How to Block Your Day Effectively
Time management is a difficult skill for any person, let alone an entrepreneur. We have so many duties to complete in a day that it can seem overwhelming, leading us to procrastinate or prioritize the wrong tasks. There are dozens of methods you can use to fix this issue, from scheduling every minute of your day to working only at night, and even bullet journaling has been touted as a way to help. However, there is one option that I prefer, as it is cut and dry, allowing me to simplify my calendar while keeping it under control. Blocking your day can be a big help when trying to fit your weekly to-do list into 40 or 50 hours, so let’s look at the process you can take to effectively block your days.
Group Similar Tasks
Blocking, by definition, requires you to group similar tasks to work on at the same time. A few examples of groups you might include are: interviews, meetings, calls, paperwork, purchasing, management, and reports. Every entrepreneur will have different duties, but they usually fall into buckets like these. Go through your calendar, as well as your daily and weekly to-do lists, and put each item into a bucket. If a duty doesn’t fall into a bucket, you can create a catch-all category. If a task falls into multiple buckets, choose one that either has fewer tasks or fits best. Moving forward, these buckets will be the basis for your blocking.
Duration of Bucket Items
It’s not only important to label each item; it’s also important to realistically look at the length of time it takes to complete each task. Next to your items, list an estimated time it will take to finish. You always want to make sure to round up, as completing your work in less time than anticipated is much better than double-booking yourself, especially when a significant portion of your time is spent working with others. Then, tally up the bucket to determine how long each group takes. You may find that some take longer than others (8 hours of meetings versus 2 hours of paperwork, for example). This step will help in reworking your schedule later on in the process.
Time-Sensitive Events
Once you’ve grouped your tasks and identified the length of time each task takes, you should look at your calendar to identify any items that are extremely time-sensitive. For example, a meeting with an overseas investor may not be as easily rescheduled as a phone call to your bookkeeper. Try to place buckets around the most important events, and do your best to rearrange anything that is placed elsewhere. However, going back to the previous step, you may realize that some buckets are unmanageable to complete in 1 or even 2 days. In this case, break them up into blocks between 2-5 hours in order to spread them out over multiple days. This also can be helpful if you have several meetings or other events that are time-sensitive within the same bucket.
Energy Levels
After placing time-sensitive tasks, you should consider how much motivation it takes for you to complete the other buckets. Then, spend a day or two tracking your energy levels each hour. You may notice that you have the most energy when you first arrive to the office and less lunch after work. On the other hand, some people struggle in the morning and find that they do better intensive work when they leave the office for the day. Regardless, you should start to notice a regular pattern if you track yourself for a few days.
Once you have your energy levels figured out, you can prioritize certain tasks. The most-important and less-interesting duties should be completed when you have the most energy, while menial tasks that require less attention can be saved for times where you are more fatigued. Write down which buckets fit into which energy levels.
Final Steps
At last, you’ve done all of the prep work for blocking your day. The last thing to do is set up your schedule. See if you can fit your buckets in perfectly based off of the criteria above. You may need to make some minor adjustments, but overall, it should be fairly easy to figure out. In addition, the catch-all category from the first point can be broken up much easier to accommodate for small gaps in time. You also may want to set aside some weekly flex time to finish up any projects you have outstanding. After setting up your schedule, you have finished the process. Congratulations! You are one step closer to becoming a master of time management.
