How do you plan your time?
Time is precious for most of us, some of you are working a job and have kids to tend to as well as working on your sites and writing content, but how do you plan your time so that it is most effective?
Below in the photo is my week. Well its not this week but this is a picture of how I plan my week. I have planner sheets that I print out each week and then I get my coloured pens out.
My first colour fills in the time for things that I can not change, things like the school run and appointments that are already made.
Then...
Family time, I need time with my daughter, she is my priority.
I colour in time for my MLM, WA and my other business.
If there is any time left over I might just do something for myself ;-)
The time that I block out for "work" is then blocked out within to allow time over the week for content creation, 15 minutes per day for each social media account and other priority tasks like training, phone calls and meetings.
So I might block out time for WA / my site that is a 2 hour block. I would divide this into say 30 minutes content research and roughingout, 30 minutes WA blogs and training, 30 minutes site maintenance and tweaking, affiliate link search and suitability. In breaking things into smaller chunks of time there is more of an urgency to complete the task in this time. If I allowed 2 hours for content creation then I would fill all 2 hours and not actually get much more done than when I allow 30 minutes.
I hope that in me showing you how I plan my time it might give you some ideas how you can plan your time to be most effective and efficient for you.
I am a visual person and like to have my week on my wall so I can see it at a glance. Some of you may prefer to do this on a spreadsheet which is great but to me that is only available when your computer is turned on.
If you have your own method of planning your time I would love for you to share it in the comments. We are all different and there may be people who have tried other methods of planning and are still not making it work for them but they may instantly get your method of planning.
Recent Comments
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Hi Cath, I tend to list stuff, but then end up with a list of my lists! Looking at this I am going to try and adapt to something much more visual as I think my poor brain would cope better. Many thanks, Sue :)
if you make big lists then they can sometimes appear too daunting and so you don't get the jobs done. This is why I block out time initially rather that make lists for the whole week. Things change and you need to be flexible.
I have a calend ar and that is as close to planning as I do.
Otherwise I 'work from about 7:30 to about noon and then nap, then work untilI cook dinner for my wife and she gets home about that time... I then work for another 3 hours and then sleep...
I usually have about six on my board at any one time. I really do not budget my time - I budget my projects. they go on and come off as they are finished, whereas the time just keeps going...
Mickeyb
Well Cath, it seems as if we have a few more things in common: I love using markers to create schedules, and I'm still involved with MLM. I haven't been that active since joining WA, but I may resume with that on a part time basis, especially since I don't have a full time job.
Even with the advance of technology, I still prefer to write things out; I use my Google alerts, and use Evernote particularly for my work as a personal assistant. But I still like to hand write things. I don't think that will ever change for me.
Great ideas! Thanks! I do a "6 Most Important Things" List to prioritize the 6 Most Important Things for each day. I discuss it here Setting Daily GoalsWeekly Goals - the Six Most Important Things List Everything can't be urgent and important so prioritizing what I'd really like to accomplish on a day by day basis make a difference.
Thanks again for a great blog post!
~ t
thanks for this. I do my planning on a Sunday night and usually just block out the time for the different business that I have, I sometimes don't have tasks to do in these blocks until later in the week, to me its about blocking out the time for these areas so that I know that I have time allocated and can plan other things around them.
I work a "to Do" list when I go to bed and so I know what I am doing in the morning when I get up.
Makes perfect sense. I do much of my planning the same way and am always trying to improve planning for those unexpected events/activities. Thanks again, ~ t
That's an awesome way to stay on track.
I have been using google calendar. I spend most of my day(s) on the computer so the little notification window keeps me on track.
But I am always looking to better my time management.
Thank you for sharing!
Vini
I don't always work at home on my computer so I take a photo of my day as I leave my office and then I have an easy to get planner on my phone too :-)
When I am working I use the timer on my phone to keep me on track as unless I am booked in for phone calls or meetings the phone is face down on the desk :-)
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I have a daily schedule that I keep which works most of the time.. I live in the basement of my son and daughter in law's house so I often enjoy play time with my grand sons during my work time but make up the time in the evening then...My priorities are not as strict as they should be!
as long as you catch-up that's what matters ;-)