Alright guys, per popular demand I’m sharing some of my favorite tips that help me manage my time most effectively. Hopefully these are helpful and if you have anything to add please let us all know below in the comments!

Put Everything in Your (Google) Calendar For starters, in order for you to manage your time effectively you need to know what tasks you’re managing. I personally prefer using google calendar but anything will work. I put everything in here from zoom meetings, content that needs to be submitted, sessions with my personal trainer, phone calls with friends, reminders for any random task I have to do that day, etc.

Assess Your Calendar Ahead of Time I also find that once everything is in my calendar looking at it at the beginning of each week and each day helps me feel less stressed and more organized because I have a general idea of what my week as a whole, and the following day will look like. This way you can see ahead of time if you promised to meet up with a friend for happy hour and need to wrap up your work day earlier than usual, or if you have a doctor’s appointment that isn’t in your normal routine, etc. Of course things get added through the week and day, but it just gives you a general idea of what your week and day is going to look like which helps you prepare.

Batching Your Tasks I definitely recommend doing similar types of tasks grouped together if your job/schedule allows it. So for example, I typically have certain days dedicated to doing work on the computer and other days more so dedicated to taking photos. It doesn’t really make sense for me to to spend time getting ready everyday of the week and going out to shoot content vs. getting ready just 1-2 days of the week and just batching what I can. That way the days that I’m at home working on the computer I don’t have to spend time getting ready, driving around for photo spots, etc. And then when it comes to what I’m doing on the computer, I try to batch those tasks too. So one morning I may knock out 2 blog posts back to back, and then after that I dedicate time to editing photos and videos, etc. Doing this will help you complete tasks quicker and more efficiently because you’re not bouncing back and forth between different tasks. You’re getting in the groove for one type of task and knocking out as much as possible.

Time Blocking When batching your tasks, I also recommend incorporating time blocking. So this is basically giving yourself a designated amount of time to complete “X” task. In order to do this most effectively, you really need to figure out how long tasks take you. If you allot yourself 2 hours to write a blog post, but it actually takes you 3, then you’re not going to be able to allocate your time properly. Once you know about how long something actually takes you, it’s easier to time block accordingly. Some people find it most effective to the block their entire day, while some may just do the mornings, etc. An example of time blocking could look like this:

Wake up 7am
Stretch + Coffee + Reading 7-8am
Workout 8-8:45am
Shower + Breakfast 8:45-10am
Write 2 blog posts 10-1pm (15 minute break in between)
Lunch 1-1:30
Zoom Meeting 1:30-2pm
Brainstorm marketing ideas 2-2:45pm

You get the gist. And some people love blocking everything out from when they first wake up, to when they have breakfast etc (this will really keep you on track lol, trust me) and other people just prefer to do it when they are actually working. Either way, it definitely helps with time management. Ps. Never start your day with emails (unless your job is to answer emails) or anything that requires you to be reactive (vs. proactive). It’s that type of admin work that is a total time and suck and before you know it, it’s lunch time and you haven’t really made any real headway.

Be honest with yourself Ask yourself how are you really the most productive? Are you really just as productive when listening to music or a podcast while working? I know that I’m not. I basically sit in silence all day lol which isn’t the most fun or entertaining but it allows me to move through tasks quicker which ultimately gives me more free time that I can actually enjoy later in the day.

What can you delegate/outsource? Depending on where you are in your business and what you do for work, you may be wearing a lot of hats– and sometimes that’s just how it is! You may not be able to afford help yet or you may be in a position where you can’t outsource tasks to someone else. As time goes on though, at the end of the day you should really only be doing tasks that you can do, and delegate the rest. This also goes beyond work. You can outsource cooking and do a food delivery service to save you time, or maybe you have your groceries delivered vs spending time grocery shopping. There are a lot of things that you can delegate nowadays so you have time to focus on only what you can do.