The Space Method.

Know who you are.

To do the work that fulfils you — whether that's learning to play guitar, completing a complex company merger, or opening an animal shelter — you must first know what your bigger ambitions are. This search begins with reflection, will start to reveal itself through experimentation, and will flourish as you begin to weave these ambitions into the fabric of your days.

Sustainable productivity.

Less rushing, more thoughtfulness. Do fewer things, but do them better. Sustainable productivity is about playing a long game where you focus on the compound interest you accrue with a consistent effort made at a sustainable pace. Doing work that is aligned with your passions will give you the spirit to keep going.

Gentle Focus.

Gentle focus refers to being fully present to the moment as it unfolds. Your priorities are sharp, and you have a plan, though not to control but to give yourself grounding and the creative guardrails to flourish. When life's unexpected twists and turns upend your plan, you welcome the change. You pause and make a new plan.

Mindset over toolset.

More than anything, the Space Method is a mindset. A tool cannot give you a mindset. The only thing a tool can do — and what Space wholeheartedly attempts — is nudge you along and not get in the way. This means that both the responsibility and the accomplishment lie with you and you alone.

Zoom Out to zoom in.

The central idea of the Space Method is that in order to know what is important to me today, I need to know where I am headed. You need to zoom out, so that you can zoom in. If you think about your big goals for your year, it will be easier to set concrete milestones every quarter; to pick out relevant work for your week; to decide what to do today. Your plans cascade from long-term and broad goals for your year, to small and focused tasks for your day.

Urgent and important.

Your long term plans tend to represent things that are important but less urgent. The messy reality of the day often brings many things that are urgent, but not that important in the long term. You need to cater to both. There will be urgent things you should not ignore. At the same time, you should not ignore your long term ambitions either. Daily planning and Calendar time blocking will help you do both.

Reflect and adapt.

The longer the horizon of your plan, the more likely it will need to change on your journey towards the end goal. This is not a bad thing. Plans lose their value the minute you treat them as static. Instead, see them as your flexible guideposts that changes as you learn. How do you learn? By doing, and then reflecting. So execute your plan. And then check in: how did that go? What did you feel? What will you do differently next time? You can reflect in Space using the note field on a day, week, or project.

Focus for flow.

The result of daily planning is your recipe for the day. You want a place to focus on this, and nothing else: the day section in Space. When new tasks arise that aren't critically urgent, resist adding them to your day. Put them in your inbox or week instead, keeping them out of view until your next daily planning session. Most people don't need areas or projects—keep it simple until you actually need more structure.

On your schedule.

Time blocking your most important work for the week during weekly planning is a great way to ensure you prioritise what matters most. Scheduling these critical or time-consuming tasks on your calendar serves multiple purposes: it protects your priorities from hostile calendar takeovers and provides a valuable reality check by showing your work laid out in time. Just make sure to leave enough slack to absorb the inevitable unexpected urgent matters that will come up during the day.

Yearly

Take one hour to think about how you want to use the year ahead of you. You can do this any time of the year. First think about what you want to be different by the end of this year: this is your intention and it is helpful to write it down. Then, get concrete by coming up with goals for yourself. One way to make this easier is to first think about the important aspects of your life: your profession, health, education, and so forth. Then assign each a priority score, which will act as a useful guardrail during goalsetting. The yearly planning feature in Space will guide you.

Quarterly

Every quarter, take 30 minutes to review your yearly goals and decide how you can contribute to them during the upcoming quarter. Again, first let your ideas flow freely by setting an intention. Then translate that intention into concrete milestones. The quarterly planning feature in Space will guide you.

Weekly

With the quarter set, you must now get very concrete and tactical. Take 10 minutes to decide what you can do to make progress, this week. Think about when in the week this work will happen, and schedule the most important pieces of it on your calendar. This creates a commitment to yourself to do the work. The weekly planning feature in Space will guide you.

Daily

Lastly, take 3 minutes every day to refine your tasks and schedule for the day. You might need to make some changes, depending on urgent matters that have come up. Ensure you start the day with a schedule that meets both your short-term (urgent matters) and long-term (important matters) needs. The daily planning feature in Space will guide you.