{"id":167410,"date":"2026-01-13T06:55:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T06:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/?p=167410"},"modified":"2026-01-13T06:55:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T06:55:19","slug":"day-theming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/day-theming\/","title":{"rendered":"Day Theming: The Low-Hanging Productivity Booster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Research suggests that multitasking can damage your brain and make you less productive. Moreover, <strong>an average employee can stay focused for only <a href=\"https:\/\/goremotely.net\/blog\/productivity-statistics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">2 hours and 53 minutes<\/a> in a 9-hour workday<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For these reasons, we advocate for day theming, a productivity hack that can dramatically <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/best-focus-apps-to-avoid-distraction\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/best-focus-apps-to-avoid-distraction\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">improve your focus<\/a> both at work and in your personal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this post, we\u2019ll explore day theming in detail, along with its pros and cons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-1 wp-block-group\">\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_34 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" style=\"display: none;\"><label for=\"item\" aria-label=\"Table of Content\"><i class=\"ez-toc-glyphicon ez-toc-icon-toggle\"><\/i><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"item\"><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1'><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/day-theming\/#What_Is_Day_Theming\" title=\"What Is Day Theming?\">What Is Day Theming?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/day-theming\/#How_Can_Day_Theming_Help_Boost_Productivity\" title=\"How Can Day Theming Help Boost Productivity?\">How Can Day Theming Help Boost Productivity?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/day-theming\/#What_Is_The_Difference_Between_Day_Theming_And_Time_Blocking\" title=\"What Is The Difference Between Day Theming And Time Blocking?\">What Is The Difference Between Day Theming And Time Blocking?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/day-theming\/#Is_Day_Theming_A_Deep_Work_Technique\" title=\"Is Day Theming A Deep Work Technique?\">Is Day Theming A Deep Work Technique?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/day-theming\/#How_To_Practice_Day_Theming\" title=\"How To Practice Day Theming?\">How To Practice Day Theming?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/day-theming\/#Tips_To_Improve_Day_Theming_Results\" title=\"Tips To Improve Day Theming Results&nbsp;&nbsp;\">Tips To Improve Day Theming Results&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/day-theming\/#Themed_Days_Simplified\" title=\"Themed Days Simplified\">Themed Days Simplified<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_Is_Day_Theming\"><\/span>What Is Day Theming?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Day theming is a time management approach that involves task batching and creating themed days. You can group tasks of similar nature and have a day dedicated to each group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, instead of having 30-minute meetings every day with different clients and team members, you can dedicate Monday to a specific theme of meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This way, you&#8217;ll stay focused throughout the day and may find yourself striving to achieve the maximum output for each meeting. It will also prevent decision fatigue because you&#8217;re not constantly switching between very different tasks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly, the University of California Irvine proved that <strong>it takes about<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ics.uci.edu\/~gmark\/chi08-mark.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <u>23 minutes and 15 seconds<\/u><\/a> for people to start a task<\/strong>, get into the flow and stay focused on it. During this time, people usually deal with attention hopping, a state of mind where your focus is disturbed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When attention hopping, you might find yourself thinking about your previous or upcoming engagements. As a result, you&#8217;ll have irrelevant tasks competing for your attention and will be unable to focus on the task at hand. Attention hopping is disruptive, and theming your days is one way to avoid it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember that you can consider a weekly theme approach if you don&#8217;t want to allocate daily themes. The goal is to just excel at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/time-budgeting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><u>budgeting time<\/u><\/a> and effectively work to solve complex problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udc49<\/strong> Read also: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/monotasking\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/monotasking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>How to declutter your mind with the Monotasking time management technique<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-2 wp-block-group\">\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_Can_Day_Theming_Help_Boost_Productivity\"><\/span>How Can Day Theming Help Boost Productivity?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Day theming is an obvious productivity power tool. And you probably practice it in your daily life without even realizing it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, recall when you told yourself you&#8217;d do the laundry and clean the house on Sunday. You&#8217;ve mentally dedicated the day to cleaning tasks, knowing it&#8217;s best to do them all in one day rather than distributing them over the week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, day theming is a productivity hack that most brains know by default. But despite being common sense, not many people use it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s because a lot of people fail to realize its benefits. So here&#8217;s a list of day-theming benefits to help you understand the depth of its impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>It Improves Prioritization<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Have you ever planned to do something, and two years down the lane, you&#8217;re still planning? That&#8217;s probably because you&#8217;re unable to allocate time to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scientifically, we tend to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=5530483\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><u>prioritize tasks with the nearest deadline<\/u><\/a>. But when doing so, we ignore the value tied to each task. This means <strong>most people end up making bad deals with respect to priorities and spend a lot of time on things that aren&#8217;t necessary<\/strong> or could have been managed more efficiently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, imagine your co-worker asks if you&#8217;re up for a quick 30-minute meeting to discuss an idea they just had. Your deadline to answer this question is nearer than the deadline for the email you were working on.