The benefits of time blocking

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If you’re a solopreneur who works from home, you know all too well how easy it is to get distracted by the demands of family, friends, and pets. As a result, your productivity can suffer. But there is a simple solution that can help increase your focus and decrease stress: time blocking.

What is time blocking?

Time blocking is when you schedule your day into blocks of time. This is similar to the way that you might use a planner or calendar, but instead of making appointments and writing down any tasks at certain times, you set aside chunks of time throughout the day for specific tasks.

Time blocking isn’t your regular schedule

Your regular schedule isn’t necessarily the best way to schedule your day. Time blocking is a different kind of scheduling that helps you stay focused and increase productivity as a solopreneur.

Time blocking allows you to plan out your day in blocks of time, instead of tasks. This means that instead of scheduling “write a blog post” for 10 AM, you schedule 20 minutes for this task, followed by another 20-minute block for checking email and so on.

You still have a regular schedule; however, it will be more structured and organized than if you were using only your regular calendar or planner (like Google Calendar).

How to time block your day

To time block, you need to plan out your day in blocks of time. Here’s how it works:

Choose a goal or task you want to accomplish.

Set aside a specific amount of time for that goal. Don’t worry about what comes before or after this goal; just focus on getting this one thing done first!

Once you’ve figured out how much time it will take to complete the task, set several alarms throughout the day so that you can easily remind yourself of what needs doing at each step along the way (more on this later).

Time-blocking guidelines to follow

In order to make the most of your time blocking, you need to follow these guidelines:

Set aside time to plan your day. This can be as simple as a few minutes before you start working on something else.

Block out time for meetings and appointments. If you have an appointment that takes 30 minutes, block out the full 30 minutes in a separate section of your calendar (or in another app).

Block out time for work-related activities. Since working from home can feel more like doing laundry than running a business sometimes, it’s helpful to take some personal time off from work projects during the day so that when 5 pm rolls around and you’re ready for some relaxation, there’s no guilt about not getting everything done that day—or even finishing right at 5 pm if necessary!

The benefits of time blocking

So what are the benefits of time blocking?

Boost Productivity

Time blocking helps you increase your productivity because it helps you be more focused, both at work and at home. When you’re in a more focused state, it’s easier to accomplish tasks quickly and efficiently without distractions or interruptions. This makes it easier to make progress on the business goals that matter most to you.

Reduced stress levels and improved health overall

When you have a clearer picture of how your day will go, it’s easier to manage your stress levels when things don’t go as planned (and they never do!).

If something unexpected comes up during your “slotted” time slot for that activity, then the rest of your schedule isn’t thrown off balance—you just shift things around a little bit until everything else has been completed within its allotted block of time (for instance, if there’s an unexpected meeting at 5 PM today instead of tomorrow morning).

When we’re stressed out about what needs doing next or how much work there is left before deadline day arrives tomorrow evening/morning/afternoon…the last thing we want is another email from our boss asking us why we haven’t finished something yet!

The drawbacks of time blocking

Time blocking has its drawbacks, too. If you’re like most people, your default mode is to let the day happen to you. You might spend an hour working on one project and then an hour reading the news or checking Facebook before getting back to work.

In time blocking, everything must be scheduled in advance: every meeting or phone call needs to have a block of time set aside for it; every task that requires attention should have a block of time reserved for it as well.

This means that if you schedule an hour-long meeting at 3 p.m., you won’t be able to do anything else until 3:01 p.m., when that block expires and the next one begins (and so on).

It’s important not just because such rigid scheduling can help keep us focused but also because it helps us make better use of our limited mental resources by limiting how much we have on our plate at any given moment—and therefore reducing stress levels while increasing efficiency (for example).

Conclusion

We hope we’ve convinced you to try time blocking. If you haven’t started yet, there’s no better time than now! It can be a great way to increase productivity and decrease stress by planning out your day in blocks of time on your calendar.