The Power of Time Blocking
Charlie Rhea (EOS Implementer, ACC Executive Coach)
I help develop, empower and transform Leadership Teams to run better businesses and live better lives!
Author: Charlie Rhea
Date: February 18, 2022
Intro
What’s the purpose of life? What’s the purpose of your life? What things in life take the highest priority? Specially, in your life, what is most important? What do you think you will be remembering when you are lying on your death bed? Do you think you will wish you had made more money? Do you think you will wish you had spent more time advancing in your career? Most likely you will be wishing you had more time to be around those you really care about. There is one word I really want you to focus on for this article: relationships. In my humble opinion, that is the most important thing in life. It is why we are here on earth and it's what unites us all together! It relates to all of our purposes. But how does time blocking fit in to this? Time blocking will allow you to proactively plan so that you can maximize your time for relationships. In this article we will look at what time blocking is, why it’s important to add to your leadership toolbelt, and how to integrate it into your daily life!
What is the Time Blocking?
Time Blocking is essentially taking the twenty-four-hour day and chopping it down into different blocks. You could also do this with your week. Think about doing a monthly financial budget. You categorize where your money should go and then execute the plan! You essentially are doing the same thing but with your time. According to the Professional Christian Coaching Today Podcast episode #266 called "Time Blocking with a Twist with Teresa McCloy" there are four main types of time blocks:
1.?????Personal Time Block
2.?????People Time Block
3.?????Project Time Block
4.?????Proactive Time Block
The personal time block refers to things related to personal growth and development as well as your personal recharge time. Here are some examples:
The people time block refers to the times in your day or week when you will be interacting with people in an intentional manner. Here are some examples:
The project time block refers to any project or action step related to your work. It could be big or small. It could be an action item that is part of a project. To make things simple, you could also include tasks for work in this block. Here are some examples:
The proactive time block refers to any work where you are trying to get ahead! It does not have to only be related to work but can include getting ahead in your marriage, in your personal organization, or in your life-long learning journey. Instead of waiting for that email response, you are initiating the follow up or making the phone call or reaching out. Instead of being reactive to the problems coming in, you are spending time solving issues before they happen by putting in safeguards and back up plans. You are spending time making your systems and processes work more effectively and efficiently! Here are some examples:
To learn more about what time blocking is, I highly recommend a great leader to look up, the author and speaker Michael Hyatt. I have learned a lot from his many resources including podcasts and books. He has a lot of great information out there on being productive and proactive. One idea I especially like of his is creating an "ideal week." In this article, Ideal Week Article, he describes how to make your "ideal week" and the benefits of it. The main point is to prioritize and protect the most important things in your life that you know need to get done and fill in the stuff you want to get done around that.
Time blocking really comes down to being careful to block off certain time each day for when to do your proactive work and when to do your reactive work. Emails are a great example. How many times a day do you check your email? What about texts? What about LinkedIn or other social media? One way to protect against being reactive to those types of communication channels is to time block! When you get to work in the morning, set apart fifteen minutes to check all your communication lines. Then stop! Next you may want to work on your projects and tasks that are more urgent and most important. Then after a period of getting good reactive work in, stop! Switch over and do your proactive work and begin working on things that are important but not urgent. Maybe around lunch time, do another fifteen minutes time block of checking your communication lines. Continue this pattern the rest of your workday and then, right before you go home, do one more time block of checking your communication lines. This allows for three separate times where you check in with others and allows you to not miss important messages coming through. It also allows you to not be consumed by waiting at the computer for your next reactive email. It may be satisfying responding to emails and getting to inbox zero, but it is probably not the best use of your time in terms of strategic effectiveness.
Why do Time Blocking?
Blocking your time brings about a narrowed focus, improved effectiveness, and more efficiency. According to the podcast episode mentioned earlier, time locking gives you three things primarily:
1.?????Freedom
2.?????Energy
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3.?????Harmony
When you time block, you get back your freedom! Most people live overwhelmed, reactive, and distracted. They don’t have the discipline to slow down and get clear on where they are. They lack the vision and direction to know where they want to go and how to get there. Time blocking gives you a powerful tool to take back control of your day and your week by slowing down and saying no! With time blocking, you have freedom to say no because you are protecting your already committed yes! It's saying no to the good to say yes to the best!
When you time block you will find you have more energy! The main reason here is because you are not wasting time having to look through your calendar to see when you have available time or when you are going to get things done. You already thought about that proactively ahead of time! Now all you must do is execute! You save mental energy throughout the day and week to use for your most important tasks.
