I did promise that I would report back with my experience on Time Blocking. Before I jump into results, here is my Week One time block to use as an example. I re-did it to be as generic as possible so it can be used as a template if needed.
I like taking the time on Sunday to put together the next week’s schedule because it forced me to plan ahead for potential pitfalls. I also liked how much scheduling my off hours helped me stayed organized and on task at night. Writing it down forced me to do the things I needed to get done at home. I did end up removing those from the template above to help make it more generic so it could be used by anyone. The guidelines of how long I was supposed to spend on each task also helped cut down on distractions like social media.
With that being said, I don’t think time blocking works for me. While it was very easy to maintain the schedule during off-work hours, staying on time during the day was tough! Most of my issues stemmed from the nature of my work. As any salesperson knows, your day revolves around the needs of your clients. If they need something from you it requires an immediate response.
Also, last week was not at all a normal week for me. We had vacations to cover and we hosted a major after hours event on Thursday. Those culminated in running around like chickens with our heads cut off.
I would like to try it again in a month where my schedule was a bit more normalized to get a real measure of how it works. Since it does take more than two weeks to develop a habit, I do think I need to give it a little more time.
If you tried time blocking, let me know how it worked for you!
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