Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to use time blocking to
Speaker 1: achieve great things with your schedule. While there are lots
Speaker 1: of opinions on the rules or definition of time blocking,
Speaker 1: fundamentally it means setting certain times on your schedule for
Speaker 1: certain activities. If you don't have to make these decisions
Speaker 1: in the moment, you can ensure that you're spending enough
Speaker 1: time on anything you think is important to you. You
Speaker 1: no longer did there about whether you should be making
Speaker 1: phone calls are writing blog posts. You no longer transition
Speaker 1: inefficiently between these two activities. Instead, you know what sort
Speaker 1: of work goes where. While this sounds regimented, it can
Speaker 1: actually be a great system for people with more spontaneous personalities.
Speaker 1: A business owner who decides to do marketing from two
Speaker 1: to three d p m. Every afternoon can decide each
Speaker 1: afternoon what kind of marketing she most feels like doing.
Speaker 1: But by giving this time a label, she knows that
Speaker 1: she will devote time to marketing and it won't get
Speaker 1: ignored in the bustle of daily life. In any case,
Speaker 1: people who time block well can handle quite complicated lives.
Speaker 1: On my blog recently, I profiled a woman named Catherine
Speaker 1: who had managed the feet of working thirty to thirty
Speaker 1: five hours a week while homeschooling five children and exercising
Speaker 1: every morning except Sunday. This was possible through the miracle
Speaker 1: of time blocking. She homeschooled from roughly eight am to
Speaker 1: noon each day, then she worked from twelve to six
Speaker 1: while the kids were with a sitter or her husband.
Speaker 1: She generally exercised from six thirty to seven thirty AM.
Speaker 1: She blocked out time on Saturday for creative writing. Some
Speaker 1: email happened elsewhere, but by sticking to this schedule she
Speaker 1: was able to fit all kinds of things in her life.
Speaker 1: So as you think about your skip, think about what
Speaker 1: tasks deserve a regular time, what blocks would work best.
Speaker 1: Maybe you always work on business strategy from eight to
Speaker 1: nine am. You meet with and coach employees. From nine
Speaker 1: to eleven, you travel around to meet with clients and vendors.
Speaker 1: From eleven to three. You work on marketing from three
Speaker 1: to four, and wrap up everything by five. You can
Speaker 1: do this with your personal life too, as Katherine did
Speaker 1: with exercise. Maybe you block out six to seven am
Speaker 1: for exercise and eight thirty to ten pm for reading. Now,
Speaker 1: of course, not everyone's life allows for this sort of blocking,
Speaker 1: though I note that the blocks don't have to be daily.
Speaker 1: You could decide that Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are exercise mornings,
Speaker 1: Monday at work is the time for long term projects,
Speaker 1: and Thursdays are the mornings when you meet with potential
Speaker 1: new clients. I'd also note that schedules exist to serve us,
Speaker 1: not the other way around. If you get the opportunity
Speaker 1: to have lunch with a potent util client or an
Speaker 1: old friend, that's probably a good use of time, even
Speaker 1: if your official blocks indicate otherwise. But in any case,
Speaker 1: there's much to be said for taking the decision making
Speaker 1: out of scheduling time and energy not spent deciding it's
Speaker 1: time you can devote to the stuff of your job
Speaker 1: and the stuff of your life. Do you use time blocking?
Speaker 1: You can let me know what your blocks look like
Speaker 1: a before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.
Speaker 1: That's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.