Here we are – racing into the last quarter of 2019! Before we know it, it’ll be dark when we wake up and dark when we finish for the day. This last quarter of the year always seems extra busy. The lazy hazy days of summer are a distant memory and people are ready to get cracking with the last few months.
Time is so elusive – we have a plan to get XYZ done and before you know it, you haven’t had lunch and it’s almost dinner time. So how do we create more time in our already busy diaries?
Calendar Block
Blocking out time for various tasks ensures you focus on that specific activity. Multi-tasking just doesn’t cut it sometimes! If you are a copywriter for example, you need to be in the right ‘zone’ not jumping from client calls and emails to writing content for someone.
One of our clients only checks her emails first thing in the morning and then again around 4pm. She just finds emails a huge distraction and jumps from one thing to another without actually achieving anything at all.
If you’re a morning person, block the morning for all those tasks that you HAVE to get done. That way, once they are done, you can relax a little and know those tricky tasks are done.
If you want to be super organised, colour code each task so that you can see at a glance what the week looks like.
Make time for personal time
If you’ve got children, put all of their commitments in first – be that assembly, shows or parents evenings. That way you’ll know these are super important and can be worked around.
If there’s a yoga or spin class that you love going to, be sure to add this into your diary. You’re more likely to go if it’s already booked in rather than thinking, there’s a class this afternoon I’d like to attend and before you know it, the class has finished. If it makes you feel better, use this break as your lunch break!
Social Media
Ah social media – the worlds greatest distraction! Try to limit the amount of time you spend on each social media platform. If you know you’ve only got 30 minutes, you’ll interact where you need to, schedule what you need and have a much more focused session than mindless scrolling.
If our director Emma has a particular task she needs to complete, she has been known to put her phone on aeroplane mode so that any notifications are off and she doesn’t absentmindedly pick up her phone (we think she is just dreaming of her next holiday!).
Cancel Friday afternoons
Block a particular afternoon out completely. We find a Wednesday or Friday are ideal. You can use this time however you like! You can use it to catch up on work if you’ve found you’re slightly behind or you can use it to get ahead of the game. You might just want to use that time to work ‘on’ the business rather than ‘in’ it.
If all else fails, it’s a great time to take yourself off for a coffee and cake somewhere and reflect on what an awesome job you’re doing!
And if you think you’re busy…
Barack Obama worked out 45-minutes a day, six days per week while in office. He also read every day.
Anna Wintour wakes up at 5:45 am every day to play an hour of tennis.
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