How to Realistically Go on a Tech Detox Without Destroying Your Schedule

By John Rampton | Knowledge Base | No Comments

11 hours. That’s how much time the average adult is interacting with media per day. More specifically, another study found that 42 percent of the time Americans are awake, their eyes are fixated on the television, smartphone, computer, tablet, or another device. That comes out to 7,956 days over a typical lifespan. We can’t just turn it all off in this world we live in, but here is how to realistically go on a tech detox without destroying your whole schedule.

We don’t rely on tech to merely to keep us entertained. It’s become essential. After all, tech has drastically improved communication, networking, and work efficiency.

It can assist in employee engagement and discover new opportunities for growth. And, with an unlimited supply, tech is the most powerful tool to learn and gain valuable insights.

Why you need a tech detox.

At the same time, too much of good thing can be bad. And, tech is no exception because of the following reasons.

It’s not good for your mental health. Technology makes us feel anxious and stressed. Another study shows that heavy technology use can lead to sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms — mainly because of FOMO and social comparisons.
Being connected 24/7/365 makes it difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Smartphone notifications and the internet are two of the biggest distractions in the workplace.
Technology can make us lazy and negatively impact our eyesight.
It’s negatively affecting our relationships because we are paying more attention to tech, then the person we’re currently with.

So, what’s the compromise here? I mean tech has become an integral part of our lives. But, it also has its faults. So, the easiest solution may be going on a digital detox.

Don’t get too hung up on the term here. A digital detox is simply a period of time when you unplug and disconnect from your electronic gadgets. And, by doing so, you can counter those negative effects — and rebalance.

Here’s the problem though. Doing a digital detox can also destroy your schedule. Can you just imagine the chaos it would cause if your family, business partners, employees, or customers couldn’t contact you for several days? Additionally, you probably need technology to get your work done and accomplish your goals.

1. Put it on your calendar.

Like anything else that you really want to do, whether it’s getting work done or starting a new hobby — you have to make time for any additions. And, the same is true when disconnecting. You’ll have to make time for the disconnect.

Making time for this effort will be a challenge. So, start small. Let’s say that you’re using a productivity hack like the Pomodoro Technique. During the times you’re not working go on a min-detox. Even ten-minutes would suffice since the world isn’t going to burn down in such a small amount of time. Even better, that time can be spent going for a walk, resting your eyes, or meditating.

I’d also suggest that you designate tech-free times — such as when eating meals or the first hour after getting home from work.

From here, gradually work your way up. Are you going on a weekend getaway? Great. That’s a perfect time to go off the grid for a day or two. You’ll know this time in advance, you can give everyone a head’s up, and you prepare for the shutdown. You could even create an out-of-office message notifying people when you’ll be returning. But you’ll have to get ahead on your work, or this won’t work for you.

2. Block apps at certain times.

Completely turning off your devices, particularly your phone can give some a serious anxiety attack. I’m not being facetious either. The main culprits for this are FOMO and that a lot of people view their phones as an extension to themselves.

Researchers believe that “defined and protected” periods of smartphone separation “may allow consumers to perform better, not just by reducing interruptions but also by increasing available cognitive capacity.” Adding these expected periods in your calendar is a start. But, so would blocking distracting apps at certain times.

There a number of apps that allow your set time limits or screen time on your Android or iOS device. For example, you could shut down your social media apps when focusing on deep work. Other apps let you set a schedule. In this case, you could block work-related apps or sites during family game night or when embarking in your evening routine.

3. Designate tech-free zones.

Examples of a tech-free zone would be an unused office that you or employees could use to mediate or nap-in or lunchroom. At home, a tech-free zone might be your dining room or bedroom.

Besides banning electronics from these areas, which makes it easier to unplug, it shouldn’t interfere with your schedule. The reason? You probably have scheduled times to be in these zones. For instance, if you’re lying in bed until it’s time for sleep or waiting to eat a meal until you’re on a break — you can accomplish another activity in this timeframe.

4. Incorporate boredom into your day.

Sometimes we get glued to our gadgets because we’re bored. For example, you’re waiting in a line to pay for your groceries or for a meeting to start. Instead of just sitting there, you scroll through your phone or tablet.

Like exercising, start building your boredom muscle. Keep your phone in your pocket and let your mind wander. As a result, this will make you more creative, self-aware, goal-oriented, and productive.

5. Get less social.

It’s unlikely that you can permanently quit social media. But, there are ways to reduce the time spent on these channels.

For starters, remove the apps from your phone so that you aren’t getting bombarded with notifications. If this isn’t an option, then at least remove the apps from your home screen so that you aren’t tempted to look at them.

Secondly, you may want to do a little spring cleaning and delete the accounts you aren’t using. Even glancing and using brain power passing over apps or accounts you don’t use, uses up seconds of brainpower. Snapchat may have been cool a couple of years ago when all your friends signed-up. But, now it’s an unused app because they got tired of it. I need this app because of my family, but you may not need it.

Thirdly, automate or delegate recurring tasks related to social media. You could use a tool like Hootsuite or Sprout Social to schedule social posts. Or, you could assign this responsibility to someone else.

Finally, block out specific times to log on. Ideally, this would be before work, after lunch, and after work. It’s a simple way to fight back against FOMO, while also limiting your usage.

6. Keep your inbox in check.

The average person spends five hours a day on email. What’s more, 13% said that they check their inbox while still in bed. And, 25% of Millennials and Gen X admitted that they check their work emails multiple times a day while on vacation.

To keep your inbox in check so that it’s more manageable, block out specific times to go through it. A perfect time would ben when updating your social accounts. You could set up filters, labels, and unsubscribe from newsletters that you never open.

You should also find ways to reduce the number of messages being sent. One way would be to use “EOM” at the end of your subject line. Standing for “end-of-message,” this lets the recipient know that there’s no need to respond.

You could also use a tool like Calendar. Sure. It’s not an email-specific app. But, it’s a scheduling tool that eliminates those back-and-forth communication when planning a meeting.

7. Spend more time in places where electronic devices aren’t permitted.

Yes. There are still some places where digital devices aren’t embraced with welcome arms. For instance, a yoga class or a place of worship. Even locations like coffee shops and libraries can at least limit your usage. Let’s say that you’re productive at a local coffee shop. You may need to be on your laptop. But, taking a phone call or not silencing your notifications will definitely earn you some dirty looks.

8. Schedule a call or one-on-one.

The other day I had a colleague text me a question. As I went to respond, I realized it would be more efficient and less consuming if I just called him. And, that’s exactly what I did. Instead of exchanging texts all day, it took me all of five minutes to answer the question.

9. Be respectful of others’ time.

As I’ve mentioned, technology can be distracting. But, that’s just not when you’re trying to work. It’s also during meetings or talking to others. Think about it. There’s someone speaking and your attention is elsewhere. That’s rude and can bring things to halt since you’re missing key information and have to constantly ask the other party to repeat themselves.

10. Go old school.

Finally, stop relying on technology so much. I know it’s awesome. But, as opposed to jotting down notes on your phone’s notepad, use a pen, paper, or a whiteboard. The reason? It will prevent you from getting sucked into an app.

Another option would be to use an alarm clock and not your phone to wake-up. The same can be said of using your old wristwatch instead of a smartwatch. And, think about printing out your calendar or using a paper calendar so that you can see what your schedule is like without being reliant on tech.

Why Scheduling Software Is Critical for Modern Companies

By Jon Bradshaw | Scheduling | No Comments

Today’s workers have a wide range of priorities competing for their attention. Clever ways of setting your calendar can certainly help. But meetings, deadlines, and minutiae can overwhelm even the most organized among us.

With more firms concerned with employee engagement and work-life balance, initiatives like compressed working weeks, flexible schedules, and remote work make the juggling act all the more complex.

Fortunately, there are tools designed to help. If you’re trying to create a more productive work environment, scheduling software can be the answer. Here’s why modern companies invest in it:

1. Keeping everyone on the same page

Scheduling software cuts down on human error and improves the flow of communication. Switching to a centralized scheduling system lets team members ditch their messy manual methods of trying to keep a handle on where resources are.

With a digital scheduling solution, everyone in your organization can log into a dashboard and, at a glance, see what’s going on. With remote work on the rise, having the ability to sync employees across time zones and geographies is critical — another key benefit that scheduling tools provide.

What’s more, a software system automates reminders. Should a meeting time change, it can notify staff of changes. This lightens team members’ mental load, and it decreases the amount of time wasted by missed meetings or canceled appointments.

2. Driving efficiency

Whatever the size of your team, keeping things running smoothly can be tough. There is almost always room to increase efficiency.

With a mobile-optimized tool, you and your employees can check and create new appointments on the go. Analytics features can tell you which people you’re meeting with most. The “what gets measured, gets managed” adage is as true today as it was when Peter Drucker wrote it.

Team members, not just leaders, need scheduling data to minimize fatigue. Fatigue impacts nearly 40% of U.S. workers and costs employers billions in lost productivity.

3. Enabling prioritization

One of the benefits of using a scheduling system is the ability to define and track priorities. This allows you to focus on those tasks that are more important or have near-term deadlines.

