💡 Business Tip - Use Time Blocking (Issue #48)
A way to focus and do deeper work
“Sometimes people ask why I bother with such a detailed level of planning. My answer is simple: it generates a massive amount of productivity. A 40 hour time-blocked work week, I estimate, produces the same amount of output as a 60+ hour work week pursued without structure.”
— Cal Newport
I’ve mentioned time blocking before in my Invincible Career newsletter. But it’s also an incredibly valuable tool for running your business.
I use time blocking to ensure I have dedicated calendar time for the most critical activities. This strategy also helps me get into “deep work” states and prevents distractions. Otherwise, urgent little things creep in and steal my focus and energy.
For example, I set up recurring time blocks for:
Morning journaling.
Daily exercise.
Working on my podcast.
Writing newsletters and articles.
Marketing activities.
Time with my community.
Strategically working on my business (instead of always in it).
Meetings with clients.
Time with my family.
Over the years, I’ve moved away from letting anything be scheduled on my calendar at any time on any day. Now, I’m doing a lot more day theming and time blocking. This ensures I have large chunks of time to write my book, collaborate with my clients, work on my business, invest in my health, and spend time with my family.
Here’s how I’ve been theming my days:
Mondays - Community office hours and meetings with my retained clients.
Tuesdays - Writing and podcasting.
Wednesdays - Spending the day with my wife.
Thursdays - Calls with clients.
Fridays - Calls with clients.
Saturdays - A few business tasks and personal life activities.
Sundays - A few business tasks, personal life activities, and some writing.
Read more about time blocking, day theming, time boxing, and task batching in this excellent post by Todoist. Then, apply some of these principles to your business activities!
I’m Larry Cornett, a coach who can work with you 1-on-1 to design, launch, and optimize your business. You might also be interested in my “Employee to Solopreneur” workshop. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane while running my businesses 100% remotely.
