I’m not very good at time management. I suspect I’m not the only one. Early in my career, my manager said I should start each day with a prioritized to-do list and prepare the next day’s list before leaving the office that day. Perhaps he said “leaving that night.” I still do that today, but many of the projects toward the bottom of the list just don’t get done.
However, now I’ve rediscovered time blocking.
Why don’t I get projects done? I can think of three reasons:
1. Avoidance. I don’t want to do them.
2. Down the rabbit hole. I get wrapped up in small details, and the project stretches on.
3. Distractions. Email is a big one for me; the computer screen lets me know new messages have arrived.
Why 30-Minute Time Blocking Is the Solution
There’s another related reason: Fatigue. A project might seem to have no end. Cutting the day into 30-minute segments seems to solve lots of these problems.
I take my list of projects and assign one or more 30-minute time slots to each. Once the project is done, I move onto the next one. You might think 30 minutes is not enough for certain activities. You are right! Larger projects get more than one 30-minute segment, but those segments should be spread throughout the day.
Here’s why my strategy works:
Focus. For 30 minutes, I work on a given project and only that project. I am not tempted to check email because “cleaning up and responding to emails” gets its own timeslot.
Variety. I get bored easily, and when I’m bored, I get sloppy. It’s not difficult to focus your attention if it’s only for 30 minutes. Then I move onto a totally different project, which has a fresh appeal.
Achievements. At the end of each day, I write in my business journal. What did I accomplish today? My aim is to list at least 10 good things or projects completed. Each of those 30-minute segments represents an accomplishment.
Exceptions to the Rules
I am not a financial monk, rising early in the morning, working all day, eating dinner, then going to sleep and repeating the process again. I have a life. The 30-minute segments merely define my average workday.
- Even when working from home, I keep set hours. The office might close at 5pm on most days, and I stop working. When I leave my office, my wife asks: “Is the office closed?”
- It’s also important to include breaks. Since I work from home, I get started at about 7:30am. At around 9:45am, I take my “Perry Mason break,” joining my wife for the last 15 minutes of a B+W Perry Mason rerun on TV. That’s a coffee break for everyone else.
- It’s important to physically leave the office for lunch. I do so from 12:30pm to 1:30pm. Afterward I head back to work. If you have returned to your downtown office, lunch should take you away from your office. The change of scenery helps “vacuum” your head.
- My last two activities each day are planning the next day’s schedule and recording the day’s activities in my business journal.
Time management has been around forever. If you adopt techniques like time blocking, you will be amazed at how much you can get accomplished in a day without wearing yourself out!
From: BenefitsPro