Planetary hours for productivity: a playful way to choose what to do next
It’s Monday morning. You’ve got a full diary, five tabs of tasks, and three “urgent” Slacks pinging away. You open your to‑do list and… freeze. Should you write that report, reply to emails, or finally tackle the gnarly spreadsheet? When everything is important, it’s hard to decide what to do first — and decision fatigue quietly steals your best hours.
Here’s a whimsical but surprisingly useful workaround: use planetary hours as a scheduling heuristic. No star charts required. Think of it as a set of themed time blocks that nudge you toward the right kind of work at the right moment.
What on earth are planetary hours?
In classical astrology, each day has a “ruler” (a planet associated with certain themes), and the daylight and night-time are divided into 12 “planetary hours” that rotate those themes through the day. Whether or not you believe in astrology isn’t the point — we’re borrowing the themes as a fun, low‑friction way to focus.
Here’s a practical cheat sheet for task types:
- Sun: leadership, vision, high-visibility work, presentations
- Moon: care, admin, routines, check‑ins, reflective planning
- Mars: hard, urgent, decisive tasks; shipping; problem solving
- Mercury: communication, writing, calls, analysis, documentation
- Jupiter: strategy, learning, business development, generous thinking
- Venus: relationships, stakeholder care, design polish, morale
- Saturn: deep work, structure, budgets, long‑term maintenance
Each weekday already has a traditional ruler:
- Monday: Moon
- Tuesday: Mars
- Wednesday: Mercury
- Thursday: Jupiter
- Friday: Venus
- Saturday: Saturn
- Sunday: Sun
Quick start: two simple ways to use it
1) Day‑theme batching (zero maths, big payoff)
Let the day’s ruler set a flavour for your schedule. You still attend meetings and handle obligations, but when you’re choosing what to do next, pick tasks that match the day’s theme.
- Monday (Moon): clear admin, tidy your desk, set weekly intentions, check in with your team
- Tuesday (Mars): hit the hard thing first; ship something meaningful before lunch
- Wednesday (Mercury): batch emails, calls, doc edits, stakeholder updates
- Thursday (Jupiter): strategy sessions, training, long‑range planning, pitching
- Friday (Venus): relationship maintenance, customer care, polish and presentation
- Saturday (Saturn): deep maintenance: budgets, refactors, home systems
- Sunday (Sun): vision, personal projects, weekly review
2) Hour‑theme nudges (a playful focus cue)
True planetary hours change with sunrise/sunset. If you’d like a rough‑and‑ready approach, do this:
- Note your local sunrise time (close enough is fine).
- From your start time, rotate through the seven themes in order, beginning with the day’s ruler. Example: Wednesday starts with Mercury, then Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, and repeat. Each work hour, glance at the theme and pick a matching task.
- Block your calendar with seven recurring colour‑coded labels so the cue is always visible.
Perfection isn’t required. The point is to reduce friction: instead of “What should I do?”, you ask, “What’s a Mercury‑type task I can finish in this hour?”
Why this works (even if you’re sceptical)
- It cuts decision fatigue: a small constraint makes choosing faster.
- It reduces context switching: batching similar energies keeps you in flow.
- It adds rhythm: a weekly cadence makes work feel less like a blur.
- It’s fun: a little playfulness makes follow‑through more likely.
Real‑life examples
Freelance designer, Sydney: Uses Friday’s Venus for client updates and polish; Tuesday’s Mars to push through complex Figma builds; Saturday’s Saturn for invoicing and file hygiene. Result: fewer midweek context switches and cleaner Fridays.
Product manager, Brisbane: Schedules Wednesday (Mercury) for documentation and stakeholder calls; Thursday (Jupiter) for roadmap thinking; protects one Mars block on Tuesdays for tough bug triage. Result: more consistent shipping without working late.
Postgrad student, Melbourne: Thursday (Jupiter) is for literature review and lectures; Monday (Moon) sets up the week and resets the study space; Sunday (Sun) hosts a short “vision” session and timetable check. Result: steadier momentum and less cramming.
A 10‑minute setup
- Create seven tags or emojis for the planets (e.g., ☀️🌙♂️☿️♃♀️♄).
- Map 3–5 tasks you do every week to each theme.
- Add a light calendar structure: either day themes or a seven‑hour rotating block.
- Pick a “non‑negotiable” 45–90 minute block on Tuesday (Mars) and Saturday (Saturn).
- Review on Sunday: what matched well? What felt off? Adjust next week’s blocks.
Working with real‑world constraints
- Meetings everywhere? Use the theme as a tie‑breaker for the gaps between them.
- Fire drills? Handle them, then grab a 10‑minute “mini‑Mars” to clear a quick win.
- Team of mixed schedules? Share the weekly themes so colleagues know when to expect faster replies (e.g., “I batch comms on Wednesdays”).
Lightweight tracking with Meloplan
If you like the idea of themed time but want minimal admin, Meloplan is a simple way to plan and track without overcooking it. Here’s a straightforward way to use it:
- Create seven labels (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn) and assign one to each task.
- Set up a weekly view with day themes. Drag tasks into their matching blocks so you can see balance at a glance.
- During your Sunday review, filter by label to see which energies you consistently complete — and which need a better time slot.
It’s a playful system, not a rulebook — but the data you gather will quietly teach you when you do your best deep work, comms, and shipping.
If you’d like to give it a whirl, Meloplan makes this dead easy to try. Create your free account here: https://app.meloplan.com/register
However you implement it, treat planetary hours as a friendly nudge. It’s not fortune‑telling — it’s a way to add rhythm, reduce dithering, and keep your best work front and centre. Pick a theme, choose one task, and get cracking.
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