Do you want to get into time blocking but aren’t sure how it works?
One of the best ways to get started with time blocking is with a minimum viable model. What that means is to make your approach to time blocking a simple testable blocking schedule that can be adjusted vs creating a perfect day schedule.
So if you are ready to give yourself a little self compassion, (which helps subdue resistance to change), lets dive into what time blocking is and get step by step guidance on getting yours started.
Hey, and if you are already successfully utilizing your time blocking calendar, you’ll get some insights, tips, tricks & tools to further maximize your time.
PRE TIME BLOCKING PLANNER~ING
What Are YOU Aware of?
The Only way to make an effective change in your life is to be aware.
Awareness is more than learning how to do something, it's discovery from within.
Do you know what's "really" making you disorganized?
This is important to Know because when you are aware, you are empowered to make inspired choices to change.
And those my friend are Transformational Game Changers.
Photo by Nick Owuor (astro.nic.visuals) on Unsplash
Problem: Unaware of Invisible Resistance(s)
Often it isn't strategy alone that you need to help you be more productive. Undigested emotions due to past trauma can create survival patterns that block you from finishing things.
Awareness as mentioned will empower to make lasting changes.
But Awareness is very difficult if not impossible without you first taking 100% responsibility for your life or some aspect of it.
This DOES NOT mean owning other people's actions, No girl, No.
Just your response to it. RE~Spond~ability
The Solution: Here's How You Do That While You Are Time Blocking
1. Write down what comes up for you as create your new time blocking calendar.
Any thoughts, feelings, glimpses, memory surfaces.
2. Acknowledge any feelings, let them exist don’t push them back down that just creates more problems later.
BUT > > Don’t stop working, just let the feeling come and go and record it.
That’s all. You can address them when you are finished and if you would like to contact me to discuss on a Free Get Acquainted Call click here.
This is taking 100% Responsibly for your emotions and thoughts as you create order in your life.
Not a small feat as energy in motion (e-motions) & thoughts are super powerful tools of your subconscious mind.
100% Responsibility is 1 of 12 keys that I’ve found that strengthened me to over overwhelm and fear. You can learn more about them here_____
WHAT DO YOU SCHEDULE?
You Need to Know What's Going on Your Calendar
Create a Master List of to do's
DO THIS:
Take your tasks and turn them into time slots.
BENEFIT 1:
When the most important things are on the calendar, it's easy to see what time you have left to schedule in the things you want to do.
BENEFIT 2:
Turn tasks into time slots helps you reach a certain goal, or at least gets you further in reaching that goal
Get preparation toolkit to make it easier for you too.
Getting Started with Google Calendar
Never used Google Calendar before? No problem, follow the steps below to create an account ~ simple and easy.
If you already have a Google Account, sign in.
If you don't have one yet, click Create an account here. click this link
Once you sign in, you'll be taken to Google Calendar.
Enter your credentials and click next. Forgot your password click here to reset.
Once in your account you can reset your Google password.
Also Per Google: Google Calendar works with current and major previous versions of these browsers:
Google Chrome
Internet Explorer
Microsoft Edge
Firefox
Safari
HOW TO BLOCK TIME ON GOOGLE CALENDAR STEP BY STEP
Most likely you will have a blank calendar.
To create a block you will click an empty time in your calendar.
- Click any time on the calendar that doesn't already have an event scheduled or In the top left corner, click Create
.
- Add a title to the event, and any event details.
- Click Save.
And that's it in a Nutshell. I like simplicity, it combats procrastination beautifully.
However, if you are ready for more keep going below.
Edit an event you've created
- Click on the event you want to edit. If you see Edit event , click it.
- You can color code that event.
There you go. You now have the basics for time blocking your google calendar.
I kept it simple to reduce the feeling of overwhelm.
From here you add more events (blocks) that fill out your days/week based on your master list of to do's.
If you need ideas, inspiratations or even reminder on what to include in your master list, you can get that here:
You can set up multiple calendars within Google Calendar. As you see I have one in my name and another in Birthdays. You can synch your online appointment calendar with Google Calendar as well, I have 10to8 linked.
To create a calendar, just click the "Add Calendar" button to the left of your calendar.
If your calendars are showing, minimize them by clicking the arrow next to "My calendars" and underneath you will see "Other calendars" click the +
Tip: Instead of color coding your events, you can color code each of your calendars so they have a specific color, that way you can tell at a glance how my day will be spent.
If you want to change when you how or when you get notifications: Click on the gear at the top right and then settings.
And you make your notification changes here.
HOW OTHERS ARE USING TIME BLOCKING
"Importantly, all the time you invest in trying to manage your time will be wasted if you lack the motivation or self-discipline to do what you need to do when you said you’d do it. Think of your schedule as a list of promises you made to yourself. You don’t want to break those! Self-discipline is self-love too!"
TeKisha Rice, Contributing Writer for the Pedestal Project, LLC.
Tekisa Rice is part of a phenomenal movement of Uplifting Black Women through Restoration, Validation, and Affirmation at the Pedestal Project LLC.
Her time blocking in her blog post provides great advice to Wantapreneurs and those Transitioning into adulthood. (See What Kind of Solopreneur You Are )
I like her realistic view on time and how the average human shouldn't try to live up to what Beyonce can do because they don't have the support system that she has, instead they should schedule their time based on down to earth priorities for their "real" lives.
And of course, I really appreciate her understanding that underlying emotional distress is the reason why we sometimes avoid doing certain tasks. (I taught a process on how to deal with this above).
Her tips to give your time block schedule event a rest when you are running into resistance also work and blocking time to do things bring you joy or discover what you enjoy is a way to getting behind what is bringing you done.
