Is time on your side or do you find yourself running out of day before your tasks are done? Read on to find out how to feel good about what you've accomplished at the end of each day.
Are any of these statements true for you?
- “I start a lot of things but often don’t complete them.”
- “I open my email and before I know it half the day is gone!”
- “My schedule is so full there’s no time to develop my business.”
- “I work hard but not on what will positively impact my success.”
- “I end many days feeling guilty about what I did not accomplish.”
If so, you’re in good company. I hear these frustrations from just about every solo-entrepreneur I know. What you need are systems to keep your days flowing happily along.
Six Time Blocking Steps
Use this time-blocking process to get more done and have more fun in your business:
1. Spend 30 minutes each day planning.
Set a time slot at the end of each day to plan for the next. Choose 1- 3 high pay off activities to complete early in the day, so you make significant progress every day. Remember, a high pay off activity brings you closer to achieving your top revenue and developmental goals.
2. Make your calendar your daily guide.
Most people only put appointments and birthdays on their calendar. Try this — put all of your business tasks and timed goals on it as well. Time management guru David Allen says: “Anything you consider unfinished in any way must be captured in a trusted system outside your mind, or what I call a collection bucket, that you know you’ll come back to regularly and sort through.”
Whatever goes on your calendar is a sacred agreement with yourself. Sure, sometimes you’ll need more time or realize that there are more pieces to a project than you thought, so go ahead and move a few things ahead. The key is to review your open projects regularly and keep them moving forward. When you get into a good rhythm your calendar becomes an ally for your success.
3. Set specific days for coaching and times slots for clients.
In my practice, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday are clients days. Two sessions before lunch and two after is a good pattern. Each client has their own dedicated time slot so that it’s easy to manage my schedule. When you have a full practice, this system makes it easy to stay on track. Why not start it now so that you’re set up for success?
If you have an open slot, imagine your ideal client is on their way and use the time for bite size marketing tasks to attract that client.
4. Block out several hours each week for project development.
The alpha waves are flowing in the morning — so that’s often the best time for writing articles and creating marketing campaigns, designing new products and services. Turn that dream for another revenue stream into reality!
5. Have set times to respond to emails.
Tim Ferris, in the 4 Hour Work Week, suggests checking emails only at noon and 4:00pm. Get your high pay off actions done first, and only then open your email. If you let email get the best of you, this one is for you. And have a standard of getting everything out of your court and out of your inbox every day or at least every week.
6. Set time blocks for Finance, Writing and Marketing
- Financial Focus Time
This is where you update your revenue and expense projections, pay bills, and input your bookkeeping into Quick Books. Of course, you could outsource most of this. But do stay in touch with your finances — it’s a prosperity principle.
- Wildly Creative Writing Time
If you publish an ezine or re-purpose articles into blogs and directories, a regular writing habit is critical. Ezines only work for you if they are punctual like a train.
- Magnetic Marketing Time
Plan your work and work your plan. If you market continuously and consistently, you will have more clients than you need. Plan a set of well-leveraged, repetitive approaches, some of which are high touch (voice to voice) and some that are automated internet processes. Add in some of your own products and you have the Magic Marketing Suite!
Do some of these things seem like drudgery to you? Reframe your thoughts about them. Make each aspect of your business a friend and ally. A smart colleague of mine, changed up to a fun attitude by giving her time blocks upbeat names like the ones above.
Now, start using this time blocking process and watch yourself accomplish more than you thought possible week after week!
Learn more about the author, Rhonda Hess.
Yes - Absolutely! This is critical information that will make or break your business. There are so many distractions online, staying focussed is extremely important. It feels great to be organized and know that each day you are accomplishing your goals.
TIP: I recommend using www.iGoogle.com as your starting page. iGoogle allows you to add widgets for improved functionality. I recommend adding the ToDo widget. It lets you add your daily tasks and will list them in order of importance.
Hi Rhonda, Great article. I have been working as professional Organizer in New York City since 1993 and have been employing similar strategies with my clients to those you list here (and then some). Perhaps the two most important ones are using a calendar wisely and pro-actively as a daily guide, and setting times to go through email. I cannot tell you how many corporate clients have found the email rule to be an invaluable tool.
Hi Rhonda,
I'm a new entrepreneur and I’m finding that writing in the morning is a great way to stay connected to my purpose and vision for what I'm working to create here (at Life Design Unlimited). I’ve so appreciated all your biznik articles and am glad to know you're out there.
One question: As a regular writer, I know my writing can help me have a natural marketing vehicle. Using time in the morning, after the writing, I research where this particular piece of writing/essay can serve me best (as a marketing vehicle).
I've put out regular newsletters (through my site); articles on ezineonline.com, The Gladiator.com (for creative career seekers), and through my mentor—Valerie Young's website at ChangingCourse.com
I would love to hear from you about ways to use your focused time to keep it broad and wide and yet still targeted. Perhaps this is a different question for a different article.
Thanks.
I believe in writing to a narrow and specific niche market and focusing on very specific issues rather than broad and wide. For your market though, I can see why you'd want to write more broadly. The best method I've found is to write about very bite sized issues and invite comments so you learn about what your readers know and want to know.
Thanks so much for your help. I'd love to hear what you mean by "bite sized issues that invite comments" -- do you have any examples? Do you mean tip sheets?
HI Jennifer,
The article you responded to is an example. I work with professional coaches to help them charge what they are worth and make it big in coaching on their own terms. But you'll notice that I didn't try to tackle a monumental topic in the article. I zoned in on something very specific.
A tip sheet certainly is one way to do that. I imagine as you work with your clients and listen to them, you'll build a huge list of little topics to write about.
Good article Rhonda.
If anyone knows me, I am one of those guys who usually has something to do 99% of the time with 105% if my mind.
It is a critical step to make sure you have all the planning out of the way and keep to a schedule, especially making sure larger projects are broken into digestible steps so that they don't seem overwhelming or time-crunched into one day.
Rhonda, nice article! Very specific and doable tips, many of which I rely on myself.
I agree with you that every task -- especially marketing tasks -- should be scheduled in. Otherwise, they fall quickly to the back burner when things get busy.
That's why we created the Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar. I hope you don't mind a little plug for it -- it seems perfect for people who deal with this challenge. It includes an actual marketing plan that is integrated directly into a daily calendar, along with your to-do list and your personal appointments. It's a great way to get everything into one place, including your marketing tasks. More info here.
Thanks for a relevant, helpful article.
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