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I'm sure you have these days as well, where one task blurs into the next and you get nothing done, so the same tasks pop up again and again?

All tasks cry for your attention, and you're trying to give it to all of them and failing.

The reason this fails is clear - we're not good at multitasking. But why are we falling for this mode of working so often when we know it's not working? Because it's the way of least resistance. We let the day take control over us. We're not actively controlling the day and that's easy.

So let's make it easy to take control of the day! What helps with this is to cut the day into distinct "working units" in which you can focus on a task at hand.

Here's a script you can try to design your day.

Choose two things you want to get done each day. Instead of trying to power through a list of Todos every day, pick two things that you want to get done on each day. This feels much more achievable and forces you to select the essential tasks over the unessential. Write each task on a post-it and put the post-it with the task you're currently working on in front of you to remind you to keep focused on it.

Define what "Done" means. Define when the tasks you chose are done. Write it down in a bullet point list. Don't make it too complicated, otherwise it will put you off from working on that task. The definition of done will keep you focused while you're working on the task, so you actually solve the task instead of just "spending time with it".

Divide your day into a morning and afternoon session. Block some time in the morning and in the afternoon to work on your focus tasks. For each of these sessions, pick the task you're going to work on in the morning. Knowing the day's important tasks beforehand gives your subconscious the chance to work on the tasks even while you're doing other things. You may get some ideas on how to solve the task without even trying!

Take breaks between your focus sessions. Between working sessions, take real breaks. A break not only makes the work sustainable over a long period of time, but it also "resets" your focus so that you can focus on the next task without thinking too much about the tasks you did before.

Stop when you're done. Instead of powering through with more important tasks, declare your day's work done after you've reached the definition of done for your selected tasks. That doesn't mean that you have to stop working completely, but instead you can indulge in some "shallow" work like reading emails or answering chat messages.

The above script is just one way of designing a day. It works quite well for me. How do you design your days?

Like for many security topics, our knowledge about Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) is often superficial. We know it exists, and maybe even what the acronym stands for, but we don't really understand it. No wonder when there is so much half-baked information about it out there.

This new guide will tell you everything you need to know about CORS with easy language and some diagrams!