Day Theming: A Productive Approach to Scheduling

What is Day Theming?

Day Theming is a time management method where you group similar types of work and dedicate a specific time block (or even a whole day) to process them in batches.
This helps reduce context switching costs and improves focus, leading to higher productivity.

A well-known example is Elon Musk, who splits his week between SpaceX and Tesla, dedicating entire days to each company. But Day Theming isn’t only useful for people running multiple companies. For roles like product managers, who juggle communication, product specs, research, user feedback, and stakeholder meetings, Day Theming can be just as powerful.

Why combine Day Theming with Time Blocking?

• Time Blocking: Assigning specific tasks to time slots in your calendar.

• Day Theming: Grouping related tasks and working on them within focused blocks.

While Time Blocking alone helps structure your day, switching too often between unrelated tasks can hurt productivity.
According to a University of California Irvine study, it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to fully refocus after a task interruption.

By combining Time Blocking with Day Theming, you can maintain flow and process related tasks in batches - making this one of the most effective productivity methods.

How to find the right Day Theming for you

1. Identify time you can control

• Example: 8am–12pm and 8pm–12am are times with fewer meetings, giving you full ownership.

• Example: 1pm–6pm is usually filled with external meetings, leaving less control.

Start by distinguishing between time you can manage independently vs. time dictated by others.

2. Assign themes to controllable time blocks

If dedicating an entire day feels unrealistic, try 4-hour theming instead.

• Example: Every Wednesday evening, spend 4 hours exclusively on product-related work such as reviewing bugs, writing Jira tickets, and aligning on feature updates.

3. Use weekends for important but non-urgent tasks

Urgent meetings and tasks often dominate weekdays. Weekends can be reserved for high-value but less urgent work.

• Example: Saturday morning → writing one blog post, which contributes long-term value but often gets deprioritized during the week.

4. Keep it flexible

Not every time slot needs to be themed. Over-scheduling can backfire since unexpected events will always occur. Applying themes loosely and flexibly is often more effective.