Left to my own devices, my short term memory is a sieve. Without routine, structure, and a trusted system, I’d probably end up in a ditch somewhere wondering why my calendar looked empty while my Slack was on fire.
What saves me isn’t a clever productivity hack or the latest app. It’s the rituals I repeat every day at the edges of work. How I start and how I finish. Those bookends keep me sane.
Why Edges Matter
Cal Newport once wrote about his “work shutdown ritual,” where he ends each day by deliberately closing the loop on everything and saying out loud: schedule shutdown, complete. The phrase doesn’t matter so much as what it represents. It’s a moment of finality, a way to tell your brain the day is over.
That resonated with me. If I don’t start the day intentionally, the day runs me. If I don’t end it cleanly, I keep gnawing on unfinished tasks long after I’ve shut my laptop. My routines are the boundaries that give me the space for deep work in the middle. So, I’ve created a way to help me stay on track with my busy workweeks as an engineering manager.
My Ramp Up
Most mornings begin the same way. Coffee, a deep breath, and about half an hour of getting my bearings. Things is the first stop. Everything I need to remember lives there, from big projects to tiny half-formed reminders. If something enters my head, it goes in the system. No exceptions. After reading Getting Things Done a few decades ago, the idea of a trusted system has always resonated with me, and Things hits the sweet spot of beauty, power and availability for me.
I spend those morning minutes reviewing what’s in front of me, shuffling things around, and deciding on the one to three tasks that matter most that day. That’s the trick. Not ten, not a sprawling list of hopes and dreams. Just the handful of things that will make the day feel like progress if I get them done. I’ll carve out space on my calendar to actually do them, which keeps me from just living in meetings and email. Honestly, there are some days where I’m bursting at the seams with upcoming meetings that I might only have 1 to-do item on the list. The key is about being realistic with yourself so the list remains important.
By the time I’m finished, I know what matters and I can trust that everything else has been captured for later. That trust is what clears my head enough to focus.
My Wind Down
The other side of the day looks similar in spirit, if not in details. I give myself the last thirty minutes to put everything in order. I’ll glance at my remaining tasks and either finish them, move them, or add enough notes so I know where to pick up tomorrow. I’ll close the browser tabs that have multiplied during the day, scan through email and Slack, and leave things in a state where nothing feels half-open. If I close a browser tab that has something key in it, I’ll capture it as a to-do item for the next morning.
I’ve skipped this routine before, and I always pay for it. Instead of resting, I’ll be at dinner remembering some stray Slack message I didn’t respond to, or lying in bed trying to reconstruct what I forgot to capture. My personal belief is simple: when I’m working, I give everything I’ve got. When I’m done, I want to actually enjoy my time off. This system is what makes that possible.
The Payoff
The middle of the day is always messy. That’s just the nature of work, especially knowledge work where you’re responsible for tons of projects and people. But these routines give me bookends I can rely on. A calm, deliberate start and a clean, decisive stop. They keep stress low, protect my focus, and let me walk away confident that I’ve done what matters.