Discover the Power of Focusing on One Thing at a Time

Do you ever start the day with big plans, only to be derailed by unexpected issues or distractions, and then get to the end of the day wondering where the time went?

What if I told you there’s a way to manage your schedule, make the most out of your time, and dodge distractions?

Introducing time-blocking – the superhero of time management!

With this strategy, you can boost focus, up your efficiency, and ensure your precious time is invested in key tasks.

But how does it work, you ask?

Let’s dive into the world of time blocking and all the perks it brings to the table.

Time-Blocking: The Super Hero of Time Management

Time-blocking is a very simple concept: It’s essentially about dedicating specific chunks of time in your schedule to focus on one task at a time.

It sounds simplistic, but it’s the simplicity that sparks its brilliance.

Many people argue that to-do lists are effective on their own.

While to-do lists are a crucial component of any productivity framework, they do present some challenges:

• The larger they get the more difficult it becomes to decide what to work on.
• They don’t tell you when you should do something.
• They don’t tell you how long to work on something.
• They don’t take into account how many hours you have available each day or what other commitments you have.

Time-blocking effectively addresses these challenges by combining the efficacy of to-do lists with the structure of your calendar.

This forces you to face the the reality that you have a finite amount of time each day.

Mastering Time: The 7 Steps to Time Boxing

Once you get the hang of it, time boxing can transform your chaotic schedule into a well-oiled machine… or at the very least, a less squeaky hamster wheel 🐹

Buckle up as I guide you through the 7 steps to mastering time, (no time travelling Delorean required!)

1. Prioritise Personal Time

Without adding time blocks on your calendar for holidays, hobbies, exercise, relaxation time etc, you are likely to put them off and in some cases not do them at all!

Plan bigger events like holidays a year in advance (or as far out as is practical).

Then move down to monthly, weekly and daily plans to add time each day for breaks, self-care, household chores, relaxation etc.

This helps with creating a balance between work and personal life and helps you steer clear of burnout caused by excessive work.

2. Prioritise Projects

To prioritise effectively, I simply assign each project and task a number between 1-5 (1 =lowest, 5 = highest) for both urgency and importance.

This allows me to easily sort them based on their combined score.

3. Break Down Projects Into ‘Doable’ Tasks

When it comes to sitting down to work, you can’t ‘do’ projects, you can only do tasks related to those projects.

So break down your projects into smaller manageable tasks that can be completed within a couple of hours.

4. Prioritise Tasks

I use the same calculation method to prioritise my tasks; assigning each one a number for urgency and importance and then sorting them from high to low priority.

Below you can see my ClickUp weekly task list sorted by priority.

5. Create a Weekly Short-List

At the start of each week, I look at my top 10 highest priority projects and take the top 1 or 2 tasks from each and put them onto a weekly list.

This creates a short-list so that I’m not overwhelmed by an endless list of tasks.

6. Assess How Much Energy Is Needed

Once I have my weekly to-do list, I assign an ‘energy’ level to each task (just the tasks not the overall project), estimating how much mental or physical effort I’ll need to complete it.

This approach helps me understand which tasks are most demanding and need to be tackled when I’m at my peak energy levels, (typically in the morning).

7. Create Daily Time Blocks

At the start of each day, I have a recurring 15 minutes time block for planning my day where I take tasks from my weekly list and create time blocks for them on my calendar.

High energy tasks are placed in the morning blocks when I’m most alert, while lower energy tasks are reserved for the afternoon.

I generally use 3 sizes of time blocks, small (15 minutes), medium (30 minutes) and large (1 hour).

If you have really small tasks that take less than 15 minutes I recommend rolling a group of these into one time block.

When I process email, I archive, delete and delegate as much as possible and then move any that are big enough onto my to-do list.

For the ones that are left that need ‘something’ doing with them, I flag them and create a 15 or 30 minute time block to deal with all of them in one go.

Don’t forget to include time for unexpected tasks or emergencies in your schedule. This allows for flexibility and avoids feeling overwhelmed if something unexpected comes up.

Below is an one of my time-blocked days as example (I use the ‘Sunsama‘ app to plan my week and create my time blocks).

Time to Un-wind: Clocking Out on Procrastination

I know time boxing can sound daunting, especially if you’re used to a more free-flowing schedule. But trust me, the results are worth it!

Time-blocking is not meant to be rigid or restrictive, it’s simply a tool to help improve productivity and reduce stress. Remember to be flexible and adjust your schedule as needed.

It’s all about setting your intention and making progress, it doesn’t have to be perfect.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a day go 100% as I planned it in the morning. So if you find you have to move things around, don’t worry that’s completely normal

If however you have trouble sticking to your time blocks and are getting distracted, try using the Pomodoro technique.

When tackling things from my time-blocks. I usually set a timer for anywhere between 30 mins to an hour (depending on the task and my energy levels) and then I focuss on that one thing until the timer goes off!

Another good way to stay focussed is by using Freedom to block distracting sites and apps (if you want to try Freedom, readers of this newsletter get an exclusive 30% off Yearly Premium with the code REMOTEMASTER30).

So my challenge to you is to give time-blocking a try for at least one week and see how it impacts your productivity and stress levels.

I’d love to hear about your experience with it and how it’s helped you.

P.S. Below are links to the 2 books that helped the most in my research in case you’re interested in delving deeper into this concept – trust me, they are worth the read!

“The One Thing” by Gary Keller & Jay Papasan and

“Time Boxing” by Marc Zao-Sanders.

And if you’re struggling with implementing time boxing or want more personalised advice, don’t hesitate to reach out. We can brainstorm and find solutions together!