Labeling systems are a simple but effective solution. Labeling lets other team members know what’s important and encourages them to row in the same direction.

A digital prioritization system also minimizes errors. Trying to keep track of things mentally can make you feel like you’re buried beneath a mountain of work with not enough time to get it all done. The more you stress, the further your quality of work is likely to fall.

4. Creating a competitive advantage

Scheduling tools don’t sell products, but they can help you solve a lot of related problems. This includes internal issues as well as customer-facing problems.

Start with the customer experience. Nearly a third of customers say that they would leave a current service provider if a competitor offered online scheduling. This is particularly true of service companies, such as hair salons, therapists, and mechanics.

The employee experience also benefits from scheduling software. Say you need to set up a one-on-one conversation with someone on your team. Scheduling software lays out the options, generates notifications, and lets either party switch with a few clicks.

5. Saving money

Again, a scheduling software can’t stop you from swiping your card, but it can save you money in all sorts of quiet ways.

Labor is many company’s biggest expense category. Scheduling software can help your team spend more time serving customers and less on things like scheduling meetings and sending time-off requests.

Consider, even implementing scheduling software saves a 100-person team half an hour per person per week, that’s 50 extra working hours. That’s more than a free week of labor.

Scheduling software is powerful. Don’t underestimate how its small boosts to productivity add up to a big advantage.

Break These 4 Bad Habits to Boost Your Productivity

By Jon Bradshaw | Time Management | No Comments

It’s hard not to admire Bill Gates. A billionaire, philanthropist, and founder of Microsoft, Gates has achieved more than most people ever will. There are a variety of reasons for his success, but one that often gets overlooked is meticulous time management.

We all have the same number of hours each day. So why do successful people get so much done while others struggle with a basic to-do list?

Bill Gates is an outlier, and it’s unlikely that most of us could take his approach and expect similar results. But for the average person, learning the basics like how to optimize your day or how to break big tasks down into manageable bites can make a big difference.

This is well and good, but perhaps the most important thing is not what you do but what you don’t do.

More than half the battle is avoiding pitfalls. There are tons of things that limit our productivity, but attempting to change seventeen habits at once is overwhelming. Better to take a few at a time:

1. Repetitive checking

It takes the average person 15 minutes of focus before they can fully engage in a task. Once past the 15-minute mark, it’s possible to get into a flow — an energized state with focused attention. Research shows that people in a flow state are five times more productive than they otherwise would be.

Repetitively checking your devices kills flow. When it comes to habitual phone-checking, everyone has their drug of choice. Many get pulled into Facebook’s vortex, some can’t stop refreshing their email inboxes, while others always seem to find themselves back on Twitter.

Smartphones have created conditions where most of us live in a perpetual state of distraction. Worst of all, many of these services and apps are designed to take advantage of our psychological weaknesses and encourage compulsive usage.

Collectively, we need to fight back by identifying triggers (stress, unoccupied moments, etc.) and using lockout mechanisms that help curb repetitive checking. As Tristan Harris, director of the Center for Humane Technology, puts it: “We need to build firewalls around our attention.”

2. Multitasking

Multitasking is a productivity black hole. You may think you’re more productive by doing a bunch of things at once, but you’re fooling yourself.

The human brain might be good at switching between tasks, but in the process, it loses focus, creativity, and productivity. The dangerous thing is that multitasking feels productive when it isn’t. As Latin writer Publilius Syrus once said, “to do two things at once is to do neither.”

Many people claim to be good multitaskers, but the fact is that only 2% of people can do it well. For the remainder of us, the solution is to single-task ruthlessly. When multiple things pull on our attention, we have to prioritize.

3. Putting things off

Procrastination is a human tendency. About 20% of adults have regular bouts of procrastination. Putting things off is generally a big productivity suck.

A common trap people fall into in the office is to avoid difficult or intimidating tasks first thing in the morning. We have a finite amount of mental energy, and as we use up this energy, our decision-making, and productivity decline. This is referred to as “decision fatigue.”

When you put off tough tasks, you save them for when you’re potentially at your worst. Strive to tackle your biggest tasks when your mind is fresh.

This requires motivation, which is fickle. It’s better to cultivate discipline. Be disciplined and take your biggest tasks head-on every morning.

4. Not getting enough sleep

A good night’s sleep is critical to maintaining good health. Without good health, it’s tough to be productive in any meaningful sense. This may seem obvious, but it is worth mentioning because, according to the CDC, one in three adults in the U.S. don’t get enough sleep.

Research has shown that getting five hours or less of sleep several nights in a row affects a person much like alcohol consumption. Being under-rested leads to a partially impaired state where you’ll be more likely to make mistakes, have more headaches, and be more prone to distraction.

Practicing better sleep hygiene may be the surest path to more productive days. This can take many forms, but a good place to start is sticking to schedule.

When planning your day, take into account your circadian rhythms, which might mean sleeping at different times. Creating a sleep ritual, limiting screen time before bed, lowering temperatures in your bedroom, napping during the day if it suits you, and limiting caffeine intake are all also good ideas.

These habits may seem minor, but they add up. Most boil down to a choice between immediate gratification and delayed gratification. With a little intention and discipline, you can live more productive lives and get more of what you want.

7 Habits of Highly Efficient Professionals

By John Rampton | Time Management | No Comments

How to Tell Challenging Customers the Truth

Success can be measured in hundreds of different ways. When asked about achievements, some professionals might look to their salary, their list of publications, or their charity’s social progress. Despite how an individual determines whether or not they are successful in their professional lives, or how that success might compare to someone else’s is a personal calculation. Here are seven habits of highly efficient professionals.

Successful people will agree — at least part of their success is due to their high level of efficiency.

Watching for and building on habits that bring success, most professionals continue to learn and grow in their craft throughout their whole lives. Here are a few of the habits that people put into practice for success. Many of these ideas are mentioned in great detail in books, business school, podcasts, content, and events.

1. Dedicate Yourself.

A key to creative, professional, and personal productivity is vision and being able to envision exactly what you’re working toward. Without vision or purpose, you’re going to spend an awful lot of time paddling about aimlessly in the proverbial river of life. As Jason Fried wrote in his bestseller REWORK, “When you don’t know what you believe, everything becomes an argument. Everything is debatable. But when you stand for something, decisions are obvious.”

The real secret to being effective in life is simple. You need to know precisely what you want and pursue that goal as you see it in your mind.

2. Eliminate Distractions.

Being a workaholic isn’t necessarily a good thing; it all depends on how you’re getting your work done. If you can do something in a minute that might take the next guy five minutes to complete, then it doesn’t matter if you work a four-hour day, just as long as you’re accomplishing your goals. Many find that making a morning routine helps.

Try to find efficiency in your daily routine. Creating efficiency is the same thing as eliminating distractions. Don’t get caught up in e-mail, Facebook, or all the other time-wasters on the internet. Instead, focus on the end task and nothing else.

3. Talk the Talk.

Communication is everything. To be an effective participant in a meeting or team, you’ll need to communicate effectively. Otherwise, your ideas and input might not be considered for what they’re worth, and then what?

Another part of “talking the talk” is being easy to reach. E-mails, phone calls, or text messages should be dealt with as they arise. If you’re working on something at a critical stage, you can eliminate all unnecessary communication.

4. Take Another Look.

If a problem seems unsolvable, taking a few steps back can make a world of difference. Genuinely successful people can create new perspectives for themselves. They learn to see issues, people, or situations from several angles and allow for a more coordinated response.

It’s rare today that a problem is black-and-white. Competent professionals can recognize the many facets and solutions to every question or issue.

5. Be Flexible.

A branch that can’t bend with the wind will break. Flexibility and the ability to adapt to uncertain scenarios makes you a valuable employee. The ability to see the entire problem and make spur-of-the-moment decisions can make a real difference in reaching one’s goals.

Be ready to embrace change as it comes. If you allow yourself to be open to opportunity, then an opportunity will make a habit of presenting itself.

6. Cool Down.

Living a life of high productivity or high stress can leave people a little high-strung or tightly wound. No one can work twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and walk away unscathed. Check yourself if you want the chance to be a highly efficient professional.

You should be able to detach from your work. Calendar time and fill that time with an activity that will allow you to recharge and rehab your body and mind. Take time to exercise. You’ll find that if you allow yourself time to recharge, you’ll do better work whenever you are working. The brightest flames tend to burn the hottest and the quickest, but there’s no sense in burning yourself out.

7. Organize.

Organizing yourself doesn’t necessarily mean having a clear, empty desk and ten pencils sharpened and neatly arranged. Being organized is a state of mind, and it will manifest itself differently for everyone. Some people find productivity only in a clean, open space, while others need every surface of their work area to be covered in quotes and images before they can find inspiration.

The bottom line is that a successful individual knows how, when, and where their best work is done. A successful life is hard to measure. Remember that as the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre wrote, a man or a woman is only a sum of their actions, not a sum of their plans, hopes, or wishes.