Lastly, when you time block, you’ll find you get harmony! Time blocking allows your team to get on the same page and speak the same language. If you all know the four types of time blocks, then you can all refer to them in the same way. There is a greater sense of unity across the board. Learning the four types of time blocks and using them on a regular basis with your staff will empower them to all go in the same direction! There is a sense of control in your schedule when you know you have certain times you will do things. For example, I carry with me a small journal. I write all types of ideas and thoughts on it each day at different points in the day. When I have a good idea, a new thought, or learn something useful, I can simply write it down and then move on! I don't have to worry about remembering it. I don't have to worry about when I will follow up on these ideas and do something about them. Why? Because I have a weekly review process in place where I transfer those journal notes onto my master note taking system. It is time blocked. I learned this lesson from a mentor of mine named Lance Golinghorst! He helped me learn how to be fully present when I am with my family by not having my phone out, but just using that notepad system to write down quick ideas and thoughts, and then forget about it and live in the moment! The key is to be consistent and faithful! Do not let those small notes you take on your notepad build up without weekly transferring them. If you do, it becomes overwhelming. When I time block this review process, there is a greater sense of harmony in my day and as a result I can carry on with my tasks with complete peace of mind.
One more thought for why time blocking is such a powerful tool. It comes down to limited time and limited energy. People already struggle with decision fatigue every day. If you can make the decision ahead of time when you can think clearly, it will most likely be a better decision.
How do you practically Time Block?
Let’s get practical here. What actually is needed to be able to effectively do this well? The first step is to create themes that you can use for certain types of work or activity. I really like the four simple P's that were mentioned above - Personal, People, Project, and Proactive. Find words that resonate with you and that get to the essence of what your work or activity really is. The next step is to simply plug and chug. Start putting them into your calendar on a weekly basis and maybe even try doing it for a monthly basis. You could even follow Michael Hyatt’s idea of making an “ideal week.” This will allow you to get a week ahead or even a month ahead with your work schedule and even in your non-work schedule. When you sit down at the beginning of the week to look at all that you must do, put time blocks in and around the tasks, projects, and meetings you know you have to do! Then think through what you might need to prepare for those tasks, meetings, or projects and put in proactive time blocks.
Warning:
Two common mistakes when time blocking is not planning enough margin and not being flexible. Be sure you put in plenty of room for margin. Be realistic on how long it will take to do your task or meet with someone. I will be writing an article on this topic later, but a huge mistake is not giving yourself enough margin for your time blocks. Maybe you are trying to finish a project and you set it for thirty minutes. Then you immediately put another project right after that one for thirty minutes. Well, what happens when your thirty minute project takes fifty minutes? And what happens when someone comes into your office and starts to talk to you for ten minutes? And then what happens when you need to go the bathroom, stretch your legs, and drink some water? Did you plan for that? The key is putting in margin. I learned this firsthand from one of my mentors, Joe Ratterman. He taught me the value of having margin in my life especially when I am coaching a client. I was placing one client after the next. If a conversation went to long, I was in a tricky situation with being a little late for my next appointment. Now, I have put a 15min margin window after each call. This allows me to self-reflect and prepare for my next session with a clear and focused mindset. If a task may take thirty minutes, I would highly suggest putting in a five to fifteen minute margin window on top of that to act as a buffer. If you get done early, great! You now have unexpected free time! If it takes exactly the amount of time you thought, great! Now you have some extra time to reset, recharge, and get ready for your next time block. However, if it takes longer than you are though and you planned in that margin, well, you are still going to be able to stay on task and be ready for your next time block. Another common mistake is not being flexible and willing to adapt when you time block. The key is to make the ideal week with your ideal time blocks. However, you must realize that life will happen and not everything will turn out exactly how you planned. You must be willing to be flexible, adapt, and adjust. Great leaders are great adapters. They continue to stay on target with accomplishing the vision and protecting the mission, but the strategies of how they get there could change depending on what is needed. As Drucker says, in his great book The Effective Executive, great leaders “treat change as an opportunity rather than a threat” (2006).
Key Highlight:
Time blocking brings a narrowed focus, improved effectiveness, and more efficiency. It brings about greater freedom, more energy, and consistent harmony. Find a time block terminology that fits your situation. Get your team around you to be on the same page so you all can speak the same language. Time blocking really comes down to being careful to block off certain time each day for when to do your proactive work and when to do your reactive work.
The Challenge:
Here is a simple challenge for you: time block your self-care! Think through when you will exercise and when you will have personal recharge time for at least three days during this upcoming week. Make each time block anywhere from fifteen to sixty minutes. Protect that time and track your experience. Do some self-reflection by spending five minutes reflecting on W.I.N. feedback (shared to me from one of my mentor’s Charles Hooper). Ask yourself these three questions at the end of the week.
·??????W - What went Well?
·??????I - How could I Improve if I were to do this again?
·??????N - What will I do differently Next week?
Call to Action:
If you want to find out more on how to time block, I would love to Coach you! I am a Professional Leadership Coach and I specialize in helping proactive business leaders get clarity, vision, and direction! The end goal is for my client to start owning what they say by allowing their actions and words to line up so they can become more effective and efficient in their different leadership roles! Please reach out to me via email if you are wanting to connect!
Keeping growing and stay humble!
-Coach Charlie Rhea
Citations:
Drucker, Peter F. (2006). The Effective Executive. HarperCollins Publishers.?