With kids across the country heading back to school we are faced with the apparent inevitability of busy days, frantic evenings, and packed weekends.
Running kids back and forth to activities, meeting with teachers, packing lunches, supervising homework and so much more will change the landscape of days for those of us who work at home.
Even though my kids are older and out of school, there is still a familiar cadence to ramping up productivity in September and revisiting systems to make sure they are as efficient as possible.
There is still a sense of needing to dial in my time management practices in September to make sure I am ready for the upcoming holiday season.
“Time isn’t the main thing. It’s the only thing.”
And I don’t know about you, but for me there is a balance to be struck between the structure of a planned day and the flexibility to go with the flow when needed. I value the freedom of being able to decide to go get lunch out, or to take a break when my mind is overwhelmed, even if it’s not on my schedule.
That being said, those unexpected time sucks can easily whittle away your entire day, leaving you with 8 or 10 hours that have passed without anything of substance having been accomplished. No needle moved, no progress made.
So, what is the balance?
I believe it lies between the unplanned and the rigidly planned day.
Now, this requires forethought and planning, and will introduce some rigidity to your life if you have not been planning your days the night before.
However it will also introduce more productivity into your world than you have likely experienced.
One thing is certain. Any successful entrepreneur and business owner you ask, and every uber successful one, will tell you that planning their days is something they do every day.
It’s an essential part of success that all entrepreneurs have learned how to embrace, and some have super charged their planning.
So, let’s talk about, first the mindset, and second the tactics, to planning out a successful and fulfilling day. Every day.
Ok, first the mindset. You need to have a mindset that values time. One that understands time is a finite resource. It is the great equalizer.
“It’s not enough to be busy...The question is: what are we busy about?”
Everyone on the planet has the same amount of time in their day. It doesn’t matter their income, inheritance, location, circumstances, family situation, housing set up or anything else.
We all, every one of us, get 24 hours in a day.
You can’t buy more, borrow more or steal it. That’s it. 24 hours. That’s what you get each day.
Some of us will spend it on social media reading memes and getting caught up in debates with people. Some will spend it sleeping and binge watching their favorite new show on Netflix. And some will build a spaceship and fly into space.
Whatever the answer, it is all done in the same 24 hours a day.
One of my mentors, Jesse Itzler, was interviewed on a radio show and uses a great example to help us understand the value of time.
If you see your parents once a year, or twice a year, and they are, say, 75 years old…you probably have only 5, maybe 10, years left with them.
Meaning you have only 5, maybe 10 visits left. So, on your next visit, that means you have 4, maybe 9 visits left.
When you look at it that way you really understand how important it is to make the most of the time you have.
And by making the most of the time you have, I mean on a daily basis and on a larger basis. How do you want to spend your time? You have the have to’s. We all do, right? The things you have to do for work, to keep a house running, to keep your relationships strong, raise strong and happy kids…
“My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.”
All of those things we have to do to “adult” in the world.
What many of us forget to consider is what we want to do.
When you look back on the last, say, 10 years…how many of them include memories that you will hold dear for the rest of your life? How many years have you been able to accomplish things that will always stand out to you?
Maybe you learned a new skill. Or travelled to a new place. Or perhaps you spent time with someone you hadn’t seen in far too long.
Whatever that is, those are the memories that get us through the crappy days. Or months.
Right?
So, as we move forward to talk about some tactics, remember to consider those things that make this amazing life of ours worth living. Managing your time without making time for those cherished times will leave you feeling productive, accomplished…and still unfulfilled.
Now let’s move on to the tactics of planning your day.
It’s great that you value your time, and you know how important it is to use it wisely. But what do you do now? How do you take your passion for well used time and turn it into an execution of a finely planned day and week?
A 2013 study at the University of Utah found that people who try to juggle multiple tasks at once are more easily distracted, less productive, make more errors, and score lower on recall tests.
One method that I enjoy and use myself is time blocking.
Now, there are a lot of ways you can time block your day. The specifics are really up to you and how your days normally look, along with what kinds of distractions you tend to struggle with.
Some people, like Elon Musk, will time block their entire day into 5 minute chunks. This certainly allows for a lot of control, detail and transparency into how your day will look once you get up in the morning.
For me this is far too detailed. Planning my day down to the 5 minute interval may happen in my future…but that future does not start today!
I tend to plan in 30 or 60 minute increments. I do this for a couple reasons.
I like to work in time chunks. That is, 25 minutes of work then a 5 minute break. That cadence works well for me and gets me up and moving often enough so I don’t fall asleep.
I also do this because of the size of my tasks. Based on the things I need to get done each day (writing new articles, course creation, recording podcasts, etc) I need slightly larger time blocks. Otherwise I would just be blocking out a dozen or two time blocks every time I tried to schedule something.
Finally, I do this because if I tried to block out my entire day by 5 minute chunks it would take far more time at the end of my day than I am prepared to spend on it.
So I do half hour and hour increments, depending on what my tasks are for the day.
My content creation days have more hour-long time blocks on them to allow me to stay in the groove of writing or filming without the tedium of blocking out 24 time blocks for a single piece of writing.
One thing that a lot of people do that can set them up for failure with time blocking is they forget to add any buffer time into their schedule.
Because reality is things will come up. They always do. You’ll get an unexpected phone call or message you have to return, or someone will stop by to say hi or invite you to lunch.
According to recent research, 87% of knowledge workers are working two hours later every day compared to 2019. Yet over one-quarter of deadlines are missed each week.
And if you don’t have any time set aside for those things, they can completely derail even the most thoughtfully planned out day.
The value in time blocking is that it allows you to take the time to plan out chunks of your day. It keeps you as efficient as possible by allowing you to focus on one thing at a time.
That one thing might be content creation, or video editing. Or maybe it’s your daughter’s soccer game or dance recital. Or date night with your spouse.
Whatever that is, time blocking allows you to be present. Always. No more worrying that you forgot something. That a client’s work got overlooked because you got caught up in something else. That you missed a deadline because you just didn’t have the time.
Now, I’m not saying this will be easy. It will require a few things that may be a little uncomfortable at first.
1. Time set aside each night to plan out the next day
2. A list of what needs to be done each day, ready by planning time the day before
3. An understanding from those you share a life with that you are going to be a bit more rigid with your days so you can be more present in your down time
4. A willingness to learn as you go, making adjustments along the way so you have the most effective plan for yourself.
If you can arrange for these things to happen, then you can reach heights of productivity you haven’t reached before.
Remember to take your life into consideration. If you have young kids who haven’t started school yet you have different parameters to work within than someone who has 3 kids in college. And those parameters are still different from someone who has a 3rd grader, 6th grader and sophomore in high school.
32% of those people cited not being able to switch off or disconnect as the top factor fueling their burnout.
And that’s ok.
As you begin this new process, give yourself grace. You won’t get it perfect from the start. That’s just not the way we work. As humans we learn through trial and error. We have to try something, figure out what works and what doesn’t, and adjust for those learnings.
And that’s also ok.
I guess what I’m saying is, as we look at time blocking as a time management tactic, make sure to leave yourself some space to customize it.
