So, I’ve been messing around with this 59 41 thing for a while now, and figured I’d share what went down. It’s not some big secret method, just something I stumbled into trying to sort out my workflow, which honestly, was a bit of a mess.
Things used to feel… well, chaotic. I was jumping between different kinds of tasks all day. You know, trying to do the deep work stuff, but then getting pulled into emails, then quick fixes, then back again. My brain felt like scrambled eggs by lunchtime. I figured there had to be a better way to just organize my effort, my focus.
I started simple. Thought about splitting my time, maybe dedicating blocks. First, I tried a straight 50 50 split. Half the day for planned projects, half for reactive stuff and admin. Sounded logical, right? But it didn’t quite click. Some days I’d blow through the reactive stuff quickly and feel stuck, other days it would overflow and eat into project time. It felt too rigid.
Then I tweaked it. Went for something like 60 40. A bit more weight on the important project work. That felt better, definitely an improvement. But still… sometimes it felt like I was forcing it, like the split wasn’t quite natural for how things actually landed on my plate.
This is where the 59 41 came in. It sounds super specific, almost silly. It wasn’t like I did complex math. I just sort of nudged the 60 40 balance slightly. Mentally, I started thinking, “Okay, let’s aim for just under 60% on the core projects, and let the rest be for everything else.” So, 59% for the main goals, 41% for the operational bits, the emails, the unexpected small tasks.
Putting it into practice wasn’t about watching the clock like a hawk. It was more a mindset shift when planning my day or week. I’d load up my project task list aiming for that rough 59% capacity, leaving a decent chunk of buffer – the 41% – for the inevitable interruptions and smaller duties. I stopped trying to cram project work into every single available minute.
The first few days felt weirdly similar to 60 40. But after about a week, I noticed something. By slightly reducing the pressure on the main project time (that 1% shift from 60 to 59), I felt less stressed when interruptions inevitably happened. That 41% buffer felt more adequate psychologically. It wasn’t a huge change in hours, but it changed how I felt about the division. It seemed to align better with the unpredictable nature of my days.
It’s kinda funny. That tiny adjustment made the whole system feel more flexible, less brittle. Things felt smoother. Maybe it’s just a placebo, maybe it’s the specific mix of my work, I don’t know for sure. But the result was I felt more in control and less frazzled. It wasn’t about the exact numbers 59 and 41 being magical, but finding that slightly adjusted balance that worked for my rhythm.
So yeah, that’s my little experiment with the 59 41 split. It’s just what I landed on through trial and error. Might not work for everyone, and I might even tweak it again later if things change. Just gotta keep trying stuff out, right?