If you want to be efficient and successful, you’ll make a plan. Calendar that plan, and follow the steps you’ve laid out for yourself. Most people out there would be millionaires already if wanting that goal was all you had to do. Wanting is the natural part — doing what’s required is a little more difficult.

How to Create and Manage a Team Calendar at Your Startup

By John Rampton | Scheduling, Time Management | No Comments

If you want to keep everything running smoothly at your startup, then you need to live by a team calendar. After all, a shared calendar improves communication and efficiency, balances out assignments, and boosts productivity. Oh yeah, your team calendar is also ideal for startups since they make long and hectic days more organized and manageable. Here’s how to create and manage a team calendar at your startup.

Specifically, team calendars are used for a variety of purposes, such as:

Reminding everyone of deadlines and due dates.
Scheduling meetings, client calls, one-on-ones, and work schedules.
Notifying others when you’re available or busy.
Mapping out projects, such as a content schedule.
Tracking the progress of a project.

That’s just scratching the surface. But, as you can see, a calendar doesn’t just keep your team on the same page. It also creates accountability and keeps them focused on their priorities.

However, the only way that your team will receive these benefits is by adequately creating and managing a team calendar from the get-go. And, here are the best ways to get you started.

1. Find and use a cloud-based calendar app.

The first step is to find a calendar tool for your startup. Of course, this depends on what you actually need in terms of a calendar. But, at the minimum, it should be easy to use, shareable, and fits within your budget.

Here are some of the more popular options you can look into:

Google Calendar. It’s free, straightforward, and can be used for scheduling meetings and reminding your team of important milestones. You can also create your own calendar templates using Docs or Sheets.
Microsoft Outlook. This is a little more complicated, but most people are familiar with it. It’s perfect for generating schedules and agendas. Also, you can design your own template with Excel.
Apple Calendar. A very easy-to-use calendar if you and your team rely on Apple products.

Besides the “big three,” you may want to look into some other options. For example, TeamUp and Teamweek are calendars explicitly built for keeping teams organized. Project management software that helps organizational efforts are Trello and Wrike.

Also, make sure that whatever online calendar you use can be synched with other tools. Calendar, as an example, syncs with your existing Google, Outlook, or Apple calendars so that you can schedules events with your team. Since it uses machine learning, Calendar can also make smart suggestions on scheduling your next meeting.

2. Assign a calendar keeper.

After you’ve chosen your calendar app, make sure that only one person is in charge of it — this can be either you or an assistant. If you have too many people adding and editing entries, then your calendar is going to become one hot mess. With so many people adjusting the calendar, it’s going to become cluttered and full of scheduling conflicts.

Obviously, you want your team calendar to be collaborative and inclusive. But, that doesn’ mean that everyone should have the power to make changes to the calendar. Instead, it should go through the calendar keeper first to keep it clean and organized.

3. Customize your calendar.

Perhaps one of the best things about online calendars is that they can be customized. For instance, you can create as many calendars as you like, like one for tasks related to a project, another for meetings, and another for when employees are on vacation. You can then color-code each calendar so that they’re easily differentiated.

Additionally, you can change how and when reminders are received. For instance, you could turn off desktop notifications to reduce distractions. Also, you can determine when to send reminders out, like 15-minutes before the start of a meeting.

4. Add non-negotiable items.

These may not be precisely the same for you and your team. A non-negotiable item would include items that are essential such as a project due date or an in-house client meeting. These could consist of essential appointments, predetermined meetings, and daily activities that help reach a goal.

Placing these items into your team’s calendar ensures that something less important won’t steal any valuable time from your startup. However, the sooner you insert them, the better. This way, when someone tries to schedule another activity during this timeframe, it’s already blocked out.

5. Determine your team’s peak productivity.

We all have different times when we’re most productive thanks to our natural rhythms. But, researchers have found that a majority of us are most productive before lunch. So, what does that mean for your team as a whole?

You’ll want to schedule your most essential tasks when everyone is alert and focused early in the morning. You would block out this time for everyone to work undistributed, as opposed to having them sit in a meeting. You would then plan for less critical work to be scheduled during productivity slumps. Productivity changes during different times of the year, as well. Calendar your most vital issues early in the year — like January and February. Keep in mind productive months like October and the not-so-much months of summer.

To find out when you and your team are at peak productivity, have everyone track their time to see how it’s being spent. You can then review the data. Or, you can issue polls or surveys to find this information out.

6. Stagger employee schedules.

While this may sound like a lot of work up front, this allows for more flexible scheduling so that you’re never under-or-overstaffed. It also allows you to plan accordingly. For example, if your entire team asks for the same time off during the summer or the holiday season, then you won’t have anyone available to work. However, with a team calendar, people can view when other’s have planned a vacation so that they can select a different time to getaway.

7. Include time buffers and blank spaces.

Unlike the Engineer Bunny, humans can’t keep going and going. We need to take breaks throughout the day to clear our heads and prepare for what we have planned next. To account for this, schedule time buffers and white in your calendar.

For example, don’t plan back-to-back meetings. Leave 30-minutes before each event so that everyone can digest what was just discussed, grab something to eat, and prep for the next meeting. Also, leaving chunks of time free gives your calendar a little more flexibility in case your schedule shifts because of an emergency.

8. Consider synching personal calendars.

Synching doesn’t mean forcing your team to share every detail of their private lives. But, it does let everyone see when they’re free or busy. For instance, if a colleague is traveling to meet a client for lunch, then the rest of your startup will know that this person is unavailable during this timeframe.

Also, it can come in handy when someone plans a vacation. Again, you don’t need to know the specifics. But, at least everyone will know when this person is out of town and when they’ll return.

9. Don’t forget about the holidays and time zones.

As remote teams are becoming increasingly popular, time zones are definitely something that you should be aware of. It may be 3 P.M. for you, which is an excellent time for a meeting, but for some of your team, it could be noon, meaning that they’ll have to skip lunch.

Furthermore, if working with an overseas team, they may have a national holiday where they request off. As such, you don’t want to plan a meeting or due date for that day.

10. Toss out everything you thought you knew about meetings.

Having a meeting for the sake of doing so doesn’t just harm productivity. It can also kill morale. So, before filling the calendar with a ton of meetings, make sure that it’s necessary. If it is, then don’t use the default time suggested by your calendar. Instead, change the time to how much you actually need — most of the time, this is under 30-minutes.

And, speaking of meetings, please don’t schedule any at the last minute. Not only is this disrespectful, but it can also lead to confusion and poor attendance. If you need to go over a topic at this very minute, consider alternatives like email or Slack until you can schedule a meeting.

11. Review your team calendar frequently.

Finally, review your team calendar frequently. After all, projects are completed, schedules change, and new responsibilities pop-up. If you don’t factor in these changes, then your calendar is outdated and obsolete.

As an example, team members who are parents may require more flexible schedules around various points throughout the year. A more flexible schedule may be especially true during the summer and holiday breaks.

Spring Clean Your Schedule: 4 Steps to Greater Productivity

By Jon Bradshaw | Scheduling | No Comments

Modern life is hectic. If you’re not careful, it can become a whirlwind of appointments, notifications, and deadlines. In this state of disorganization, it’s easy to push aside some of your basic needs.

Working some of these basics back into your schedule is a good place to start, but it should be part of a broader picture of resetting your priorities. And there’s no time like the spring to get that done.

Truly prioritizing allows you to tidy up your schedule, reorganize your days, and, ultimately, achieve more in life. It’s not complicated, but it does require a little effort.

Create a master list

We have different priorities. There are daily tasks that need attention, targets to hit for the week, and things that need to get accomplished within a month.

The tricky part is that these competing demands rarely line up, and it’s all too easy to focus on what’s most urgent or right in front of you while ignoring the long-term items. To get a handle on these tasks, you need to get everything down in one place.

Step one is to make a master list — a document, app, or a good old piece of paper where all of your tasks are listed.

This is in keeping with productivity consultant David Allen’s “Get Things Done” methodology, which emphasizes getting your to-dos out of your head in a systematized way that you can refer to later. This frees your mind of any distractions that might stop you from working efficiently. It also creates a foundation for step two.

Separate your “shoulds” from your “musts”

As self-development author Brian Tracey says, “there’s never enough time to do everything, but there’s always enough time to do the most important thing.”

With your master list neatly laid out, you can step back and review it in terms of what you should do as opposed to things you must do. What’s the difference?

Well, shoulds are habits, behaviors, and ideas that come from other people. These pesky shoulds permeate your brain, and they come from social conditioning, the people you follow on Linkedin, the ads you saw last week, etc.

On the other hand, musts are the habits, behaviors, and ideas that originate from a sense of what’s important to you. These things are deeply personal, and they have to get done to achieve big goals and to become the best version of yourself.

The problem is that people often confuse shoulds with musts. Without intentionality, we tend to get overwhelmed by the former and put the latter off. For example, scheduling downtime to do things that make you happy is a must, but the nearly endless stream of shoulds can detract from that.

When you say “yes” to things on your schedule, make sure they aren’t at the expense of the bigger, more important, long-term items. In doing so, you can reprioritize your schedule to revolve around what matters and reduce the amount of time spent on trivial tasks.

