If you are like me, you absolutely love to feel a sense of calm or relief when everything seems to be in order, you know exactly what do to and it actually gets done. Basically the opposite of overwhelm. I’m sure you want to hold on to that feeling.

The way I’ve found that feeling of having “my shit together” is by combining two of my favorite things: my love for street photography and my passion for productivity.

Always in the hunt for the “perfect” shot and the “perfect” continuous flow of work.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, the founder of Street Photography, proposed my favorite and most fascinating concepts in photography called “The Decisive Moment.”

“The Decisive Moment” happens when all the visual and psychological elements briefly come perfectly together to express the essence of a situation. It’s in that split second of inspiration that a photographer is able to capture the perfect moment at the right time.

But what do Street Photography and productivity have in common?

What I learned

I became inspired a few weeks ago after I heard James Clear talk about his “decisive moment” concept: “Every day, there are a handful of moments that deliver an outsized impact”, he explains.

These moments or (as the author of Atomic Habits calls it) “little choices”, are the decisions that will shape our future selves.

It’s “The moment you decide between starting your homework or grabbing the video game controller”. Those moments can shape our habits and therefore our outcomes.

What I realized

By taking both ideas, I realized that I could decide which tasks to accomplish in a specific period of time depending on who I wanted to become in the future.

So “The Decisive Moment Agenda” technique was born, and I decided that the next 4 hours will shape my ideal self.

The idea was to continuously structure blocks of 4 hours throughout my day depending on my attention, energy, and availability.

Some of the benefits I have found by doing this agenda experiment are:

• I’m able to identify the accuracy of my time estimations, which I’ve found are not always right.
• It’s easier to shift new issues that arise, which are out of my control, into the right path when structuring my next block of 4 hours.
• It gives me the chance to be intentional and mindful. By being real and present, I’m always choosing the tasks that are right for that moment which also helps maintain my routines and habits.
• I’m more likely to identify what tasks I’m most likely to accomplish at certain times of the day. For example, it’s easier for me to write in the morning than the afternoon.
• I’m able to easily chunk times of focus; I only work 4 hours a day and the rest is for whatever else I want to do.

The Decisive Moment Agenda in 5 steps

1. If you don’t have one already, create a weekly plan in which you can decide what are your most important tasks to accomplish in that week.
2. Before you start this process, make sure to revise your weekly plan of tasks to accomplish, and ensure everything is aligned to your values and future goals. I use Notion to organize my life…
3. Get a notebook, a daily agenda or even a piece of paper. Personally, I got a Hobonichi Techo Planner for Christmas and I’m pretty much in love with it.
4. Layout the next 4 hours ideally into 15 or 30 minute chunks depending on task size, and decide what to do for each of these time slots. This can also depend on your mood, energy, situation and environment; usually I organize my first 4 hour block of the day after I’m done with my morning routine.
5. After those 4 hours have passed, revise what you accomplished, what went well and what didn’t go so well. This quick feedback loop will help you improve how you organize your next block of time.

I’m still experimenting with it. So far I’m only writing down tasks for work. I’ve been in the UK for more than a month and will be returning home in a week. So I will be able to add chores, be more precise with how I will set my day for success.

This year, I’m digging deep into the creative process, it’s fascinating to me seeing how people find different ways to complete projects and experimenting with them. So I will be writing more about it on this blog.