Unraveling the Chaos: My Journey to Mastering Time Blocking

Ever found yourself in a whirlwind of tasks, leaving a trail of unfinished business behind you? That's what I call "Tornadoing." It's that all-too-familiar scenario where, whether I'm hustling to get my son ready for daycare, tackling a home renovation, dashing through work projects, or extinguishing fires that pop up throughout the day, I end up in a frenzy, barely catching my breath.

In this constant battle against the clock, I discovered a secret weapon: time blocking. This strategy is transforming my productivity and skyrocketing my efficiency and happiness. Let me share how this simple technique reshaped my days and could possibly reshape yours too.

The Magic of Planning Ahead

For the longest time I struggled to time-block effectively. I just found it so difficult to stick with each time block. I think I had too many expectations of myself. “Well I can get this done in 30 minutes” so I blocked off 30 minutes. However, life doesn’t work that way, there are issues that arise when working on projects or additional research that needed to be done. I found myself never getting anything done, or going over my time blocks WAY too often. So I stopped doing it because it made me frustrated.

I originally started out blocking out one week at a time, on Sunday nights. However, by Thursday or Friday I was so off schedule it wasn’t even funny. So with all that combined I got frustrated and gave up on time blocking for awhile and reverted back to depending on my habits of getting up early and powering through. That kept me going, but eventually I started to burnout again. So I decided to give it one more shot.

The new concept is straightforward: at the end of each day, I dedicate 30 minutes to plan the next. It’s like laying out a road map for tomorrow. This ritual became my productivity hack, my north star in navigating the chaos of what I need to tackle next. I learned from my previous mistakes:

1. In the past, I didn’t leave any time for issues to arise in my time blocking. As soon as my calendar was thrown off, it became difficult to get back on track.

2. I needed to plan more frequently, to prioritize on the fly, there are still too many small things I need to deal with personally each day so I cannot be planning a full week as everyday is a shifting target.

3. I needed to treat each time block as an unmissable meeting - I’ve learned to switch gears effectively, giving my undivided attention to the task at hand.

Breaking It Down

It’s all about prioritizing what needs to be done tomorrow, rather than being pulled in multiple directions throughout today. That means, the tasks I prioritized yesterday are the most important thing to work on for pushing my goals forward today. Nothing can stop me from that. It’s a mindset shift you have to make.

It first begins by looking at my calendar. What meetings do I have today? Let’s ensure I’m aware of each of those. Then I look at how much time I have throughout the day for tasks. I then jot down the most important tasks that I need to work on to move my goals forward. I also jot down the small daily tasks that I know I need to accomplish. Run payroll, email so-and-so, get back to a team member about a certain topic, etc. So now I have the most important items and small rocks for me to work on.

I aim to save myself anywhere from 1 - 2 hours a day for the small rocks that need to be done depending on what they are. These typically shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes to accomplish. Everything else then goes to the important tasks and gets scheduled. No more than an hour is booked, unless there is a very urgent deadline approaching. Sometimes I will only book a 30 minute slot if I know I will actually get it done in that slot.

Then I do this over and over again each day. Some days I won’t get it all done and will just move the task to the next day, especially if it’s a larger project, it’ll just get rescheduled until the next day. Then my planning is done and I know exactly what I need to do tomorrow. No more thinking about what I need to work on for a given day, it’s already been decided and my small rocks have been worked in with some flexibility to do emails, get back to the team.

A Proactive Approach

Time blocking has shifted me from a reactive to a proactive stance. No longer am I scrambling to get my son out the door, nor am I sitting around waiting for an email to dictate my next move. By intentionally setting aside time for different activities, I’m in control of my day. This provides me with the structure I need to feel productive, yet also the flexibility I need in order to manage and build a start-up business.

For anyone looking to multiply their productivity or simply aiming to enjoy more family time without the constant "Tornadoing," consider giving time blocking a try. It's not just a productivity hack; it's a lifestyle change that could bring about more peace and achievement in your daily life.

Stop the whirlwind. Start #timeblocking and see the transformation for yourself - you won't regret it!