All of us live by following some sort of schedule. Our schedule is governed by personal and professional accountability and responsibilities. Some of us have control over our schedules, while many of us, unfortunately, have a more challenging time.
The question though: Whether we can manage our schedule well or not, how many of our schedules provide for the most productive days, and therefore, making our lives more fulfilling and easier to manage?
Introducing “time blocking”.
Basically, this is a technique where we simply break down or group our “to do lists” into smaller segments/blocks of uninterrupted time. First, think about a day that is filled with appointments. Now, think about 3 different tasks or deliverables you need to complete by the end of that day as well.
Let’s start this day: You just got back from your 9am breakfast meeting with a bunch of great ideas, but you have that proposal to complete by noon. This is where the rubber meets the road.
If you allow the fluidity of your day to govern your productivity, you will most likely be chasing your tail until dinner time. However, if you make a quick summary of those breakfast meeting ideas, close the notebook, and adhere to the time block set aside for starting the proposal, you will not only take steps to completing the proposal on time, but you are building confidence in your ability to manage time.
We live in a world of information overload and rapidly advancing technologies. If we do not proactively plan our days/weeks and block specific time to complete tasks, we will get swept away by anxiety and stress. When we accomplish goals, our confidence levels rise, and we feel good about ourselves. We put ourselves on a happier path.
Matt Metro