Change of Phase 

Deep work gets all the attention these days.

Some aspects of productivity may be overlooked now.

An important one is transitions.

In sports, they get it:

🥊 As the boxer sits (briefly) in his corner
🎾 Between court-changes in tennis
⚾ Every half-inning in baseball
🚴🏽‍♀️ Triathlons (enough said)

To be fair, these are controlled environments. An athlete knows what job comes at each phase. 

But in work we let ourselves off the hook too much when it comes to transitions. 

No Rhyme, No Reason

Let’s define a transition as the period in which we change start, finish, or switch work activities. Sometimes this might be a small sequence of steps. Other times it might include a break. 

Most people don’t plan for transitions. This is reflective of a general tendency of people to approach their schedule haphazardly—instead of optimizing it. 

Lack of a proper transition plan results in: 

Problem #1: Low motivation

We don’t feel like getting back to work. 

Problem #2: Slow ramp-up

Even if we’re motivated, we often take too long to get “in the groove.” 

Problem #3: Low productivity

Once we ramp up, we don’t work as well as we could. 

Problem #4: Late starts

We dwell in breaks or side quests to the detriment of high-leverage activities. 

Transition Like a Pro with PIES

Although it would be tidier to organize solutions by problem area, many of the solutions address more than one problem. 

The most important thing you can do as you move between activities is to set—and maintain—an intention regarding the next activity.

The tool I’ve developed is called the PIES framework.

P - Plan
I - Intention
E - Energy
S - Start Well

Keep these basics in mind to build your own transition plan:

P - Plan

Remember the 7 Ps? 

→ Proper prior planning prevents piss-poor performance 

I want you to plan for two things: 

1. Breaks
2. For everything to take longer than you think 

Most people don’t account for either of these, so they end up stressed and distracted. This means lower productivity.

Picture a cross-fade between two songs that clash. That’s you every time you change activities—unless you plan well. 

I - Set an Intention

As you finish one activity, resolve what you will do next and how. 

Example: “I’m going to take a break and show up to the next meeting 5 minutes early. I’ll listen with curiosity even to people who usually bother me.” 

Then, fire up that intention with interest and excitement about the next thing. Connect it to your “why” somehow. Plan to gamify boring tasks if you need

Lastly, devices destroy intention. Avoid them during transition periods. 

E - Maintain Energy

This one’s simple. Just remember the acronym “HMM.” 

• H - Hydrate

• M - Macros (eat)

• M - Move

In that order.

S - Start Well

In order to start well, you first need to finish well. This means having some sort of routine for when you finish an activity. 

For instance, when I’m done with each creative task each day, I clap my hands. That little gesture indicates that the thing is done. I’m able to cleanly move on to the next thing. (It also gives me a little dopamine-filled pat on the back.) 

I call that an exit ritual. You should build entry rituals as well. Like, “I put on my headphones and turn on that green-noise playlist on Spotify, and I’m ready to write.” 

And I get in the zone quickly, because my mind associates deep work with this process. 

Finally, be a good teammate to yourself. What I mean is that you should do that little bit extra to ensure that future you gets off to a running start. 

Let’s say you’re a financial analyst. Tomorrow you need to dissect the latest annual report of a potential investment. 

The usual way people finish up today would be to wrap up some activity unrelated to the next one and shut down. A better way would be to open the annual report, spend 10 minutes scanning it, jot down some questions (for yourself to look into), and give ChatGPT a quick prompt. 

As soon as ChatGPT finishes, you close your computer—without reading a word of what it said. 

Your interest will be piqued. And you’ll know exactly where to start tomorrow. 

Contrast that with the usual deer-in-headlights way we often start our day. 

Summary

If you remember anything, it’s to reduce distraction and hit the ground running. 

Design your own transition habits, and let me know what works.

 ❤️ Andrew

Outro

On episode #76 of the podcast my friend Nick Soman and I named the best breakup songs. 

I forgot this incredible classic, which could totally take the top spot on that list: 

Cheers

🧠 Let’s talk: Preparing for a life transition? Grab a free slot to meet with me, and let’s talk through some solutions. 💥 🙌

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I’d love to hear from you.

Get unstuck, and crush it. Double period. 🔱