How I Organize My Day

Hi everyone! Hope everyone is safe and well during this time. I just thought I’d share a little productivity tip that helps me organize my day called “time blocking”. Many of you already do this to some degree, but really taking it to the next level to map out my day or week has been so helpful to me when there’s a lot of projects going on that I wanted to share my “process”. 

Essentially time blocking is devoting a chunk of time to just ONE thing —that could be clearing out your inbox, following up on support tickets, research or writing, the list goes on. 

To take it a little step further, I use “task batching” to lump together similar tasks (i.e., support tickets, checking email, invoicing, coding, writing), rather than constantly checking things throughout the day and losing my focus. 

Not only is it good for bringing some order to the day (since working from home can be a little like Groundhog’s Day!), studies show that we’re much more effective when we’re not constantly switching from one task to another. The benefits go far beyond simply just focusing on one thing. In fact, too much multitasking can be darn right “expensive”, costing us in terms of mistakes from constantly switching between tasks and topics.

Here’s some introductory tips on getting started. I love the one about not focusing so much on “clock time” but get to know what works for you. Some people swear by using their Google calendar, while others simply write theirs out each day, and some like to set up timers to remind them when to move on to the next project.

If you start off simple, I find you figure out as you go how to fine-tune it for your work day. For example, my “blocks” will be different from week to week depending on my priorities, but this way I don’t leave anything behind. 

Let me know if you already do this or have tried it!