Time Blocking: What does that even mean?

Oftentimes, people are advised to time block, but they aren’t entirely sure what that looks like. Another truth bomb is that some people are not born innately organized. Time management as an entrepreneur can get hairy. Is it important? 100%. Is it easy? Not at first, but it becomes that way. It’s awesome to give beneficial business advise, but let’s take the up a notch and actually show start-up business owners, current business owners, and entrepreneurs how to actually put it into practice. The overall goal is to set aside uninterrupted time where you prioritize tasks without distraction – basically this takes you from feeling like you did a LOT of work and got nothing done, to being able to cross things off of your to-do list and feel super efficient.

STORY TIME: I haven’t always been insanely organized. I didn’t know how because of this thing called ADHD. So, I would make a to-do list, and then just try to do it all. This is where I failed time and time again in feeling productive, and, honestly, when you look back at an 8-10 hour workday and don’t feel like you’ve gotten much done, it gets to be pretty discouraging. When I started looking into time blocking, it was definitely the beacon of light I needed. Let’s dive in head first, shall we?

Enhanced Planning and Organization 

Implementing time blocking requires planning your day or week in advance. I find it works much better to plan your week ahead in terms of goal setting. You will identify key tasks and allocate time specifically dedicated to them, creating structure around your schedule instead of blocks of undesignated time. In fact, we talked about this on a prior blog you can check out on The Full Circle. It allows you to see the big picture of your workload and ensure that important tasks are not overlooked.

Optimize That Workflow

Time blocking puts you into a position to optimize your workflow by grouping similar tasks together during specific time slots. You may be like… what are you saying? Here’s an example: you can allocate a block of time for emails, another for meetings, and separate blocks for focused work or creative brainstorming. We can always go back to the french restaurant in the previous blog. You need to order products and call vendors. What do you do? You got it, sis… you time block for those specific tasks. One thing I’ve purchased that has made my time block and planning easier to visualize is a super sick planner from Full Focus Co. This thing will have you breaking down your goals, plotting out your ideal week, and approaching your tasks from a different POV. Think of it like baking… you batch the dry goods together, the wet goods together, and then you don’t mix until the end. You get what I mean. 

Improved Time Management

As an entrepreneur or business owner, effective time management is crucial for success. Time blocking helps you track how you’re spending your time and identify areas where you can make adjustments to improve productivity. It also allows for better estimation of task durations, leading to more realistic planning and deadlines. You may think that you need 2 hours to sort through emails and narrow down the important or pressing ones each day. Then, after you time block, you find that it only takes an hour. Another example could be if you have to order goods on designated days. You know that the paper supplier is a chatty Cathy so you extend the time you have to call her. 

Reduce Stress? Increase Work-Life Balance?
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Literally, the entire goal of time blocking is to improve your quality of life, productivity, and not go insane. By structuring your day with time blocking, you can create a more balanced schedule that includes dedicated time for work, personal activities, and relaxation. This approach reduces stress by preventing work from spilling into non-work hours and helps you maintain a healthier work-life balance, which is essential for long-term productivity AND ensures that you are also maximizing the time to do the things that you truly love with the people you love. 

At Boomerang Consulting, this is where we thrive. Whatever questions that you have about start-up business ownership, start-up strategy, strategy, website development, copywriting, and even time management, we have answers for. Visit our Contact Us page to get in touch and see where we can help you.