Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash
Getting more done in your day comes down to one important skill: time management. This isn’t just for getting more done in your business, but in life in general. So how can you learn more about time management? Keep reading to find out how you can hit all of your goals.
Time management means getting organized, which doesn’t mean anything without showing you how to get organized. By the time you finish this post, you’ll know about focus blocks, what they are, and how to use them. These are going to be essential to your productivity. Before we get into that though, it’s important to set some ground rules. By ground rules, I mean setting up priorities. When you’re starting your week, day, month, etc, you need to set some priorities of what to get done. What is the main thing you need to accomplish? That should be your priority.
How to Get Started
If you’re planning for the week, write down all of the things you want to get done. Next, you’ll spread them out across the week. Now, this is where the blocking comes in. Spread out your tasks per day using calendar blocking or general time blocking. If you aren’t familiar with what calendar blocking is, try searching it on YouTube for some quick video explanations. Everyone uses this method for different purposes, but you’re just going to use time blocking to focus on one thing, undistracted.
For example, you want to work on your business’s social media and
batch creation. What you’re going to do is first set the goal for how many posts you want to do, say, four. So you’ll block off time on a day that you can realistically (important word) complete this task. If you don’t wake up at the crack of dawn, don’t set your time block at 6 A. M. Being realistic with the time you have keeps you from putting it off and also allows you to be confident that you can complete the work. Now, for this example, you have 2 hours to do these four posts. That means for these two hours, you’re completely focused on these posts, with no distractions.
Photo by Rahul Chakraborty on Unsplash
Getting Rid of Distractions
When you're working and get distracted, what tends to happen? You get an email or a text, and of course, you need to answer it. You see your package has been delayed and you end up doing more online shopping. And then you end up on a different site. Until you completely lose track of time, then it’s 2 hours later and you didn’t complete your tasks for the day. So during your block of time, it’s super important to be conscious in everything you do. Some tips are to:
Turn off your phone notifications
Put your phone in the drawer
Put your phone in another room
Don't listen to music that’s too distracting
If you absolutely need to use online resources, it’s important to be diligent with yourself. For instance, with my social media post example, you may want to use Instagram for inspiration. That means you’ll have to stop yourself from scrolling aimlessly and stay on track. Distractions are natural, but it’s important to have discipline.
Putting it all together
To put it all into a few bullet points, here’s what you need to do when you’re time blocking.
Lay out your tasks for the day or week.
Prioritize all of your tasks.
Spread these tasks out over the course of the week, blocking off a few hours at a time.
FOCUS!
Remember, your time is precious. That means you need to be making the most of it and getting things done. The more you get distracted, the more it drags out and the more frustrated you get. Whatever it is you have to do, or whatever it is that you have your heart set on working towards, do it ! With determination and will, you can get it done, and making the most of your time is the start.
If you liked this post, you can find more posts to help with your creativity and productivity on our Instagram, @koloraddikt. Be sure to follow us and our DM is always open for questions.
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