It is no secret that entrepreneurs are busy people. You have to juggle a lot and try to find time for everything. This leaves you with little or no time for yourself, which can lead to burnout in some cases. It’s definitely difficult sometimes to be focused at work.
Do you feel like your mind is always racing from one thing to another and there’s not enough time in the day for what needs to get done? Is your to-do list controlling your schedule? Well, no more!
I’ll show you that it’s possible for you to take back control of your schedule so that every day feels more manageable and enjoyable. You’ll never have to use a to-do list to decide what you should do with your time. You’ll be focused at work and even save more time. And since life and work go hand in hand, you’ll also make more time for what matters most to you.
The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.
Stephen R. Covey
How can a block schedule help me be focused at work?
A block schedule is one of the scheduling strategies you’ll read about below. It can be used together with the other two strategies that I will share.
By following a block schedule you can be more focused at work because each time block is dedicated for you to focus on one thing or one topic. It will also help you be organized, productive and less stressed because everything is already planned in your schedule. Nothing will fall through the cracks.
Your schedule should be customized to your life, your work, your needs, and your goals. I’ll give you examples of my work schedule which covers everything I need to do in my business. And you can take notes on what to think about for your business.
Once you’ve created a customized and optimized schedule, using the three strategies in this post, there will be no need to check your big to-do list to check what’s on the agenda every day. The only time you will check a to-do list will be the tasks that are planned in each time block of your schedule.
I have a block schedule for life/my personal time as well, but I can share that another time. 😉
I have these schedules to fit in everything I need to do and want to do. But also so I can spend my time and live in a way that will optimize my focus, creativity, productivity, happiness, and success. We’re all about personal development here!
One of the reasons I became an entrepreneur was to have the freedom to spend time on things that matter and with people that matter in my life. I digress though. Can you tell I’m passionate about this subject?
My point is that time management is so important for us in our lives so that we can live and work in a productive and enjoyable way. Creating a block schedule is a great and simple solution.
Before we get into how to create a schedule with the three strategies that I’m about to share, we need to break down what it is we actually spend our time doing when we are working.
Two kinds of tasks
Let’s start by breaking down the work. Everything you do in your business can essentially be called tasks. And I’ve distinguished two types of tasks; one-off tasks and recurring tasks.
One-off tasks
These are tasks that you finish and then you don’t have to do them again. At least not in a while or they could be a follow-up task to something else that doesn’t occur often.
I make room in my schedule for one-off tasks. These could be tasks for a new project. Once they’re done, they don’t have to be done again.
I’ve created a block for one-off tasks in my schedule to work on projects, random tasks or tasks that pertain to achieving my business goals.
Recurring tasks
Most of the tasks I have are recurring because, at the moment, I run a blog. I create content every week and I go through the same process to create that content.
I also create content for social media but have yet to find a process that works great for me. I’m working on it though and will share that in the future.
Recurring tasks are planned in my schedule but not just anywhere in my schedule. I have time blocks for when I work on the blog.
You might be a coach and spend a lot of your time taking calls with clients. That’s a recurring task. Or you might be a service provider and have client work. If you provide a DFY (done for you) service you most likely have a process to create the deliverables for your clients.
Scheduling strategies
Block schedule
Most of your tasks, if not all, should be able to be categorized into groups. Instead of groups we’ll call them time blocks in your schedule.
This is what you spend your time doing in your time block. You focus on a category of tasks in an area of your business, such as my time block with blog creation tasks. Or a time block could be working only on one kind of task that you do over and over again like writing several emails. More about batching below.
In each of the three to four days I work in the week there is a time block scheduled for working on my blog. I do different tasks during each block because I’m at a different part of the process every day.
Since I get tired from working on the blog for an entire day, I decided to split up the process and work with it each morning. This helps with productivity and the afternoon can be blocked for tasks that don’t require as much brainpower or concentration. Like one-off tasks, checking my email, and social media.
Productivity tip! Time block important tasks that require a lot of concentration when you have the most energy and concentration. Most often, that’ll be in the morning.
Theme days or weeks
Having a theme day is to dedicate a whole day to a theme. Many service providers structure their weeks by having theme days. They might work on client work for a few days every week and a day or two is dedicated to working on their own business, projects or creating content for social media.
Themed weeks are dedicated to a theme for an entire week. Themed weeks work better for course creators or creators of other digital products, content creators like bloggers, youtubers or podcasters.
Examples of themed weeks are to focus on growth and marketing strategy, projects, content creation or other areas of your business. This is completely customizable to your business and your life.
Batching
Batching helps with your productivity and with saving time. This is because you work on the same kind of task in a time block and don’t have to do it again for a week, two weeks, or a month. When you focus on doing one kind of task several times over, you’ll be able to do it faster.
By batching, for example, content creation for social media at the same time every month allows you to spend less time on it every day or week. You’ll only have to concentrate on it the days it’s scheduled.
What to consider before you create your new schedule
- What are your recurring tasks and your one-off tasks?
- Can you batch tasks and have them recurring weekly or monthly?
- Do you want or can you have theme days or weeks?
- What time of day or which days of the week are you most productive?
- Are you using a project management tool?
A project management tool is so great to use together with your calendar. Your calendar will have your block schedule and your project management tool will have your tasks organized for each of your time blocks. Your new to-do list will be the tasks that you have scheduled in each time block for the day.
Have fun with creating your schedule and make it work best for you. If you take into consideration how your life looks and how you function, you could optimize your schedule and productivity even more.
You’ll be more focused at work because your schedule and all your tasks are organized. It will be easier to focus on what’s at hand.
Try to be a little flexible as you never know what can happen and take longer than expected.
I hope this helps you on your way to your blissful business!
Let me know below! Do you use any of these scheduling strategies?
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