Do you feel like you spend your day running from meeting to meeting or dashing from one almost-finished deadline to another? We’ve been there! It’s not an ideal way to spend your day(s)! It leaves you feeling unproductive and unmotivated, which is not how you grow a successful business or career. We’re here to tell you thought, it doesn’t have to be that way! With a lot of trial and error, we’ve found there are 5 key ways to optimize your daily schedule to feel productive, motivated, and on-time, consistently.
Time Blocking
[defined]: blocking off chunks of your day/week/month for when you want to complete a certain batch of activities
This is something that has been the focal point of how Chance and I organize our calendars for years. It’s something that allows both of us the ability to stay on track, regardless of how we like to manage our smaller tasks. I like to focus on various things through a day, he likes to stay on one general topic/idea. It keeps us on track and keeps our calendar efficient. By structuring in blocks, we avoid feeling overwhelmed which is the whole point of keeping a calendar/diary. Time blocking creates structure around your week and ensures you’re making time for the tasks/appointments/meetings that are important. It’s perfect for people who run their own business/side-hustle or professionals looking to create more structure around an ever busy schedule.
From Todoist.com
The best way to implement time blocking is on a calendar. Basic time blocking can be done on a daily, weekly, and monthly scale (we utilize all of them), but go for whatever works best for YOU. A calendar is only useful when it’s actually centered around what you specifically need to keep you on-track. Not everyone is the same, so no schedule system is a one-size fits all!
Here’s how you should use them:
- Daily Time Blocking: for daily tasks, routines, or deliverables that need to be completed multiple times throughout the week (or day). We utilize the daily time blocks for our morning routine, focus/task completion time, as well as for breaks and lunch.
Daily time blocking schedule example
- Weekly Time Blocking: useful for weekly reoccurring tasks such as Monday’s inbox to zero, newsletter send outs, etc. We utilize weekly tasks to track client meetings, weekly routine, and even just normal life reminders like trash and recycling day.
Weekly time blocking schedule example
- Monthly Time Blocking: for tasks that don’t need to be seen frequently, but help “shape” weekly/daily work. We utilize monthly blocks to help batch future content, plan sponsored content, or even just prioritize work and client deliverables when we’re traveling, etc.
Not sure how long certain tasks take? Consider the software Clockify to time yourself and track how long certain activities take!
To Do List
To do lists are essential to ‘balancing’ your calendar. Think of it like a checkbook, you need to keep tasks written down so you can balance task time and other responsibilities each week to keep a balanced and optimized schedule. To do lists allow us to reduce anxiety around tasks/work, create rigid structure, and help us see what we’ve achieved for the day helping us to continue staying motivated (according to Dr. David Cohen)! Any optimized schedule is paired with a master to do list to help keep deliverables on track.
Example of a task in Google Calendar
Example of a task in Outlook
Although we utilize digital calendars, I also keep a paper diary (s/o Cloth & Paper) that I fill out daily that also functions as my to do list. If tasks aren’t there, they don’t get completed. If you prefer something digital, Outlook offers to-do’s with a view at the bottom of the calendar, and Google also offers “scheduled” tasks direction on the calendar itself.
Task Priority
Tasks should always have time sensitivity connected to them. Even if they aren’t “due” for three weeks, it’s important to keep delivery dates front of mind so you can prioritize accordingly. By setting aside tasks and organizing them by priority, it reduces stress and increases positivity according to Thrive Global. A simple way to help you do this is utilizing the Eisenhower Matrix. This method utilizes a four-quadrant design, each labeled either “urgent + important”, “important + non urgent”, “not important, not urgent”, or ‘urgent, not important”. By organizing tasks into these quadrants, you can organize your to-do list!
Task Migration
It is notoriously easy to get lost in a sea of several to do lists, unsure of which ones are ‘the’ most accurate. However, it’s so easy to avoid this when you’re properly migrating tasks. Sometimes, there’s just not enough time in the day to get everything done, which is where your prioritization kicks in. Tasks that are high priority or need to be done before the end of the day are always completed first, regardless of how easy/quick another less important task is. Now, any tasks that are “left” from the day will move to the top of your list the next day making them “top priority”. This is very similar to the Bullet Journal method developed by Ryder Carroll (if you’re interested in learning more).
Scratch Paper → To Do List Transfer
Your to do list should always stay clean and easy to read/digest. If you like to take notes or scribbles during meetings, they do not belong on your to-do list. Similar to meeting notes, you never just send out the raw notes, you always clean things up and make them concise. Your to do list is the same- tasks should be clear and to the point with relevant details/information. That’s why keeping scratch paper/notebooks close by is handy! Utilize these to take notes and scribble details, and make sure to transfer those details (cleanly) to your to-do list or calendar (depending on the task).
PRO TIPS
Sometimes over-communication is key! It's easy to get busy and forget to acknowledge an important email (even if you read it) or forget to put a block on your calendar for days when you have all day meetings. Utilize automatic responses (through email, Instagram, or FB, for example) to share when you're other-wise engaged and responses will be delayed.
By implementing these processes into your daily schedule, create efficiency and stimulate motivation all while increasing your overall productivity! Of course, these are by far the only way to optimize your daily schedule, but they are the best ones to integrate into your day to day life with little to no distruption.
3 Comments
[…] Tick Tick also added an Eisenhower Matrix which is one of our favorite ways to organize your daily schedule! Tell us this isn’t awesome! We’ll […]
Good post. I learn something new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon everyday. Its always interesting to read articles from other authors and practice something from other sites.
[…] me plan my “tomorrow” at the end of each day. My written planner is also where I time block in my focus hours (typically 2-3 hours per […]