“The one-week sprint” by Daniel Tan

Recently I've been working in one-week sprints, and I've really enjoyed it! Tl;dr I need to do a lot of creative knowledge work, and have recently fallen into a routine which IMO is pretty good at facilitating that.

The week

Monday and Tuesday — intense new work. I'm recharged and high-energy, and ready to grind very hard! I try to keep the whole day free: one contiguous, uninterrupted stretch of deep work, 12 hours or more. I aggressively clear meetings out of this space — a 15-minute standup is ok but not more.

Wednesday — recovery. I'm tired after 2 hard days. I also want to let the work settle: gain some distance, see if my perspective changes. I spend a little time writing up what I did so I don't forget it, but I don't take on substantial new work. Sometimes it's a half day, or less. Ample time blocked for restorative activities - calls with friends, work out, reading.

Thursday — consolidation. Writing up, dissemination, generating ideas, planning what's next, reflection, process improvement. It has to be Thursday, because I won't feel like doing any of it on Friday. That also makes Thursday the [...]

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Outline:

(00:23) The week

(01:52) Notes

(01:58) Caveats

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First published:
June 19th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/cmbnqdAJRoWBHmoRT/the-one-week-sprint

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.