It’s a new year, and that means getting yourself organized with Org Mode. Now, as I’ve covered in the past, I have a love/hate relationship with the Org Mode agenda. But it’s mostly my fault. Just because I have not quite found the right approach to making use of the tool does not mean there’s anything inherently wrong with the tool. So I’ve been experimenting with using the agenda in different ways—different strategies and approaches, you might say. This has been helpful not only to see what I would like but also what might be of use to others breaking into Org Mode for the first time or curious about its capabilities. Also, I’m happy to announce that my Git For Writers handbook is finally available. This was my 2025 end-of-year project, and I’m excited to share it with you all. It’s a perfect companion to the Emacs For Writers handbook. So check it out. Thanks! Also, be sure to check out the video that goes along with this post for a visual demonstration and commentary. Below, you will find the code samples referenced in that video. Deep Work agenda viewsC-c a d : View all deep work tasksC-c a s : View all shallow work tasksC-c a w : View complete work type overview (both deep and shallow)C-c a m : View morning-optimized deep work tasksC-c a a : View afternoon work tasksCapture TemplatesC-c c d : Capture a deep work task (2:00 effort, intense focus)C-c c s : Capture a shallow work task (0:30 effort, admin work)C-c c q : Capture a quick shallow item (0:15 effort)C-c c r : Capture research/reading task (1:30 effort, deep work)Agenda views;; Custom agenda commands for deep work strategy(setq org-agenda-custom-commands '(("d" "Deep Work Queue" tags-todo "WORK_TYPE=\"deep\"" ((org-agenda-overriding-header "🧠 Deep Work Sessions Available") (org-agenda-prefix-format " %i %-12:c [%e] ") (org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(priority-down effort-down)))) ("s" "Shallow Work Queue" tags-todo "WORK_TYPE=\"shallow\"" ((org-agenda-overriding-header "📋 Shallow Work Tasks") (org-agenda-prefix-format " %i %-12:c [%e] ") (org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(priority-down effort-up)))) ("w" "Work Type Overview" ((tags-todo "WORK_TYPE=\"deep\"" ((org-agenda-overriding-header "🧠 Deep Work (Uninterrupted Focus)") (org-agenda-prefix-format " %i %-12:c [%e] "))) (tags-todo "WORK_TYPE=\"shallow\"" ((org-agenda-overriding-header "📋 Shallow Work (Administrative)") (org-agenda-prefix-format " %i %-12:c [%e] ")))) ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(priority-down effort-down)))) ("m" "Morning Deep Work (High Energy)" tags-todo "WORK_TYPE=\"deep\"+BEST_TIME=\"morning\"" ((org-agenda-overriding-header "🌅 Morning Deep Work Sessions") (org-agenda-prefix-format " %i %-12:c [%e] "))) ("a" "Afternoon Work" tags-todo "BEST_TIME=\"afternoon\"" ((org-agenda-overriding-header "☀️ Afternoon Slump") (org-agenda-prefix-format " %i %-12:c [%e] ") (org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(priority-down effort-up))))))Capture templates;; Capture templates for deep work task management(setq org-capture-templates '(("d" "Deep Work Task" entry (file+headline "/home/shared/og-deep-work26/deep-work26.org" "Tasks") "* TODO %?\n:PROPERTIES:\n:WORK_TYPE: deep\n:EFFORT: 2:00\n:BEST_TIME: morning\n:END:\n%U\n" :empty-lines 1) ("s" "Shallow Work Task" entry (file+headline "/home/shared/og-deep-work26/deep-work26.org" "Tasks") "* TODO %?\n:PROPERTIES:\n:WORK_TYPE: shallow\n:EFFORT: 0:30\n:BEST_TIME: afternoon\n:END:\n%U\n" :empty-lines 1) ("q" "Quick Shallow Item" entry (file+headline "/home/shared/og-deep-work26/deep-work26.org" "Tasks") "* TODO %?\n:PROPERTIES:\n:WORK_TYPE: shallow\n:EFFORT: 0:15\n:BEST_TIME: anytime\n:END:\n" :empty-lines 1) ("r" "Research/Reading (Deep)" entry (file+headline "/home/shared/og-deep-work26/deep-work26.org" "Tasks") "* TODO %?\n:PROPERTIES:\n:WORK_TYPE: deep\n:EFFORT: 1:30\n:BEST_TIME: morning\n:CATEGORY: research\n:END:\n%U\n" :empty-lines 1)))The post An Org Mode Deep Work Agenda for 2026 appeared first on Chris Maiorana.