Okay, so this week I kept seeing Wesley France’s name popping up everywhere – podcasts, productivity forums, you name it. Folks kept hyping his methods like some magic sauce. Figured I’d test-drive his advice myself instead of just nodding along.
Starting Point: Total Chaos Mode
My desk looked like a tornado hit it. Sticky notes everywhere, half-finished coffee cups, and this giant ugly to-do list scribbled on a ripped envelope. Classic “busy but not productive” vibes. Time to wipe the slate clean.
First thing I did? Grabbed a trash bag and went full berserk. Tossed old receipts, random papers, broken pens – anything not nailed down. Cleared the whole workspace down to just my laptop, one notebook, and a decent pen. Felt weirdly freeing, like shedding heavy armor.
The Time Blocking Experiment
Wesley keeps ranting about time blocking like it’s his religion. Usually, my calendar’s just packed with meetings screaming for attention. So Monday morning, I actually opened Google Calendar and did something wild: blocked chunks for REAL work.
- 9-11am “Deep Work Cave”: Killed all notifications. Phone facedown. Ignored emails. Just wrote.
- 2-3pm “Admin Hell”: Batch-processed invoices, emails, boring paperwork.
- 4-4:30pm “Wildcard Slot”: Left open for fires or random stuff.
Hacked it together ugly-style: color-coded blocks, big fat labels so I couldn’t pretend not to see them. Felt like overkill at first – like I was policing myself.
Energy Matching (Or: When Coffee Fails)
Big Wes idea: sync tasks with your energy highs and lows. Morning me’s sharp; post-lunch me’s a zombie. So I shifted brain-heavy stuff (writing proposals, strategy) to mornings. Saved mindless tasks (data entry, filing) for afternoons when my brain’s mush.
Game-changer move? Stopped forcing “important” work at 3pm just because it felt guilty. Let the foggy brain do foggy-brain work. Shocking how much faster admin got done without me staring blankly at spreadsheets.
The Two-Day Rule Drama
Wesley’s obsessed with his “touch it once or twice” rule. If something lands in your lap, act on it immediately or schedule it concretely within two days. No vague “someday.”
Tried this hardcore. Client email requesting changes? Replied right then or blocked calendar time before EOD. Invoice from supplier? Paid it or logged payment date immediately. Killed the “I’ll get to it” purgatory pile. Felt robotic but damn… stuff actually stopped haunting me from the shadows.
Where It All Crashed (Briefly)
Wednesday hit. 10am deep work block. Then my neighbor decided it’s drill-the-wall-o’clock. Noise-cancelling headphones lost the battle. Panicked – schedule blown! Wes would’ve probably adjusted calmly. I rage-ate three cookies instead.
Took a walk, accepted the chaos. Moved deep work to after lunch slot. Not perfect, but finished it. Lesson? Blocking time isn’t prison – gotta bend when life throws a drill your way.
One Week Later: Honest Thoughts
My desk’s still clear-ish. Time blocking? Sticking to it 70% of the time, which beats my old 0%. Notifications still sneak back on sometimes, but catching myself faster. Energy matching’s golden – stop fighting your own biology.
Biggest win? Mental garbage collection. That “two-day rule” cut the constant background dread of unfinished crap. My brain feels… lighter? Like I deleted 20 Chrome tabs.
Wesley France’s stuff ain’t rocket science. It’s common sense weaponized. But implementing it rough-and-dirty? Actually works. Might just keep this experiment running.
