Time Blocking = Results

The difference between those who achieve success and those who don’t is nearly almost down to taking action.

Many (me included in a few cases) love the idea of making something happen (I have talked about writing a book for a while) but the reality is we don’t see results from thoughts. It’s actions which count.

When I have set myself a goal to achieve something, I know that I won’t make that goal happen without focusing time on the activity. It simply won’t happen if I just try and fit the work alongside other work.

I have to do 2 things.

1. Block time in my diary.
2. Be disciplined about following the time block.

Time Blocking in sales (and business) is one of the simplest but most effective habits you can build if you want to achieve a task or goal.

If your goal is to find new business and generate new opportunities then trying to achieve this from within your standard working schedule is very difficult.

You need to put time aside in your diary and then ensure you stick to it.

What is Time Blocking and how can you implement it?

Time blocking is just marking time in your diary for a specific action. The minimum amount of time for this I believe is 30 minutes but ideally you should put 60 minutes aside.

Here are 12 simple steps to follow to start implementing timeblocks.

1. At the start of your week, look at your calendar (online or paper) and identify 2 to 3 times per day (or per week if you struggle to do this per day) when you have spare time. These could be time slots where no meetings have been put in the diary and where you have time to focus on tasks.
2. If you can’t put in an hour, do 45 minutes or 30 minutes as a minimum. The time for this can be flexible for you. Some do it early in the morning, some do it throughout the day. Choose a time that works for you and when you feel at your best.
3. Mark as many time blocks as you can in the calendar. Create a diary entry that is for you and put a title on this time block. ‘Ie - Time block to reach out to 10 new prospects via LinkedIn’.
4. Put the time block in a different colour if you can (I always mark mine in Red which is an urgency colour) so that it stands out in front of other appointments or meetings.
5. Try and aim for 3 of these timeblocks per day or a minimum of 3 per week.
6. When you get to these timeframes, ensure that you have turned off other distractions such as email and social media and ideally put your phone on flight mode.
7. Inform other colleagues and family that during these times, you are not available and that you would not want to be disturbed. If you are in an office with other people, then maybe put a sign up to say you are to be left alone or put a hat on that says the same thing! If you work in an environment where you do have customers that make requests, then ensure you have arranged cover with someone else at these times. Good teams will cover for each other whilst they do their respective time blocks.
8. Just before the time block starts, give yourself a mini target of what you want to achieve during this time. Some examples are below but whatever your target, focus on not leaving the time block until you have completed the task: (a) If you are prospecting, aim to connect with 15 to 20 people (b) If you are writing then aim to do 1500 words (c) If you are calling then aim to make 30 dialsIf you are reviewing a document then aim to review 20 pages.
9. Resist (and even fine yourself) if you take time away from the time block to go to the loo. Try and go before the time block starts. Leaving your desk to go and do something different always means you lose concentration and something else happens in that time (you meet someone in the kitchen etc).
10. Set a timer (a good old-fashioned alarm clock works well) or just look at the exact time on your computer and vow to not move from the task until 30, 45 or 60 minutes is up.
11. Once you have completed your time block, give yourself a mini reward. This might just be something as simple as making a cup of coffee or having a snack. The key is that we want to program our brains into knowing that by doing the task, we got a reward which makes us more inclined to do it again in the future.
12. I always try and summarise in a sentence what I achieved in that time block. It’s good to look back over weeks and months and see what you made happen at that time.

If you can follow the above process even just for 1 time block per week and be disciplined about implementing it then I assure you, you will feel good. You will get a dopamine hit for achieving what you wanted.

If you are managing a team then another great way to build this habit is to encourage others to share ‘How Many Time Blocks’ they achieved in the week and what they got done in those blocks.

We use this method with our Growth Resourcing team in South Africa and it works well. We have some internal competitions within our team on the most amount of time blocks that are completed with winners at the end of each week for the most achieved in the time.

The key is always removing distractions and being disciplined to start the time block when you say you will.

When I am faced with Procrastination about a task which I know I need to do but which I don't really want to do, I always have this David Gogglins quote in my head, ‘Never negotiate with yourself’.

Set the time block and stick to it.

Discipline is just choosing between what you want now and what you want most and if you think about the reason WHY that task or activity is important to you, it will help.

The winners in life are the ones who don’t rely on motivation to get things done. They know that emotional feelings will wain either way. They just know that Discipline and Consistency are the keys to full achievement.

I have recommended Timeblocking with several different companies and business owners I have worked with and those who have implemented it consistently, have seen a huge uptake in productivity.

As humans, we like to be distracted but starving those distractions and winning short time-battles when done CONSISTENTLY will achieve stellar results.

There is another simple way to achieve success as well which is through Accountability. More to follow on this next week.

Try Timeblocking and drop me an email to let me know how you get on.

And before you say ‘I am too busy James, I have too much on etc’ there is always a reason why you can’t do something but we all have the same amount of time in the day.

It’s just HOW we choose to use it which differs.

Those who achieve success are focused and disciplined with time.

Those who dream of success let time consume them.

Which camp would you rather be in?

Wishing you all a brilliant week ahead.

Until next Saturday, keep smiling and stay focused on becoming a fly on the wall of the brain of your buyer.