Man, I used to think I was on top of things. Really. I had a calendar, I had a to-do list, and I had this constant, buzzing anxiety that made me feel productive. But feeling productive and actually being productive are two completely different things. I was always chasing deadlines, always putting out fires, and when I looked back at the end of the year, I realized all the big, meaningful projects—the stuff that actually moves the needle—had slipped. They were just sitting there, half-finished, mocking me.
I tried all the fancy systems. GTD, Pomodoro, whatever new app was trending. They helped for a week or two, then everything fell apart. The systems were too complex, too rigid, or they just didn’t mesh with the chaotic reality of my life. I needed something simple, something that forced me to look at the short game, the medium game, and the long game all at once. That’s why I built this DWM Pisces thing.
Why “Pisces”? Honestly, no clue. It just stuck. Maybe it means “P-I-C-E-S: Prioritize, Integrate, Check, Execute, Sustain.” Maybe I just like fish. Doesn’t matter. What matters is the structure: Daily, Weekly, Monthly planning cycles.
You might be asking why I went through the effort of inventing my own janky system when a million better ones exist. I’ll tell you why. Because about three years ago, I had a disaster that cost me a huge chunk of cash and almost wrecked a massive project I’d been working on for two years.
I was so convinced I was organized. I was handling my regular full-time grind, managing client work on the side, and trying to finish writing my book. I kept everything in my head, thinking I had the memory of an elephant. Well, I missed a crucial, mandatory annual compliance filing deadline. It wasn’t even a big task—just a 30-minute bureaucratic nightmare. But because I missed it, the local regulatory body hit me with a penalty that was five figures deep. Five figures! Just because I thought, “Oh, I’ll get to that next week.”
That absolute gut punch forced me to sit down and build a process I couldn’t ignore. I wasn’t going back to that high-stress, high-cost mistake life.
The Daily Grind: The Check-In and Capture
I started with the daily check-in. This isn’t a massive schedule building session. It’s about triage. Every morning, before I touch email, I grab my cheap notepad and look at three things:
- The Critical Three: What are the three absolute non-negotiable tasks I must finish today?
- The Maintenance Pile: All the small crap—emails, scheduling, errands. I group these into one 90-minute slot.
- The Capture: Any new idea, request, or distraction that pops up during the day? I immediately dumped it onto a “later” list. I used to let these new inputs hijack my day. Not anymore.
By forcing this rigid start, I locked down my focus before the world could intrude. I implemented a hard stop at the end of the day, too, quickly prepping the next day’s Critical Three before shutting down the computer.
The Weekly Reset: Scrubbing the Decks
The daily cycle manages the immediate fight, but the weekly cycle, usually Sunday afternoon, is where I review and calibrate. This is the “W” in DWM. I collected all my daily notes and checked them against the bigger picture.
This phase is painful but necessary. I pulled out all the tasks I deferred during the week (the “Capture” list) and slotted them into specific days for the coming week. If I kept moving a task for three weeks straight, I had to be honest: either I kill it entirely, or I break it down into a tiny 15-minute action item and force myself to do that tiny piece right now.
This weekly scrub prevented the accumulation of clutter that killed my previous systems. I identified bottlenecks and adjusted the estimates of how long things actually take, not how long I wish they took.
The Monthly View: Finding the Power Days
The “M” is the big-picture strategic session, usually done on the first Monday of the month. I dragged out the three main projects I was driving that month and mapped out the major milestones.
This is where I finally discovered my Best Days.
By reviewing the previous four weeks, I tracked when I was actually hitting peak deep work mode. Turns out, for me, Tuesday and Thursday mornings, 9 AM to 1 PM, are magic. My focus is laser-sharp. On Mondays, I’m slow and planning-oriented. On Fridays, I’m restless and good for administrative stuff.
So now, I protected those Tuesday and Thursday mornings fiercely. Absolutely no meetings, no phone calls, no email checks. I reserved those hours strictly for the major, big-rock work that moves the monthly milestones forward. Mondays and Fridays were relegated to the maintenance and communication tasks that used to chew up my whole week.
By implementing this staggered D-W-M routine, I stopped reacting and started driving. The daily setup keeps me honest, the weekly review keeps me clean, and the monthly map ensures those prime Best Days aren’t wasted. It sounds like a lot, but by committing to the process after that huge financial mistake, I locked in a system that has kept me financially healthy, stress levels low, and, most importantly, actually finishing the big, meaningful work.