"Because the best way to start putting yourself first is to honor your time. Stop giving it all away to other people, while forgetting the most important person in your life:"
Rosetta Thurman, Founder and CEO of Happy Black Woman.
Speaking of self love, Rosetta taught in one of her "Create Your Ideal Life" workshops that time blocking was way to clarify what you truly want in life.
She referred to time blocking as a form of self love and she used it as a process for getting clear on what you truly want your life to look like.
She taught the women to block out the time on your calendar to do whatever you want during those hours and make it non negotiable.
The act of blocking off that time and following through with the activity is a demonstration of self love.
"Then set your timer and start working the blocks. When your timer goes off, reassess. Did you accomplish what you intended to in that block? If so, then move on to the next block. Or are you so close to finishing a task that it makes sense to keep going while you’re in the flow? This is where being flexible comes into play."
TONIA KENDRICK, Solopreneurdiaries
Tonia's blog post is great for for side hustlers like myself and momprenuers (Take the quiz to see what type of Solopreneur you are. & download)
Determine the hours you have available to work in the upcoming week
She gives great advice on working your business around you regular job or with the responsibility of children.
Tonia advises starting the day by reviewing your schedule and checking your master task list of to do's (download the inspiration sheet). Her steps are: S
Step 1: Determine the hours you have available to work in the upcoming week
Step 2: List everything you want to do during the week
Step 3: Block out your fixed appointments
Step 4: Add in recurring tasks & other routines
Step 5: Fill in the rest of your time blocks
She even has a 2 minute rule add a block each day to knock out quick tasks procrastinating small tasks.
"A task on a to-do list doesn’t mean anything. Sure, a to-do list is nice to have. But until that task is on the calendar and is an appointment, something you’re going to show up to do because you’ve prioritised it, it’s not going to happen."
Holly Sutton, A Branch of Holly
Holly Sutton, Businesswoman, Creative and Online Marketing Guru suggestison is to begin by blocking based on how much sleep you need.
She acknowledges that you may have work duties throughout the day but advises beginning with your morning routine which really involves the night before when you plan what time you got to bed.
Sleep is important and a function of Self Care after all so this ould be a great strategy for many.
This doesn’t work in all circumstances, for instance: As a college student obtaining my BSBA in Marketing with Honors.
For me, time had to be scheduled based on my academic load, tired or not. I also worked a 9-5.
Many nights were spent without sleep or just a few hours at best.
However, I agree with her about the importance of sleep. If you afford the time, make that time a priority.
She also gives great tips such as adjusting time or simply deleting your scheduled time if you find those times don’t work and using emojis as reminders on your block descriptions and not giving yourself too many tasks during the morning time you have scheduled to awake.
"Set the right priorities by phases early phase, the growth phase, and the blow-up phase. Knowing what to do starts with looking at which phase you’re in, and then working back from that. This is because your goals will be different for each phase."
Sandra Clayton, Conversion Minded
Branding and business strategist, Sandra Clayton, has a great tip for the Solopreneur, Focus on 1-2 work-related tasks a day.
Schedule just one or two “work” things a day and then immerse yourself in getting them done. make sure the things you plan will grow your business, not just eat up your time.
She points out some real problems anyone will have time blocking
1. Underestimating how long things would take
2. Planning too many tasks back to back (aka task-shifting)
3. Trying to get everything done in a week
block out 15 minutes between tasks. Every time you switch gears, your brand needs time to catch up,
"Everyone has a list of things to do and goals they want to accomplish but unless you add time to do these things you aren’t committing to actually doing any of them. The solution is to use time blocks that take into consideration your goals and life’s daily list of to-dos."
Karuna Beckman, CEO of Karuna Beckman Marketing
Marketing Expert, Karuna Beckman, suggests that the starting point begins with adding your daily routine that must be done for family and self-care responsibilities first.
Then add your scheduled meetings or appointments and time period that you make yourself available for such things and block those periods of with another color.
And she has this great tip about react time (employees/solopreneurs)
Next add time after these meetings or appointments to “react” say 10-15 minutes so that you can take notes, send out required emails or anything else that needs to be done after such things. I’ll use the color purple for these.
Then you look at (again, will depend on which phase of solopreneurship you are in, what type you are or if you are an employee). Quiz, Toolkit
Now it’s time to look at your work tasks, business needs and goals. prioritize income-producing activities, things that must be done in order for revenue to be produced.
https://www.karunabeckmann.com/blog/how-to-do-time-management-with-time-blocking
Time blocking tools 20/mo
IN CONCLUSION
We tend to chronically overestimate what we can do in short periods of time (a day, week, month, year) and and we can sell ourselves short for the long haul.
Time blocking can be done one day at a time, a week at a time, a month at a time, continually, or whatever works for you.
Furthermore, I you suffer in silence with destructive relationships that distract and delay you from reaching your goals.
These are unsupportive relationships that cause pain, regardless if its a spouse, boy/girl friend, a parent, child or friendship.
Because life happens in the real world and relationships are a big part of them, it's important to bring as much order as you can to your life so you can start to get clear on what's going on and make steps forward instead of going in circles due to confusion cause by disorganization.
Organization strategies alone don't supersede the effects of this damage. I have a resource to help. I created The Power of Clarity, to help you clear the fog by walking you through reconnecting to yourself
Owning your feelings and not letting your feelings own you is a huge advantage. Especially if you're dealing with destructive relationships.
I am a certified life coach and I am a marketing graduate business coach, specializing in combination of trauma informed healing and digital media and marketing strategies to get you free and to show up for yourself in life and in business and gain online success.
Need to Talk - click HERE for a Free 15 minute session.
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