Clean up your physical environment

Starting a fresh schedule this spring would be incomplete without cleaning up your physical surroundings. Clutter builds up over time, and taking care of the spaces you inhabit on a daily basis can do wonders for your productivity.

Be sure to clean up your office desk this spring. Get rid of the unnecessary documents and trinkets you’ve collected over the last year. Tidy up your home so you aren’t constantly trying to squeeze chores into your schedule.

Decluttering reduces anxiety and gives you a feeling of self-efficacy that can translate to your daily tasks. Do not neglect your physical environment when you are revamping your schedule.

Build supportive habits & structures

If you’re going to spend the time and energy to clean up your schedule and to refocus on your musts, you need a plan to support these changes.

There are a variety of ways you can approach this. Here are a few:

Develop a proactive morning routine
Tackle the most difficult things first
Control how your availability is displayed
Spend time each evening planning the next day
Practice the art of saying “no”
Keep your workspace clutter-free
Remember the sunk cost fallacy

Doing these things matter because you are only as good as your habit systems. In his book “Atomic Habits,” James Clear puts it this way: “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.”

Everyone thinks they know what’s important to them, but many still get swamped by the minutiae of life. The response is simple: Stop and list it all out. Prioritize ruthlessly, declutter, and then build habits to support your desired schedule.

Time Management Skills Successful Business Owners Must-Have

By John Rampton | Business Tips, Time Management | No Comments

Time. It’s something that we all take for granted. But, as a business owner, it’s your greatest resource. Without enough time, you’re less likely to achieve your goals. You won’t be able to focus on what’s really important. Less time — adds stress to your already hectic life. And, you can kiss a healthy work-life balance goodbye without it. Here are the time management skills a successful business owner must have.

For the business owner — here are the essential time management skills that you will want to possess.

Work the hours that suit you.

Here’s one of the best things about being your own boss. You can work whenever you want. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can slack off or just come and go as you please. What this means is that you aren’t forced to work that 9-to-5 schedule if it doesn’t fit you well.

For example, let’s say that you’re a parent. Your working hours could be when your children are in school, let’s say around 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. When they’re doing their homework, you could then use that time for administrative tasks or reviewing your calendar for tomorrow.

Another option would be to work around your energy levels. If you’re a morning person, then knock out your most essential tasks bright and early when you have the most energy. Night owls, on the other hand, are more productive in the late morning or afternoon.

What’s more, well have our own ultradian rhythms — which are the body’s rest-activity cycle. But, for most of us, that means that we can only focus for 90 to 120 minutes before we need to take a break.

Keep a time log.

Want to get more done? Then keep a time log so that you can see how you’re spending your time. Additionally, time logging will let you know what your biggest time-wasters are. It will keep you from over-or-underestimating how long certain things take down the road. And, tracking your time encourages you to stop multitasking and hold yourself accountable.

There are actually a couple of ways that you can conduct a time audit. The first would be to track everything that you do throughout the day, such as your morning commute or the time spent on a specific task.

The other way would be to set a timer for every 15 minutes. When the time is up, write down what you did during that block of time.

You could also use time tracking apps and tools like Toggl, RescueTime, or Timely to keep tabs on your digital usage.

Focus on what you do best.

“As much as you need a strong personality to build a business from scratch, you also must understand the art of delegation,” Richard Branson once said. “I have to be good at helping people run the individual businesses, and I have to be willing to step back,” he added. “The company must be set up so it can continue without me.”

When you stop trying to do everything on your own, you’ll not only free up your valuable time. You’ll also make more money. That’s because you have the right people working on the right tasks.

For instance, even if you’re familiar with the basics of accounting or coding, you’re going to spend more time on these tasks, then an expert would. And, you’re more likely to make a costly mistake.

Implement the Two-Minute Rule.

In the famous words of David Allen, “If it takes less than two minutes, then do it now.” Sounds simple, but think of all of those small things that add up. Instead of taking a minute to respond to an email, you wait until the end of the day when your inbox is overflowing. That dish you didn’t wash after lunch? It becomes a dish full of dirty plates.

Furthermore, this rule helps you form new habits. And, most importantly, it can help overcome procrastination. As an example, instead of declaring that you want to read more, start with a small goal like read one page daily.

“The idea is to make your habits as easy as possible to start,” says James Clear. “Anyone can meditate for one minute, read one page, or put one item of clothing away. And, as we have just discussed, this is a powerful strategy because once you’ve started doing the right thing, it is much easier to continue doing it.”

Break your activities down into simple problems.

“Utilizing your consciousness requires more energy and can be avoided by simplifying your problems,” writes Mario Peshev for Entrepreneur. “Excellence in time management revolves around establishing a process and breaking it down into small, atomic operations that are easy to grasp and don’t require intensive resource consumption.” Cutting down your resource consumption is what makes business owners successful. They’re able to take a “complex task and decompose it into pieces, thus making the remaining process easier to comprehend and follow,” adds Peshev. “The simple operations are simple, and executing them doesn’t require dozens of follow-up questions preventing you from checking tasks off your list.”

As a business owner, you have a lot of responsibilities. To make sure that you achieve them, you need to have a system in place. For me, that’s writing down my to-do-list and adding the most important items to my calendar. It’s a simple and effective tactic to make sure that I don’t forget to do anything. And, it allows me to block out time for these actions, so I don’t schedule something else.

Here’s the problem, though. With so many things to do and so little amount of time to get to them — which tasks do I start with? Well, that depends on your specific priorities. These are usually the activities that move you closer to your goals or have a date attached to them. So, your top priorities should always be scheduled first and come before everything else.

Unfortunately, a lot of us get sidetracked by things that are less important — even though they seem deserving of your time and energy. Eventually, your time management and productivity suffer — which is never good for business.

To avoid this, don’t fall into the urgency trap. Identify which items you must do, defer, delegate, and drop. Stick to listing no more than crucial tasks for the day. And focus on your priorities when you have the most energy.

Schedule “me” time.

Scheduling “me time” isn’t a waste of time. Me-time may turn out to be your secret weapon against stress and lack of focus. The more you add to your schedule, the busier you’ll get. Over time you’ll be burning your candle at both ends. As a result, you’ll become burned more. Or, even worse, you’ll be putting your mental and physical health in peril.

Always schedule free time in your day. It doesn’t have to be much. But, if you have an hour of blocked time throughout the day where nothing is listed on your schedule — it can do wonders for you mentally and physically. After all, free time makes us happy, encourages self-care, adds flexibility in our calendars, and recharges our batteries.

Cluster similar tasks.

Switching between tasks all day isn’t practical. It’s chaotic and encourages us to multitask. Think about it. You respond to an email, then rush out the door to speak with a supplier, and then come back to file paperwork. And, in between all that, you have to attend to any problems that your customers or employees are experiencing.

As opposed to jumping all over the place, organize your day by blocking similar tasks together. For example, block out a specific time to clean out your inbox and return call, another to file paperwork, and one more for problem-solving. Depending on your business, you may also need to box out time for meetings, checking your inventory, or testing your products.

Identify and eliminate distractions.

Distractions are the leading cause of poor time management. But, how can you remove them when they’re constantly screaming for your attention?

One way would be to keep a distraction log. It can be as simple as a piece of paper or Word Doc, where you jot down what interrupted you from work and when. For instance, if an employee takes a break at about 10:30 a.m., they may stop by your office to chat with you. The problem is that this is when you don’t want to be disturbed. To correct this, either take a break around the same time or close your office door.

You can also eliminate distractions by putting your phone on ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode, installing tools that block distracting websites, or scheduling check-ins or phone calls instead of taking them when you have something else planned.

Arm yourself with the right tools.

Finally, surround yourself with the right tools. An online calendar is an obvious choice. But, you may also want to use a tool like Calendar to automate all of your scheduling needs. Evernote and Todoist care useful for managing your tasks. While Hootsuite, Pardot, and Xero can put your social media, email marketing, and accounting in autopilot.

By using these tools to automate your most tedious and redundant tasks, you’ll have the availability to focus on your priorities.

100 Calendar Tips Only Productive People Use

By John Rampton | Time Management | No Comments

4 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Sales Schedule

Everyone wants to live a more productive existence as it provides for a more enjoyable, fulfilled life. However, most people don’t realize that one of the most effective ways of achieving these ambitions is through their calendar. It’s not the sexiest task. But, properly managing your calendar ensures that you have complete control of your valuable time.

So, without further ado, here are 100 calendar tips that the most productive people live by.

1. Know your goals.

What do goals have to do with your calendar? Well, anything that you put into your calendar should be related to the goals you’ve — both short and long-term. It’s the best way to ensure that you’re spending your time on productive and meaningful activities and events.

2. Find a calendar that works for you.

Don’t settle for the default calendar on your phone. Matter of fact, if you think it’s more of a nuisance, don’t use an online calendar at all. Stick with a traditional paper calendar.

Regardless if you go paper, digital, or use a combination of both, the only way you’ll get the most out of a calendar is to find one that fits your needs and style.