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ll automatically choose to answer first (which may lead to a meeting you did not plan to have). As a result, <strong>you end up in a loop of tasks that distract you from your original goals<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dedicating tasks to each day of the week helps with this by allowing you to prioritize and organize tasks by their nature and importance.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>It Reduces Start-Up Time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As mentioned earlier, <strong>the brain takes around 25 minutes to get familiar with a new type of task<\/strong> (which is called context switching).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you schedule five different tasks for the same day, you&#8217;ll need 25 minutes before each to focus on them fully. This means you will be wasting approximately two hours on task preparation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the contrary, if you batch similar tasks together and execute them on the same day, you won&#8217;t have trouble switching from one task to another because they&#8217;re all in the same context. Your mind is already thinking in that direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>It Helps With Self-Discipline Issues<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Self-discipline requires loads of patience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s difficult to stay dedicated to something for a long time, which is why we tend to lose interest if things drag on for over a month or so.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now imagine you decide to learn a new skill.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/5-hour-rule\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dedicate 30-60 minutes each day<\/a> to learning this skill, you&#8217;ll have to follow this schedule for at least two weeks to develop some degree of command over it. Sometimes, it may even take a few months, depending on the skill.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But not everyone can stay strong-willed for that long. Your passion and ambition will die eventually. And you will often find yourself avoiding or rescheduling this learning time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the contrary, if you dedicate two full days to learning this new skill, you&#8217;ll achieve way more than you would by spending only an hour a day on the skill. Your learning will also be more focused and bring about better output.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-3 wp-block-group\">\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_Is_The_Difference_Between_Day_Theming_And_Time_Blocking\"><\/span>What Is The Difference Between Day Theming And Time Blocking?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike day theming, you might have already heard of time blocking. It&#8217;s been one of the most popular buzzwords since the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Time blocking is also a time management technique where you create blocks of time (instead of different themes for each day) and dedicate them to specific tasks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, if you have a 9-hour <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/business-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/business-day\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">work day<\/a>, you can divide it into three equal sections. Each section will have tasks of similar nature. Here is an example of how you can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/time-allocation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><u>allocate your time<\/u><\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><p><strong>9 am &#8211; 12 pm:<\/strong> Reply to emails and conduct internal meetings<\/p><\/li><li><p><strong>12 pm &#8211; 3 pm:<\/strong> Create proposals and do client work<\/p><\/li><li><p><strong>3 pm &#8211; 6 pm:<\/strong> Administrative work<\/p><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>But between these blocks, you\u2019ll need to budget sufficient time for lunch and urgent tasks. This means time blocking keeps you focused for a specific number of hours but not the entire day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, is time blocking better than day theming? The answer is no. Day theming is basically an advanced version of time blocking, which is why it\u2019s also better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, depending on your current focus level and routine, it may not be the best choice for you. That&#8217;s particularly true if your current routine involves heavy multitasking. So we recommend practicing time blocking first and then leveling up to day theming.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-4 wp-block-group\">\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_Day_Theming_A_Deep_Work_Technique\"><\/span>Is Day Theming A Deep Work Technique?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Deep work refers to distraction-free time to do focused work. During this time, you&#8217;re not interrupted by anything at all, meaning your focus continues to improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ve reviewed the concept of day theming above, and in light of that, day theming can serve as a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/what-is-a-deep-work-technique\/\"><u>deep work technique<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As you dedicate a day and continue to work on similar-natured tasks throughout it, your focus continues to improve. By mid-day, you will find yourself producing some of your best work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-5 wp-block-group\">\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_To_Practice_Day_Theming\"><\/span>How To Practice Day Theming?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Day theming is easy to implement if you take an organized approach.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, determine if you practice time blocking (consciously or unconsciously) in your current routine. If you do, that&#8217;s great.