Last Updated on 1 year by Greg Noland
lcome to Day 22 of the 25 Day Success Challenge
So how did you go with Day 21, How To Beat Information Overload? Dealing with the amount of information thrown at us every day can be a daunting task. But if you can manage it you will be putting yourself in a fantastic position.
Closely related to dealing with the Information Overload is dealing with the structure of your days. On Day 19 of the 25 Day Success Challenge I gave you a grounding with Crucial Steps to Set and Achieve Your Goals.
So once you know what you want to achieve, the next step is putting your plan into action. And that’s what I want to discuss with you today.
This is a strategy called Blocking Off Time. But before I explain this strategy I‘ve got something very serious to discuss with you…
So many people criticize their time management skills and promise themselves that they will try to improve. But in my opinion they are just kidding themselves.
What I tell my coaching clients who think they have a problem with time management is that it is NOT time management they need help with. They need help with managing themselves.
Does this sound like you?
As entrepreneurs we are our own boss.
But at some point very soon, you need to sit down and have a self-reflection exercise with yourself.
Would you fire yourself because the way you deal with each day? Do you waste large chunks of the day getting side-tracked?
If you need to improve your work-day strategy, then there are a number of quick fixes you can take on board today.
Remember time cannot be managed. We all have the same 24 hours in every day. Once time has passed, you will never get it back.
But you can manage how you use your time.
What Is Blocking Off Time?
This is a strategy I learned from Dan Kennedy. He is one of the masters at managing his time, and to be honest I have never met anyone better. If you followed his time management strategies to the tee, you’d get masses done.
Blocking Off Time is essentially allocating ‘blocks of time’ to specific tasks.
Therefore, you can schedule 7am to 8.50am to write 1,000 words for Chapter One of your new book. (8.50am to 9am is for drinking water, stretching and doing some press-ups).
Then 9am to 10.50am you work on creating your new website and landing page.
During these times that’s ALL YOU DO. You do NOT:
- Answer the phone
- Check your social media
- Check the football scores
- Book that table for your anniversary that you forgot about
- Check your PayPal to see how many sales you made last night
You must stick absolutely rigidly to your Block Plan.
As I have taught you before on the 25 Day Success Challenge, if something comes into your brain, just jot it down on your daily planner and deal with it later.
Just do not respond to other people’s PERCEIVED emergencies. Don’t let anyone throw a monkey-wrench into your plans for success. If you have staff, put a sign on the door which tells all your staff quite bluntly KEEP OUT (unless the building is on fire, or my mum calls).
Remember multi-tasking is not a valuable skill, but a death trap for entrepreneurs. So avoid it like the plague.
How Do You Create A Block Plan?
I just use a basic Excel spread sheet, and sometimes even a blank piece of paper.
- List the hours from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed.
- Then depending on how long you can work effectively, divide up each hour into a 50 minute slot or a 1 hour 50 minute slot.
- I use the latter as I can keep more concentration and motivation nicely for 110 minutes, and then I need to stretch my legs.
- Make sure you add in your exercise time, reading time and family time.
- Also remember to allocate some time for dealing with any notes which you took down on your Daily Planner.
I try to plan a week ahead, so I can gain the ability to manage myself better. You should try this. This will help you put yourself in a PROACTIVE state, instead of a REACTIVE state.
Once you have finished your plan, make sure you keep to it. Don’t make the mistake of putting that time and effort into creating your plan and then neglecting it.
Ok, that’s all for today, now go and create your first plan using the Blocking System!
See you again tomorrow…
Dedicated to your success,
Greg Noland
