If there is one thing about being productive, it’s about you managing your calendar and not letting your calendar manage you. Trust me, it can control you rather quickly if you don’t take control of it.
Most of us have only 40 hours per week to get through meetings, hundreds of emails, on-going projects and last minute tasks. It truly takes dedication and effort to find a routine where you feel the most productive and you’re able to balance all of the necessities of your everyday job and beyond.
Have you ever felt like you start working on something and then it takes you way too much time? Or maybe it’s the opposite and you don’t know how to get in the flow? Feel like some of your days are just back to back meetings with no idea when you’ll be able to get to emails and other tasks? Yeah, I’ve been there. That’s where calendar or time blocking comes in handy.
what is time blocking?
According to Tara Powers, author of the book Working from Home For Dummies, time blocking is a productivity technique for time management where a period of time – typically a day or week – is divided into smaller segments for specific tasks or to-dos. It integrates the function of a calendar with that of a to-do list. When done properly, time blocking can help eliminate distractions & discourage unproductive multitasking.
what my calendar used to look like
what my calendar looks like now
They key to time blocking is being able to prioritize in advance. Finding a routine that works for you is an art. Truthfully, it takes some time and trial & error.
For my personal calendar, I like to take 30 minutes every Sunday to plan and block out my week. That could be when I want to run errands, workout, content plan, etc.
For work, on Friday afternoons before I sign off for the weekend, I like to take a glance at the upcoming week to see what I have to prepare for and write down to complete. Come Monday morning, take those extra 30 minutes at the start of your week to start a fresh to-do list, time block your calendar so you feel accomplished going into a busy week. With time blocking your calendar at the start of each week, you won’t have to constantly make decisions on what to focus on and when.
variations
Depending on what type of work you’re in or what your day-to-day job looks like, how you plan your week and block your calendar might be a little different. There are a few different variations to time blocking that you can explore.
color coordination
As you can see above, in addition to traditionally time blocking my calendar, I also color coordinate my days/meetings so I know exactly what I have upcoming based on the color via my Outlook. The more frequently you associate a color with a certain task or a type of meeting, it will be much easier for you to quickly glance at your calendar and know what is upcoming. As you can see below, I coordinate my colors with various different themes for meetings that I have on a day-to-day basis.
TASK BATCHING
Task batching is where you group similar tasks together. By grouping all of the small yet similar tasks together, you’re able to complete in an effective and timely manner. It takes away the constant switching between types of tasks which can end up taking more time. Think chunks or groups like emails, social content ideation, writing, flow work, meetings, paperwork, etc.
day themes
This method would be best suited for those who run their own business or are a little more extreme when it comes to organizing their time & tasks. If you run your own business, you know there are many hats you have to wear as an entrepreneur. Many people use Monday’s as their “CEO” day to go through crucial business emails. Tuesday may be your accounting and financial day. Wednesday could be all about marketing and social. Using this method can really help you accomplish a ton for you business by theming out your days!
TIME BOXING
This may sound the same as time blocking but they are actually quite different. Time boxing is where you’ll block time out for a specific task but only work on that task for a specific amount of time only. For example, you can make your goal; I want to read 100 pages in 2 hours. This creates for much more dedication and efficient work!
effective?
YES. Time blocking is incredibly effective to get in the flow and in a productive mindset to power through all of your small and big projects.
What I love about time blocking my calendar is it gives me a real good idea of how long it takes me to accomplish something. In turn, this helps boost your time management which is something leaders, bosses, mentors and companies love to see. It’s one thing to be able to get all of your work done but getting it done efficiently, correctly and with professionalism is the cherry on top to thriving in a fast-paced work environment. Read more here about other ways to thrive and further your career development!
Another reason why I love this method is it helps follow through on your goals. It gives you the chance to sit down and work towards accomplishing something, even if it’s just for 30 minutes. You’ll be closer to that end goal than you were if you hadn’t blocked off that time for yourself. You’re more likely to follow through with your intentions on doing something if you write them down, give yourself time to do it and a purpose; either short or long term.
The challenge many people can face when time blocking their calendars is the outside distractions or last minute scheduled meetings. I’m always aware that my ideal calendar can change throughout the week. It’s ok to shift your blocks around especially when so many of us are in back to back meetings. My one piece of advice is once it’s time to work on a block, mute email notifications and pings so you can get into the flow and not get distracted with outside noise. There’s so much power about getting into the ‘flow’ of your work and your productivity will skyrocket, trust me! I’ll do a whole other post about this!
favorite tools
There are so many tools and apps out there that are helpful in aiding you with time blocking and a productivity boost. My favorite is Todoist and my good ole Outlook/iCal calendars. Asana is also an amazing project management tool that I use for my personal endeavors and projects. There are so many out there, I recommend trying a few and seeing which one you resonate with!
Do you think you’ll be trying out any of these time blocking variations to boost your productivity? If you do, let me know how it works for you!
