Wouldn’t it be cool if…
You didn’t worry about being properly prepared in advance of your next meeting?
You finished each day knowing that you got done what you needed to, and on time?
You didn’t habitually over commit, afraid to say no, but knew when you did say yes, you wouldn’t regret it later?
You had quality time for yourself, your family, your friends?
This can all be yours, with a little….
Time Blocking
It may not sound very sexy, but trust us, this simple act could change your life.
If you often find you have too many commitments during the day, that your workday turns into work evenings or worse yet, work weekends, we know your pain.
If you’ve tried listing your tasks in order of importance, that’s a great first step because it clarifies priorities. But what you might be missing is knowing whether each task takes 5 minutes or 60, and just how much time (days!) you might need to complete all that work in the first place.
It’s so easy to say “yes” to everything that comes down the pipeline, especially if you’re building your business. Those connections are important to make, and that event looks so interesting….. If you find yourself out of balance time and again by saying “yes” to everything and hoping you can fit it all in, you could find yourself stressed and under producing. And you could end up pushing aside or sacrificing those other important relationships and priorities in your life.
How Much Capacity Does One Human Have?
The answer is: It’s different for everyone.
This is the type of vital learning and knowledge that we act on at Admin Slayer. Every Slayer and every business owner has different skill sets, different time constraints, and different capacity levels. The work that we do alongside each of our clients is vital in helping them to understand their work rhythms and their capacity. How do we do it? You guessed it: time blocking.
Seeing all the work that needs to be completed, with enough time to complete it, laid out in your calendar is a beautiful thing. It tells you what’s possible today. It tells you and your team what’s being worked on and when to expect it. It helps you to meet your own expectations and keep your obligations, both at work and personally. Don’t worry - it can absolutely be flexible - the objective is not to box yourself in, but to have those time blocks visually tell you if you're on track or about to crash and burn.
Getting Started…
First, just start tracking what you do. Yes, everything: meeting time, heads down time, email catch-up time, rest breaks, jogging time, school pickup time, family time - everything.
You’ll be amazed at how long things actually take. From our post on planning like a boss:
Our optimism makes us really bad at estimating anything that we do ourselves. All of us. You’re not special (well, you’re special, but not in this specific way). Whether it’s how long a task will take, how much it will cost, or the gain you’ll enjoy from getting it done - if you’re the one doing it, you are going to underestimate the work and overestimate the benefit.
Next, use our worksheets in The Art of Delegation to understand when you’ve been most productive and effective and what tasks you should think about delegating to free up time for your most valuable activities.
Now, start planning what works best for you by:
Batching Similar Tasks
Switching mental gears is tough for anyone so try to focus in one direction for a while before changing course. Try to arrange - yes, with time blocks! - your more social activities (think work meetings too) around each other so you’re not sandwiching them in between heavy brain work.
Knowing Your Energy Levels
If you are most sharp in the morning, dedicate those a.m. time blocks for heads-down productive work and have your meetings or social times in the afternoon. Do you need to focus for long periods, even a full day, to feel accomplished? Time block the next morning to get caught up on everything you ignored the previous day.
Block it off Early
As much as you can, reserve your calendar for the fun stuff: vacations, stat holidays, spa breaks, and time with your friends and family. Honour that time where you can focus on being present with yourself and the people who matter the most in your life. Introvert or extrovert, give yourself time to connect with others, and time to be alone, so you have quality energy to put into your business.
Then start filling in your days of the week with blocks of activities: heads-down, planning, meeting blocks, catch-up, etc.
Remember to think about those recurring activities that may throw a wrench into a nicely organized schedule - such as daycare closures - and whether they will affect your availability. Get those in your calendar as soon as you know so they don’t sneak up on you.
Time Blocking and Gatekeepers
Getting started is easier than keeping it going.
Time and again we have business owners who approach us with one simple request: “help me gain control of my life”. It’s exactly what our Slayers are so amazing at. We know it can be hard to stick to a schedule and hard not to say “yes” to everything coming at you. With a Slayer as your gatekeeper, keeping you on track, committing to just the right amount of events and reminding you that it’s time to say “no”, you can make the best use of your capacity and your energy, while maintaining both your business and your personal relationships.