Time Blocking What would your business look like?

We have covered the steps to discovering YOUR big money activity “Make a List of EVERYTHING you do in your day” “Write down how much TIME each activity takes” “Give each activity a VALUE based on the time spent and effect on your business’s success”

We have covered the “Pareto Principle”

We have covered mock “Productivity Calendars”

We even covered how to get into Time Blocking by starting out slow “Begin with 2 days” “Once you can stay on schedule for those 2 days, add a 3 rd day”

But we have never really covered what your business would look like if you DID implement Time Blocking How many of you work off of: A.To-Do Lists B.Calendar

The 6 main reasons To Do Lists don’t work 1. No Time Duration or Restraints 2. No Priority of tasks 3. To many tasks to complete 4. To easy to say yes just add it to the list 5. Zeigarnick effect – Anything that we know about but do not yet have a plan for burns mental energy and causes stress 6. Don’t Work – 50% of tasks are never done, of the ones that are done, most are on the list less than an hour

1.The Most Limited Resource Time: Time is our most limited (and most precious) resource We have to start with the never-changing constraint of the 1440 minutes we are given every day If you make a To-Do list that exists independently from your Calendar and does not align with the actual time you have available, you are setting yourself up to fail If I agree to do something for someone without first consulting my Calendar, I may end up overcommitting If I have a standing “appointment” on my calendar I am more likely to do it each time (over time becoming a Habit)

2. Consideration of time and place: By putting To-Do’s directly into your Calendar, you can consider your physical location, needed materials, and energy level For example, if I just keep a list of phone calls in Outlook Tasks or on an Excel spread sheet, I’m less likely to make them than if I make a “call block” in my Calendar

3. Consideration of task importance: By plotting activities' directly into your (digital) Calendar, you can eliminate wasted time and wasted actions Having calls to partners scheduled for specific times every week make it more difficult to avoid the task Schedule important tasks early when your are at your sharpest Flexibility time and monotonous tasks can be scheduled for later

What would it actually MEAN to your business? If you had a specific plan for each day If that plan had specific activities that you know will make you money If that plan had everything in it that you NEED to run your business

Would it look different than this business? Start each day checking the to see what you need to do today Reacting to s or calls immediately no matter what you are doing Hope to get to some marketing stuff, but after you process file or maybe after you get the docs from the Smiths

Lets start small – What if you just had 1 specific thing scheduled every single week What if you actually DID that 1 thing every single week Would that 1 thing affect your business?

Lets just say it’s as simple as The Facebook for Business Strategy On your schedule every day and every week is 1 hour of Facebook strategy 1.From 9:30 to 10:00 a. Posting for Success b. Daily 10’s with friends lists 2.From 4:00 to 4:30 a. Respond to any engagement It may take some time, but if you “stuck to the schedule” and became consistent with this strategy, would it create referrals and leads?

Ok, maybe Facebook is a long term slow to get results example Then think about this one On your calendar every single Monday you have Potential Partner calls scheduled 1.From 9:00 to 11:00 a. call target partner list Would the number of face to face opportunity’s increase? Would there be any relationship matches? If that were the only thing you planned out and actually did every week, would the number of closings you do each month be affected?

I’m talking about 2 hours a week But in those two hours you are shut off from external forces In those two hours you focused on just that task What would 2 hours like that each week mean to your business?

There is no question that Time Blocking is the best tool for increasing productivity But what I am trying to show you is it does not mean having to live or work by some rigid schedule Yes, the more of your time you can block for specific activities (including family and leisure time) the more productive you are going to be But you can affect your business in a very positive way with even a little focused time blocks

The key element is what you are blocking your time to do Blocking your time to call targeted referral partners will affect your business much more and faster than blocking your time to your prospect list Figure out what your 80/20 is first and foremost Maybe calls is not your thing Block out time for Facebook Ad creation Block out time for Monthly Realtor Presentations Block out time for Open House Strategy

The moral of the story is = You do not have to every second of your calendar marked off to Time Block You can pick and choose the strategies you want to implement and block time to just do that But by doing ANY type of Time Blocking you are going to affect your business in a very positive way!