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But if you don&#8217;t, start with time blocking first. Prepare a to-do list at the start of the day and divide your hours between similar-natured tasks. Make sure you give at least 1-3 hours to each group and practice this for a week or two before switching to day theming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"925\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Sample-Day-Theming-1024x925.png\" alt=\"Day Theming Example\" class=\"wp-image-167879\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Sample-Day-Theming-1024x925.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Sample-Day-Theming-300x271.png 300w, https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Sample-Day-Theming-768x694.png 768w, https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Sample-Day-Theming.png 1516w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Day Theming Example<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For day theming, plan your upcoming themed days at the end of each week. Each day should have a theme. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><p><strong>Monday<\/strong>: Administrative tasks<\/p><\/li><li><p><strong>Tuesday<\/strong>: Tasks related to content creation<\/p><\/li><li><p><strong>Wednesday<\/strong>: Communication tasks&nbsp;<\/p><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And so on. For each day and its corresponding theme, jot down your tasks in a to-do list. We recommend following this structure to divide your tasks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><p><strong>Core Tasks<\/strong>: These are important tasks relevant to the maintenance and growth of the business\/service you offer.<\/p><\/li><li><p><strong>Fluid Tasks<\/strong>: These tasks have a changing nature. They may change every week.&nbsp;<\/p><\/li><li><p><strong>Other Tasks<\/strong>: These optional or miscellaneous tasks may or may not demand space in your schedule. Generally, optional tasks are conceptual or creative, such as brainstorming.<\/p><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This way, you won&#8217;t waste time figuring out which task is most important or what to do next. Planning the entire week can take 3-4 hours initially. But once you get into the flow, it&#8217;ll take one hour at most.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-6 wp-block-group\">\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Tips_To_Improve_Day_Theming_Results\"><\/span>Tips To Improve Day Theming Results&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The human brain tends to find ways out of a situation it doesn&#8217;t want to face. For a lot of people, work is one such situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, even with this deep work time management technique called day theming, you might often find yourself distracted as your attention suffers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So here are three ways to improve day theming results and organize your brain&#8217;s attention even better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Get A Personal Workspace<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To harness the true power of a themed day, you must have zero interruptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And one way to prevent distractions is to avoid working in shared rooms or at shared tables.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, get yourself a personal space free from unwanted noise and chatter. A closed room with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/desk-setup\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/desk-setup\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dedicated desk<\/a> and no interruptions will work if you work from home. But if you work in an office, you may need a separate, isolated desk in a quiet corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If your employer can afford you a room, it&#8217;s probably the best way to spend uninterrupted time on an important task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Remove Distractions From Around You<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Having a personal room doesn&#8217;t mean you should equip it with other distractions like a TV, PlayStation, or a pet. So make sure you keep all these distractions out of the room.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For your peace of mind and relaxation, you can have a window in the room, a few green indoor plants, and an aesthetic interior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Distractions also include your smartphone and playlist, so keep them out of your reach and use app locks when working on a certain project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you need to communicate with your team via Slack or Mattermost, lock yourself out for 60-90 minutes and check up on your team after dedicated working hours. Otherwise, inevitable requests or an urgent query will take away your laser focus, forcing your brain to spend another 25 minutes before settling back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Work In Short Bursts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Dedicated days do not mean pushing yourself beyond your limits. Breaks are necessary, so take ample 10-20 minute time-outs along the way.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s up to you how you schedule your breaks, but one 20-minute break every 60-90 minutes is good.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-7 wp-block-group\">\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Themed_Days_Simplified\"><\/span>Themed Days Simplified<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We hope that this article was helpful in introducing you to the concept of day theming. This technique can improve your focus, productivity, and overall results if implemented correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as with all <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/time-management-techniques\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/time-management-techniques\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">other time management techniques<\/a>, day theming requires dedication and consistency.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So set yourself up for success and give day theming a shot! You won&#8217;t regret it. Good luck!<br><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research suggests that multitasking can damage your brain and make you less productive. In this post, we\u2019ll explore day theming, a productivity hack that can dramatically improve your focus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":167747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_wp_applaud_exclude":false},"categories":[1,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167410"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167410"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168639,"href":"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167410\/revisions\/168639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quidlo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}