[INTERNAL MEMO]

Hey team,

We are bleeding time. PERIOD.

Even though we're mostly in person, distractions and "one-offs" are still killing our productivity. And during this time of change, I need to make sure nobody is drowning while others have capacity we're not using.

So we're implementing something that sounds counterintuitive: You're going to spend one hour planning to save 10-12 hours executing.

It's called Monday Hour One.

Starting now, every Monday morning (or Sunday night if you prefer), you will block out your entire week. Not some of it. All of it. By Monday morning, your supervisor should be able to look at your calendar and see exactly where every hour is going.

This is mandatory. The Executive Team will be checking.

Why? Because when I can see everyone's time allocation, I can properly distribute work and actually hit our project deadlines. No more wondering who's overloaded. No more hidden capacity. Just transparency.

Here’s exactly how to do Monday Hour One:

  1. Brain dump everything (20 minutes)

    • Review last week's calendar - what didn't get done?

    • Check Asana - what's coming up?

    • Scan sent emails - what's still open?

    • Review your job description - what are you doing daily/weekly?

    • Look at EOW reports - what needs action?

    • Check Slack - anything unresolved?

  2. Prioritize ruthlessly (5 minutes)

    • What moves the needle most? That goes first.

  3. Block your breaks FIRST (5 minutes)

    • Lunch, school pickup, walks - put them in or they won't happen.

  4. Schedule your actual work (20 minutes)

    • No vague "project work" - name the specific project

    • High-priority items get prime time slots

    • Email/Slack gets designated windows, not all day

  5. Add overflow time (5 minutes)

    • For ad-hoc requests, client fires, things taking longer than expected

  6. Color code everything (5 minutes)

    • Blue: Recurring meetings

    • Red: Admin tasks

    • Yellow: One-off meetings

    • Green: Project/task work

    • Purple: Breaks/food

    • Orange: Personal (optional)

Your calendar should look like Tetris. Every slot filled. Every hour accounted for.

Examples of Monday Hour One Calendars

Once you have completed the above, your calendar may look similar to the one below:

I know this level of planning feels constraining. But constraints create freedom. When you give yourself too much time, work expands to fill it. When you create boundaries, you get shit done.

This also means your calendar needs to be visible to your supervisor, HR, and Executive Team. No exceptions.

Try this for one week. I guarantee you'll find hours you didn't know you had.

But if you block time and don't do what you said you'd do, you're lying to yourself. The calendar is a commitment and that little friction at the beginning of the week leads to freedom the rest of it.

Have a great week 🙏🏼

Leila

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