Planning your day the simple way!

When it comes to time management, there are a lot of different techniques out there.

I was talking to a friend today and their '1-2-1' their boss's advise was to "make lists". It got me thinking....

One method that I've found to be particularly effective is called "time boxing." Time boxing is a way of chunking up your day into smaller, more manageable pieces.

The first step is to figure out what your priorities are. What are the most important things you need to get done? Once you know that, you can start to allocate time for each task.

I like to use the Eisenhower Matrix with a minor tweak to help me prioritize my tasks.

This system helps you figure out which tasks are urgent and important, and which ones can wait.

Once you've prioritized your tasks, you can start allocating time for each one.

For example, let's say I have three tasks that I need to get done today:

• write a blog post,
• complete a project for work,
• and meet with a client.
• send out reminder emails and update some content on the website
• go check out the local new cafe opening

Using the Eisenhower Matrix, I would prioritize these tasks as follows:

1. Complete a project for work: This task is both important and urgent, so it goes in my "block of time" for the day as well. I'll most likely do this one first.
2. Write a blog post: This task is important but not urgent, so it can go in my "block of time" for later the day.
3. Meet with a client: This task is important but not urgent, so it goes in my "block of time" for later in the day, or plan it in for later in the week .
4. Sending out low level reminders and updating web content, compared to my other activities would be low importance, and low urgency. With those, I would delegate to someone else, or look to automate those processes if possible (EG. Auto email send outs)
5. The cafe sounds great, but it not business-critical for me. It falls under 'not urgent' and 'not important' (to me), so I will cancel this invite / decline

Finally, I leave some unstructured time in my schedule for unexpected tasks or events. This allows me to be flexible and respond to changes as they come up. This is valuable when in a client-facing / contact role.

With planning I've learnt that less is more. How do you like to plan your day?

Share tips in comments below.