For example, Google Calendar and Office 365 Calendar are excellent choices for your professional life. Cozi is used to manage a family’s schedule. And, Teamwork is a shared calendar designed for keeping teams on track towards a common goal.

3. Know your calendar like the back of your hand.

After you’ve found your preferred calendar, spend the time getting to know what it can do, as well as its limitations. The action you take might be to learn keyboard shortcuts to the latest hacks.

4. Don’t rely just on your calendar.

Most online calendars are already powerful tools. But, you can make your calendar a more effective and efficient tool by pairing it with other available tools. Calendar can take care of all your scheduling needs, while project management tools like Basecamp keep your team on the same page while collaborating.

5. Create an annual plan.

Developing an annual plan will make managing your calendar and time much more straightforward. I know it takes a time commitment upfront. But you’ll be grateful when you aren’t facing scheduling conflicts as the year goes on.

To get started, create a template that includes crucial items like meetings, birthdays, holidays, travel, vacations, and industry events.

6. Design your ideal week.

Michael Hyatt writes that “The idea is similar to a financial budget. The only difference is that you plan how you will spend your time rather than your money. And like a financial budget, you spend it on paper first.”

For Hyatt, his ideal week is one where “I would live if I could control 100% of what happens.” He divides his schedule into a simple grid and assigns a theme to each day that’s “segmented according to a specific focus area.”

7. Start your week on Sunday.

I’m not suggesting that you go into work on a Sunday. Instead, Sundays should be used to plan for the upcoming week. Review your calendar so that you can prepare. Pick-out your clothes for the week. Prepare all of your meals and run any errands. Getting tasks done and over with will essentially put the upcoming week on autopilot.

8. Establish a daily routine.

Speaking of automating your time, develop a morning and evening routine so that you know how you’re spending your time before and after work. Routines and habits also set you up for success since they give you a chance to set goals, review your calendar so that you aren’t surprised by any last-minute changes, prevent you from rushing around, and ensures that you have time to rest and do what you enjoy.

9. One calendar to rule them all.

You don’t want to feel your calendar with too much clutter. Do you need to put in your calendar habits like brushing your teeth or eating breakfast? But, your primary calendar should include all of your important tasks and appointments for both your personal and professional lives. It makes organizing your life much more comfortable and prevents any possible conflicts from arising.

10. You gotta keep them separated (optional).

If you do decide to use multiple calendars for various parts of your life, make sure that you keep them separate to prevent any confusion. Another reason why you would want to use more than one calendar is that it will avert your calendar from getting too packed and messy.

11. Import and sync your other calendar(s).

Whether you’re using a master calendar or several different ones, make sure that they’re imported and synched across the board. It’s the best way to avoid any scheduling conflicts since you can access and edit your calendar wherever and whenever you want.

You should also connect your calendar to tools like Slack and voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Home to create a seamless calendar experience.

12. Find the greatest view.

You have the option to change the view of your online calendar. Personally, I like only looking at the current workweek. I’ve found that I’m in the month view, I get distracted on what I have to the rest of the month instead of focusing on right now.

Experiment with various views, like daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or whatever you think will be the most productive calendar view for you.

13. Your calendar should be like a rainbow.

By this, I mean color-coding your calendar so that you can quickly identify entries without having to open your calendar(s). You can color-code your calendar however you like. But, I try to align entries with color psychology. For example, red for work-related tasks, blue for meetings, and green for social obligations.

14. Each day should have a theme.

Most of us spend a lot of time bouncing between different tasks throughout the day. It may not seem like a time killer. But, think of the time spent getting prepared for each new job — like getting mentally ready or gathering the right tools and resources. It’s more efficient to assign themes to each day to cut back on time wasted switching between tasks.

For example, you could schedule all of your meetings on Thursdays. But, Tuesdays are reserved for learning or deep work.

15. Schedule time for planning.

Your calendar isn’t going to fill itself out. As such, you need to set aside a specific time to map out the best use of your time and then add that information to your calendar.

16. Time blocking > lists.

The most productive people don’t rely on lists. Instead, they construct time blocks into their calendars — some people call this timeboxing. These are simply specific chunks of time used for particular tasks. During this block, this is the only thing that you pay attention to.

For instance, you would block out two hours from 9 am to 11 am for your most important work. But, from 11 am to noon would be dedicated to cleaning out your inbox and updating your social media channels.

17. Break your day down into 5-minute chunks.

If you want to go to the extreme, you could break your day into 5-minute chunks. It’s a technique that Bill Gates and Elon Musk have used to plan out every moment. You could take even further and plan your days down to the second like Gary Vaynerchuk.

18. Create a zero-based calendar.

A zero-based calendar may be too restrictive for some. But, it’s one of the best ways to give your schedule structure and protect your time.

To get started, book everything that you need to get done in the day. Next, set aside the right amount of time to get these items done. After doing this, you’ll see that there isn’t any time in the day to waste on unproductive activities. However, don’t forget to include breaks.

19. Launch reminders.

Every online calendar lets you set reminders. Not only do they help you remember important tasks or dates, but they can also keep you focused and on-track. The key is to use reminders strategically.

Let’s say you have a meeting. You could set one reminder 24 hours in advance, which gives you plenty of time to prepare. You could also set one for 30-minutes before the meeting starts to guarantee that you’ll be there on time.

20. Set a creativity schedule.

If you view most people’s schedules, you’ll notice a common theme; they’re full of “maker’s” items like returning phone calls, meetings, or deep work. But, we also need to have creative time like writing or brainstorming. We need this time to let our brain’s wander, focus, and get into a flow state.

Ideally, creative time should be scheduled during productive lulls when your brains need to take a couple of minutes to rest and recharge.

21. Perfect the art of batching.

Batching is pretty straightforward. Just lump all of your similar tasks together and do them at the same time. It’s another way to stop wasting time caused by going back-and-forth between various activities.

22. Add other time zones.

If you’re collaborating with others or traveling, then definitely add these different time zones to your calendar. Doing so will prevent any confusion when scheduling events with others. It will also avoid any conflicts when you get off the plane and review your calendar.

23. Assess your calendar every morning.

Make checking your calendar a morning habit. The reason? It lets you know what your day will look like and enables you to catch on gaps in your schedule.

24. Review your calendar frequently.

On top of checking your calendar every morning, also schedule a time to analyze your calendar. For example, at the end of the work, did you properly use the time blocks in your schedule? If so, then you know how to plan the next week. If not, then you’ll have to make adjustments.

25. Find time in your schedule.

No. You can’t ask a genie for more time. You can, however, conduct a time audit to see how you’re actually spending your time. Armed with the correct details, you can stop over-or-underestimating how long it takes to complete tasks. You’ll find gaps of time that can be used more productively.

For instance, your 30-minute commute could be when you check your inbox and social feeds instead of waiting until you get to work.

26. Print out your calendar.

Printing out your calendar may sound like an antiquated technique. But, many individuals take this action. If printing out your calendar gives you security and helps you — do it. You’ll then have a visual reminder of what’s going on without having to open up an app or your online calendar. Besides, you can also cross off or put a checkmark on what you’ve accomplished. A great big-fat-checkmark helps many people giving them the motivation to keep pushing forward.

27. Practice the 80/20 rule.

Also known as the Pareto Principle, this concept originated with the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. The idea, as related to your calendar, is that 80 percent of your results should come from 20 percent of your actions.

For example, if your to-do-list has 10 items on it, then you would focus on the first two items because they’re the most important. Knowing this, you would then schedule your day around these tasks. Over time, you may even be able to remove unimportant tasks from your calendar.

28. Frogs: the breakfast of champions.

You’re not literally going to eat frogs for breakfast. Instead, your frog is the most significant and most challenging task of the day. And, it’s also the job that you’re most likely to procrastinate on. You’ll want to place your most-likely-not-to-succeed-job into your calendar as one of the first things that you do for the day.

You have the most energy and focus a couple hours after waking. Once you accomplish this task, it gives you momentum and motivation to run through the rest of the items in your calendar.

29. The Pomodoro Technique.

When adding tasks to your calendar, keep this technique in mind. It’s where you work for around 25-minutes and then take a break for approximately five-minutes. When you reach 4 Pomodoro sessions, take a more extended break between 15-30-minutes. You can use an old school kitchen timer, your phone, or a calendar reminder.

30. Know your MIT.

You, MIT is simply your most important task. If you’re struggling with this, then answer this question from Gary Keller and Jay Papasan’s book The ONE Thing: “What’s the ONE Thing you can do this week such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?”

Limit yourself to no more than three tasks that absolutely need to get done and then schedule them first.

31. Implement 90-minute focus sessions.

Similar to the Pomodoro Technique, this is where you work for 90-minutes and then take a 20-30 minute break. This strategy is effective because it takes advantage of the peaks and troughs we experience throughout the day.

32. Practice the 52-17 rule.

Another spin on the Pomodoro Technique. Here you would work on something for 52-minutes and then rest for 17-minutes. Studies have found that this is how the most productive people plan their days since it helps them stay fresh during the workday.

