the works for you, most of the time.