Whether you are working full-time at home as a travel agent or juggling a full-time job while pursuing travel part-time it is no surprise that we all live very busy lives.
One of the best resources we have found to help structure our days and ensure we are touching all the multi-faceted components of our lives is Time Block Scheduling.
Time Block Scheduling can be set up in a manual version each week or digitally using a calendar like google calendar. We are going to take some time to walk you through how you can set up your Time Block Schedule which will help you make the most of the hours in your day.
BRAIN DUMP
The first step is to take time to brainstorm all of the things you need to do within any given week/day. This can range from chores, business, personal goals like working out, to home maintenance projects you need/wish to complete. Don’t box yourself in on this step - really take time to list everything out. We can remove things and consolidate later so more is better in this step.
CATEGORIZE
Start putting like-minded things in categories - for instance, if you need to take your kids to soccer on Tuesdays and ballet on Thursdays put Soccer & Ballet under the heading “Kid Activities”.
Other headings may be CHORES: grocery shop, meal plan, bathroom clean up etc… WORK: E-mails, Travel Quotes, Social Media Planning etc…
You get the idea - these will be unique to your life and goals each week.
TIME BLOCK
Now it is time to look at the hours you have in your day and see what you can realistically get done. Start chucking your day in 1.5-2hr segments and know this can change but this is a good starting place.
Let’s look at a sample of what this may look like:
6:00-7:30 PERSONAL TIME (wake up, breakfast, work out, shower)
7:30-9:00 MORNING ROUTINE (kids to school, daily chore, pull out meat for dinner prep)
9:00 - 12 PM WORK (Emails, travel quotes, blog writing)
12-1PM LUNCH (eat lunch, complete additional chore)
1PM-3PM SOCIAL MEDIA (work on social media planning and blog post)
3:30-4PM WORK (E-mail Check)
4PM - 5PM DINNER PREP (Get dinner going)
5-8PM DINNER (Dinner, family time, device-free)
8PM-10PM NIGHTLY ROUTINE (kids to bed, relax, device-free)
PRO TIP: You can set alarms on your phone to help you keep track of when you need to transition to your next time block. Keep in mind, you can adjust these blocks but it is crucial that you stop working when the dedicated time block is up. The point of time-blocking is to help you accomplish more with set times to work on certain categories so you can truly focus on one thing at a time and accomplish more versus jumping and hopping to several different things throughout the day.
TO DO LIST
We highly recommend the app Wunderlist for creating a running to-do list in your different categories. This may look something like this:
CHORES: Bathroom, Kitchen, Meal Planning, Grocery Pick Up, Dust, Sweep & Mop, Laundry
WORK: Call Bill about quote, followup with Susan on Disney Plans, Update packing list
Using the above examples when my time block for “WORK” begins I can open my Wunderlist app and start completing my to-do list within the WORK category.
The same would be true for when I need to complete a “CHORE” I can view what CORE is next in my Wunderlist app to help take the “thinking” out of my day and follow an easily laid out to-do list.
Though it takes time to make your block schedule work for you, it will surprise you how much more efficient your day runs and how many more categories you can get done. Setting a timer and knowing you have 2 hours to work on any given category will help you stay engaged, not take so many breaks, or follow those time-consuming distraction trains because you know you will have time scheduled in your day to complete those task later.
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