33. Try the Polyphasic sleep method.

Warning: this method isn’t for everyone — especially if you have a family. But, some people swear by it. In a nutshell, this where you sleep in smaller blocks of time. Like sleep four-hours in the morning and another four hours in the late evening.

“The biggest benefit is that I have about two months of extra time each year. Time is the most valuable resource in our lives,” Eugene Dubovoy, a professional project manager, told Business Insider.

34. Take the cross calendar approach.

Based on the popular productivity hack known as the “Seinfeld Strategy,” this is where you get a large wall calendar and mark off the days that you worked towards a goal in a red marker. Eventually, you’ll have built a chain. And, that makes you feel so aware that you’ll keep the habit going.

35. Three. It’s the magic number.

Chris Bailey, the author of The Productivity Project, developed this rule where you think in three-time frames:

What three things do you want to accomplish today?
Which three milestones do you want to complete this week?
What three goals do you hope to achieve this year?

If you want to give this method a little something extra, you can color-code these items so that you could quickly view your calendar — blue is daily, green is weekly, and yellow is yearly.

36. Bucket your priorities.

Remember when you did that time audit? You can bucket all of your activities into the following three categories: “very important,” “less important,” and “worthless.”

Those that are “very important” should be placed onto your calendar, while “less important” could be scheduled when you have the availability or delegate to someone else. As for any job that’s deemed “worthless,” you’ll want to remove those from your to-do list, and schedule.

37. Plan ahead by energy.

A lot of experts suggest that if you want to be productive, you should wake up early. The thing is, not everyone is a morning person. We all have our own energy peaks that are determined by our own ultradian rhythms.

The better option is to create a schedule around when you’re most energetic and focused, and when you need to rest. So, you would work on your priorities when you’re at your peak and take a break or do less essential activities during your lulls.

38. Block out time for white space.

White space is simply blocks of time in your calendar that doesn’t contain anything. You can use this time to process everything that’s happened today, meditate, stretch, or prepare for a meeting. It can also be used to address any last-minute and unexpected responsibilities that pop-up.

39. Plan for distractions and interruptions.

Despite all of your planning, distractions and interruptions will occur. That white space you left in your calendar is one to handle this. Let’s say a co-worker talked your ear for 2-minutes — which ate into the block of time set aside for email. You can get to that task during that free block of time.

I would also try to identify and track these disturbances so that you can plan accordingly. For example, you could turn off your smartphone notifications when involved with deep work. Or, if a colleague chats with you every day during their break at 11 AM, you could also take your break at the same time.

40. Capture new information in real-time.

Whenever a task or event has to be added to your calendar, don’t wait to add it. Put it in your calendar now — as soon as you can so that you won’t forget. It also avoids any scheduling conflicts from happening since it decreases the odds of double-booking.

41. Avoid decisions.

We have a limited mental energy supply. You’ll want to reserve that for your most important tasks. One way to do this would be to automate any tedious and repeating events. For example, if there’s a weekly meeting, make that a recurring event in your calendar. Another way to avoid decision-overload is to use your Sundays to cook your meals for the week. Decide what to wear for the week, and hang those clothes at the front of your closet. There will be no wasted decision making gabbing the next thing to wear in the closet. (another hint, spend a night in front of the TV pressing the weeks’ clothing.)

42. Say “yes” to less.

There’s no need to stuff with your calendar with too many social obligations or activities that aren’t helping you reach your goals. In other words, start saying “no” more often.

43. Only add new calendar entries if they serve a purpose.

You just got an invite to a meeting. But, it doesn’t have an agenda. Even worse, it’s going to take an hour. An hour meeting is a massive time-suck-waste of time.

As a general rule of thumb, do not put anything into your calendar if it doesn’t serve a purpose. It’s one of the best ways to protect your time and keep your house clean, nice and neat.

44. Know what to add and what to leave off.

I would say that this is one of the essential takeaways from this list. But, it’s not always the most straightforward task to know what should and shouldn’t go in your calendar.

To assist you, anything like date-specific appointments, breaks, networking, and essential tasks should go onto your calendar. The same is true with learning opportunities and monthly themes that align with your larger goals or projects.

You should leave off standing appointments, unnecessary meetings, and other people’s priorities. Other items to not include would be mundane tasks and excessive notes, like the entire biography of a client you’re meeting with.

45. Audit your past calendars.

Reviewing your past calendars can let you know how you spent your time so that you know what you can ax and what events can be repeated.

46. Built-in flexibility.

You want to schedule as much as you can, but there also needs to be a little flexibility in your calendar. Leaving blank spaces can help you with this. But, sometimes it’s alright to be spontaneous.

Let’s say after work you run into a friend. It’s not the end of the world if you grab a drink with them — as long as you don’t have a more pressing matter to get to. Having rough makes us happier.

47. Simplify your problems.

Instead of getting overwhelmed by the entirety of an entire project or goal, break it down into smaller, more manageable tasks. For example, if you were writing an eBook, your calendar would have blocks of time to composing a certain number of pages each day.

48. Create recurring events.

I already mentioned this. But, it deserves mentioning again. If there is anything that repeats, either daily, weekly, or monthly, then create the event and then repeat it. Goog Calendar, for example, gives you these options whenever creating new events.

49. Take into account transitions.

It’s rare to jump immediately from one activity to another. For example, you don’t wake up at 6:30 AM and expect to be at work by 7. You have to eat breakfast, brush your teeth, get dressed, and commute. That’s going to take more than 30-minutes to do.

Whenever you put an item in your calendar, make sure that you take into account these transactional activities so that you’ll be more realistic with your time. They also prevent you from running late since you setting aside travel time.

50. Build-in time buffers.

Similar to the point above, time buffers should also be built into your calendar. If a meeting is scheduled from one pm to two pm, then don’t schedule your next event for two pm on the dot. You need time to do any follow-up work, catch your breath, grab a snack, use the bathroom, and prepare for the next meeting.

In other words, time buffers let you stop, think, and prepare for your next task.

51. One event-free day a week.

Don’t schedule meetings every day. There should at least be one day per week that’s meeting-free. You can use this day for anything that requires hyper-focus and high-level thinking. Examples include analysis, strategic thinking, coding, and writing.

52. Make the most of the extra fields.

When you schedule a new event in your calendar, you’ll notice that there’s an option to include additional information. For instance, if you added a meeting to your calendar, you could include additional information like the client’s name, contact information, and the location of the appointment.

53. Schedule client days.

If you have clients, then definitely block out a day a week to meet with them. It ensures that nothing else will distract you. As a result, you can solely focus on the client. Another benefit is that scheduling “client-only” days prevents switching between work and meetings throughout the day. When all meetings take place on the day, there are fewer decision-making-mental-taxing-blocks. You will spend less time on travel and less wasted time all around.

54. Help clients prepare.

When you do meet with your clients or anyone for that matter, you can make the event run smoother and faster if they know what to expect in advance. The easiest way to do this is to send them an agenda. If they need to fill out some paperwork, then send it to them ahead of time so that you’re not wasting time doing this during the meeting.

55. Don’t stick to default time.

I’m sure that you’ve noticed that your calendar uses the one hour default time when creating new entries. If you don’t need that full hour, then change the time for the appropriate amount. If only takes 30-minutes for a meeting, then that’s the time you block out in your calendar.

56. Follow up.

If you’ve just met with someone, immediately follow-up with them. Since you’ve already built in a buffer, you have the time directly following the event. These plans may seem trivial. But, it prevents other activities from getting ahead of this important but overlooked task.

57. Only meet for as long as you have to.

Every meeting doesn’t have to be 60-minutes. Sometimes a 10-minute conference call will suffice. Other times a 45-minute team meeting is more than enough time to go over the agenda. Before adding a meeting to your calendar, know how much time you need to meet and block out that amount of time.

58. Allow people to schedule on your calendar.

These days it’s not uncommon for people to hire a virtual assistant to manage their calendar. Becoming even more prevalent is embracing an AI-assisted scheduling calendar. You can also let family members, friends, business associates, and clients schedule onto your calendar.

59. Always start on time.

Starting on time doesn’t just keep your schedule on track, it’s also respectful of others time. You wouldn’t want someone to waste your valuable time.

60. Eliminate back-to-back meetings.

It’s normal for back-to-back meetings to occur. However, butting one meeting up to another is disastrous as it can lead to tardiness. Don’t stack in so many items on your Calendar that you start being late. Arriving late to any event or meeting is rarely acceptable.

61. Don’t schedule last-minute meetings.

Again, this is being respectful of other people’s time. But, it also protects your schedule since you’re aren’t letting these last-minute meetings get ahead of already scheduled priorities.

62. Set odd times.

When scheduling meetings, consider starting them at odd times, such as 2:32 PM.

The reason? People are more likely to show up on time because it’s so specific there isn’t any wiggle room.

63. Keep your calendar centrally located.

Thanks to the cloud, this shouldn’t be a problem since it allows you to access your calendar whenever and wherever you like. If you still want paper calendars, keep it somewhere that’s within your sight.

64. Use a cross-platform calendar.

Piggybacking from the previous point, you want a calendar that works across multiple devices. For example, Google Calendar works across all platforms, while Apple Calendar is limited to Apple devices. As such, if I sent you my Apple Calendar and you have an Android device, you can access it.

Using a cross-platform calendar makes managing your calendar more convenient. And, it also lets you easily share your calendar with others.

65. Share the right calendar with the right people.

You don’t have to share your calendar with everyone. It’s probably for the best that you didn’t. After all, your co-worker doesn’t need to know what your itinerary for your upcoming vacation looks like.

Before sharing your calendar with others, make sure that you’re sharing the right one with the right people.

66. Enable cloud storage.

Your calendar not synching? A quick fix would be to enable cloud storage so that it has enough space to be saved and synched.

67. Keep your calendar updated.

Sounds obvious. But, this is something that can easily slip our minds. Schedule a time, let’s say once a week, where you update your calendar so that it reflects any changes. It’s a simple way to avoid confusion and scheduling conflicts.

68. Hide early morning/late night hours.

There’s no reason for you or others to view the hours when you’re sleeping. It’s not like you’re going to schedule a meeting while you’re fast asleep. Hide these wasted to keep your calendar view lean.

69. Stay on top of the holidays.

You might not have a problem working on holidays. But, adding them to your calendar reminds you that not everyone will be available on those days. You may want to include the holidays of others on your team if you work with people from overseas and you’re not familiar with their holidays.

70. Add relevant attachments and locations.

Most online calendars permit you to add attachments, like an agenda, and even a map of meeting locations. Take advantage of this feature to make event planning go off without a hitch.

71. Enable off-line.

If you’re using an online calendar, you’ll want to do this whenever you don’t have access to the internet. The reason? You can still access your calendar. And, any changes that are made will automatically sync when you’re back online.

72. Make your calendar public.

If you’re in the service industry, this is a no-brainer. Anyone can see your availability and then make an appointment with you without going through the back-and-forth.

73. Embed your calendar.

Whether you’re in the service industry or not, every online calendar comes with a unique code that allows you to place your calendar on a website. Again, it’s a great way to avoid those lengthy communications when scheduling.

74. Import information from other apps.

Importing data from your CRM, project management software, or social platforms to your calendar helps you keep all key dates and information in one location.

75. Consolidate.

At the same time, don’t rely on too many tools. When it comes to your schedule, use one calendar tool, and keep it readily available.

76. If you want to do it, schedule it.

At some point, we’ve all said, “If only had the time to exercise, read more, or start a new hobby.” Here’s the thing. You do have the time. You just haven’t added it to your schedule.

In my experience, if you really want to do something, you’ll add it to your calendar. It’s like making a contract with yourself to follow through.

77. Create a boilerplate daily schedule.

Most of us approach our calendars as a blank slate that needs to be filled. Another approach would be to create a boilerplate daily schedule where you begin each week with a full calendar containing your most important activities. Whatever empty slots you have can be used for email, Slack, social media, exercise, or whatever else may pop-up.

78. Protect admin and personal days.

Fridays are when I catch-up on all of my administrative work, such as emails, filing, and scheduling appointments. I also block out one day per week to attend to any personal events like running errands or doctors appointments.

79. Make notable calendar entries stand out.

On top of color-coding, you can also make your most essential calendar entries stand out by using bold or different types of font.

80. Create your own calendar templates.

As a whole, most calendars are fine just the way they are. But, what if you need something more specific like a content calendar or employee schedule? You can create your own calendar template to meet your exact needs.

81. Automate your calendar.

Manually inputting information into your calendar can be a huge drain of time. One way to reduce the time spent on this chore is to take advantage of the recurring events feature found in most online calendars. Now when you add a task or function that repeats, it will be automatically placed on your calendar.

Another option would be using automation tools like Zapier or IFTTT. Other tools you could try would be Calendar that uses machine learning to make smart suggestions on how and when you schedule meetings.

82. Don’t set deadlines on Mondays.

For some individuals, Mondays aren’t the most productive day of the week. It’ usually reserved for easing our way back into work after enjoying the weekend. With that in mind, it makes sense to not set any deadlines on this day.

83. Schedule time for email.

Email is one of the most time-consuming tasks we have on our plates. Even worse, it hardly helps us progress towards our goals. We still make email a priority.

Instead of spending our most productive hours on email, add it to your calendar during lulls — like right after lunch. Also, set a time limit on how much you spend going through your inbox so that you aren’t spending any more time on this activity then you have to.

84. Book your calendar well in advance.

The sooner you fill your calendar, the more time you have to plan and prepare. Another perk is that this reduces the amount of time you spend making decisions. And, it prevents any potential scheduling conflicts.

85. Give each calendar a unique name.

Having an “Events” calendar isn’t a problem. But, do you know what exactly is within that calendar? Are they work-related appointments or social functions? If both are included, your calendar may be bursting at the seams.

Instead, be more specific when naming your calendars. For instance, you could create calendars titled “Work Appointments” and “Social Events.” Now you can quickly locate the right calendar when you need it.

86. Display and hide specific calendars.

With online calendars, you can almost create as many calendars as you like. But, that can get distracting and overwhelming when viewing them all at once.

Thankfully, most online calendars let you decide which calendars you want to show or hide. It’s a simple way to keep your high priority calendars, like your work schedule front and center.

87. End on time.

Setting a designated end time to your calendar day is a great way to strike a healthy balance between work and life. It also motivates you to stay on track. For example, if a meeting is scheduled to conclude at 3 PM, then you know that there isn’t time for side conversations if you want to stay within the allotted time for the event.

88. Delegate your calendar to someone else.

Managing your calendar can be a lot of work. If you have the resources, have an assistant take over your calendar. You’ll still want to review it daily. But, they’ll be the person adding new entries and updating it so that you can devote your energy elsewhere.

89. Take the middle of the day off.

For most of us, we hit a wall in the afternoon. Instead of pouring another cup of coffee or trying to power through it, take the middle of the day. I wouldn’t recommend goofing off. Consider taking a cat nap or hit the gym so that you’re recharged for the remainder for the day.

90. Create an out-of-office message.

Some online calendar, like Google Calendar, allow you to create out-of-office messages. Now if someone tries to book your time during that block, they won’t be able to.

91. Learn keyboard shortcuts.

No matter what calendar you use, they all have their own keyboard shortcuts. Learn these shortcuts so that you can quickly add and edit entries.

92. Your voice is a powerful tool.

On top of keyboard shortcuts, you can quickly add new calendar entries using voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant. As with shortcuts, master calendar voice commands so that you can reduce the time spent typing.

93. Keep your days and weeks consistent.

You don’t want to put yourself in a rut — that’s why themed days are useful in shaking things up a bit. But, when having a consistent schedule, you’re able to get into a focused and productive rhythm.

94. Address conflicts ASAP.

If you ever notice a conflict in your calendar, don’t put it off until tomorrow. Address it ASAP. For example, if you have to make a dentist appointment and the only time available is when you have a meeting booked, reschedule the meeting in advance instead of waiting until the last minute.

95. Think in “half-time.”

Have you ever heard of something called “half-time.” If not, this is essentially where you kill two birds with one stone. Cooking is a great example. Instead of doing this daily, make twice the amount you usually do, and then freeze the rest. Now you don’t have to spend the time cooking and cleaning every night.

96. Set time limits.

Consider this like playing a game where you’re competing against yourself. In your calendar, set a time limit on all of your tasks and see if you can complete them before time runs out.

97. Keep your calendar clutter-free.

The easiest way to lose control of your calendar and time is to let it become full of clutter. You can prevent this from happening by getting rid of a few lists you no longer need.

Meetings without a purpose or agenda.
Standing meetings.
Minute tasks.
Activities that are automatic.
Recurring events that no longer fit into your schedule.

98. Schedule time for self-care.

Getting quality sleep, exercising, and eating healthy are .obvious ways to keep you in tip-top shape. But, self-care also reduces stress and gives you the energy, focus, and stamina to squeeze the most out of each day.

At the same time, most of us rarely schedule a time for self-care. If you haven’t done so yet, schedule time in your calendar to attend to your mental and physical health. Your mental and physical health care may become your greatest growth-hacking-productivity-tip in the long run.

99. Have a calendar cancellation policy.

You’ve had a meeting or appointment in your calendar for weeks. Then, on the morning over the event, it’s canceled. That doesn’t throw a monkey wrench into your schedule, it also eats into your income.

A cancellation policy won’t always solve this problem. But, it will help reduce the number of last-minute cancellations and late arrivals.

100. Pick the best brains.

Finally, keep learning how productive people use their calendars by keeping tabs on experts like David Allen and Tim Ferriss. Their advice can help you discover ways to make your life more productive and fulfilling.

Multitasking Kills Productivity: 5 Ways to Fight Back

By Jon Bradshaw | Time Management | No Comments

Wake Up, Listen Up: 7 Podcasts to Kickstart Your Day

Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, there are always temptations to do more.

While you’re trying to finish a proposal, your phone buzzes with text messages. Your kids can’t seem to stay focused on homework while you’re trying to finish dinner.

Try to get it all done at once, and you’ll struggle to accomplish much of anything. The reason? Your brain wasn’t built to multitask: Just 2.5% of people can multitask effectively.

Where does that leave the remaining 97.5% of us? In need of new ways to optimize our productivity.

Multitasking alternatives

Instead of stretching yourself thin on multiple tasks, try training your focus on just one at a time. Here’s how to do it:

1. Get ahead of distractions.

There are so many distractions around us: notifications on our phone, the talkative coworker in the cube next to us, political news blaring from the television.

Before sitting down to work, get your workspace right. Shut off the notifications on your digital devices. Buy noise-cancelling headphones so your coworkers’ conversations don’t implode your brain. Ask the kids to go play outside.

Every time you lose your focus, it feels impossible to attain again. Context switching, which is what our brain does when during a distraction, can cut your productivity by 80%. Keep it to a minimum.

2. Chunk your time.

How long can you work on one task? An hour? 30 minutes? Maybe just 10 minutes?

If you can’t seem to focus on just one thing, break down big tasks into manageable, similar pieces. If you’re doing research for a proposal you’re writing, perhaps research one topic for 10 minutes and then move to the next. This approach minimizes context switching while keeping the mind interested in the larger task that needs to get done.

Time blocking is another smart approach. Split up your day into 15-minute blocks of time. Make sure you schedule something for every block, even if it’s just hanging out with the kids. Remember, relaxation time is valuable, too.

3. Categorize tasks by effort.

If you pool together answering emails and putting together a marketing report into one category, you’re going to be in trouble. Those tasks require drastically different amounts of mental energy.

Answering emails is something you can do without using a lot of brain power. Composing a report is something you should sit down in a quiet room for a few hours to do.

When time-blocking your schedule, arrange tasks by how challenging they are for you. Work on your most mentally taxing tasks when you’re fresh and have the most energy. Reserve your laid back tasks, like responding to emails, when you’re lower on energy.

4. Schedule something that focuses you.

In his book “The One Thing,” Gary Keller suggests using tasks that create focus as nodes for your schedule. What’s that one thing that, if you did it, would make your day more productive?

Think about it. Maybe it’s only checking your phone after you get your important tasks done in the morning. Perhaps it’s going to the gym every evening so that you start the next day with a good night’s sleep. When you schedule a priority that restores your focus, it’s easier to fight the frantic feeling that encourages multitasking.

5. Keep your workspace clean.

Did you know that there is a direct correlation between productivity and clutter? If you want to avoid the pull to multitask, having a clean work space can make a major difference.

Start with the easy things. Studies show that paper is the No. 1 source of workplace clutter. Throw it away, or better yet, recycle it. Then organize the rest of your desk: Are there pens laying around? What about coasters or coffee cups?

Chaos begets chaos. When your desk area is clean, you’ll feel mentally cleaner as well.
stay productive.

Behind all these tips is a single theme: mindfulness. When you’re aware of yourself and your surroundings, you can give full attention to one task at a time. Be present whether you’re typing an email, eating lunch, or watching the kids. Focus on one thing, and forget the rest until it’s time to tackle them.

How to Hack Productivity Into Your Schedule

By Jon Bradshaw | Scheduling | No Comments

Online Appointment Software Says a Lot About Your Business

We show up at work planning to be productive, but too often, our plans are thwarted by pointless meetings. Before we know it, the workday is half over, and we don’t have much to show for it.

For many workers, productivity growth has stalled. Despite technological advances that should be increasing the economic outputs of hours worked, The New York Times reports that Americans’ recent output of work is growing slower than it has since the early 1980s.

As frustrating as the situation seems, there are steps you can implement to take control of your own schedule:

Know your tendencies.

Like with most things, knowing yourself is the first step in optimizing your schedule. Your tendencies are a great place to start.

Habit expert Gretchen Rubin has a four tendencies quiz to help you understand how you respond to expectations. You can use this knowledge to figure out what aspects of your schedule to prioritize.

Obligers need external expectations in order to follow through with a goal. If this sounds like you, consider prioritizing the tasks that have accountability measures in place.

If you like to question everything and prefer facts to opinions, you are a questioner. You’d have to understand the reasoning behind certain tasks before you add them to your schedule.

If you naturally go against rules, you’re known as a rebel. As a rebel, it’s essential to align your productivity goals with your identity. In this case, prioritize the tasks that match your personality, and you will be more productive.

Finally, if you’re an upholder, you meet outer and inner expectations and love to have goals spelled out. You would probably benefit from creating a schedule that emphasizes your most detailed tasks.

Work when it works best for you.

Many self-help books preach the importance of working on important tasks early in the day. But if you hate mornings, why force yourself to be productive at that time?

Different people have different circadian rhythms, which influence their energy levels throughout the day. Some people are naturally larks, which means they focus best in the morning. Others are naturally owls, and they focus best in the evening.

We can’t all be morning people. Align your schedule with times that match your specific needs. This way, you won’t be playing catch-up on all your tasks.

Having a nighttime routine.

According to the CDC, a third of adults in the United States do not get the recommended seven hours of sleep a night. This can lead to all kinds of complications, including diabetes, obesity, and stroke.

Not getting enough sleep also affects your ability to concentrate. Because sleep has so much bearing on your productivity, the process you go through to get a good night’s rest might as well be part of your work schedule.

Create a nighttime routine that includes setting a consistent bedtime, meditating before bed, and avoiding large meals as well as screen time before sleeping. Getting enough sleep makes you more alert when you need to be.

Have an emergency time fund.

In the same way that you might have an emergency fund for rainy days, do the same with your schedule. Having an emergency time fund means working ahead even when it isn’t necessary. If you know that you need to get a proposal done by the end of the week, for example, tackling it on Tuesday might let you take a long lunch with a friend.

Having a time emergency fund ensures that you are prepared when the unexpected happens, such as when a meeting comes out of nowhere, when a family member gets sick, or when you have to take off from work for a minor fever. Working ahead keeps your schedule on track.

Keep it simple.

Trying to fix all your scheduling problems at once can be overwhelming and unrealistic. If you want to make your schedule productive, start small. That way, you can keep it up.

How much change you can handle at once is up to you. For some people, they might only want to focus on three goals a day, while others can consistently handle six.

The most essential part of working new goals into your schedule is that you stick with it. If you can be consistent with even the smallest of habits, then it will add up over time and become something significant.

Making the most of your working hours is difficult because there are so many tasks to accomplish, and distractions are sure to happen. But taking these steps will put you in the position to execute even in the busiest times.

time management Archives - Page 19 of 26 - Appointment - Online Appointment Scheduling Software

Why you need a tech detox.

1. Put it on your calendar.

2. Block apps at certain times.

3. Designate tech-free zones.

4. Incorporate boredom into your day.

5. Get less social.

6. Keep your inbox in check.

7. Spend more time in places where electronic devices aren’t permitted.

8. Schedule a call or one-on-one.

9. Be respectful of others’ time.

10. Go old school.

1. Keeping everyone on the same page

2. Driving efficiency

3. Enabling prioritization

4. Creating a competitive advantage

5. Saving money

1. Repetitive checking

2. Multitasking

3. Putting things off

4. Not getting enough sleep

Successful people will agree — at least part of their success is due to their high level of efficiency.

1. Dedicate Yourself.

2. Eliminate Distractions.

3. Talk the Talk.

4. Take Another Look.

5. Be Flexible.

6. Cool Down.

7. Organize.

1. Find and use a cloud-based calendar app.

2. Assign a calendar keeper.

3. Customize your calendar.

4. Add non-negotiable items.

5. Determine your team’s peak productivity.

6. Stagger employee schedules.

7. Include time buffers and blank spaces.

8. Consider synching personal calendars.

9. Don’t forget about the holidays and time zones.

10. Toss out everything you thought you knew about meetings.

11. Review your team calendar frequently.

Create a master list

Separate your “shoulds” from your “musts”

Clean up your physical environment

Build supportive habits & structures

Work the hours that suit you.

Keep a time log.

Focus on what you do best.

Implement the Two-Minute Rule.

Break your activities down into simple problems.

Schedule “me” time.

Cluster similar tasks.

Identify and eliminate distractions.

Arm yourself with the right tools.

1. Know your goals.

2. Find a calendar that works for you.

3. Know your calendar like the back of your hand.

4. Don’t rely just on your calendar.

5. Create an annual plan.

6. Design your ideal week.

7. Start your week on Sunday.

8. Establish a daily routine.

9. One calendar to rule them all.

10. You gotta keep them separated (optional).

11. Import and sync your other calendar(s).

12. Find the greatest view.

13. Your calendar should be like a rainbow.

14. Each day should have a theme.

15. Schedule time for planning.

16. Time blocking > lists.

17. Break your day down into 5-minute chunks.

18. Create a zero-based calendar.

19. Launch reminders.

20. Set a creativity schedule.

21. Perfect the art of batching.

22. Add other time zones.

23. Assess your calendar every morning.

24. Review your calendar frequently.

25. Find time in your schedule.

26. Print out your calendar.

27. Practice the 80/20 rule.