• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

PowerSuiting

Career coaching with heart.

  • Career Coaching With Heart
  • How It Works
    • TRANSFORM
    • TRANSFORM DIY
  • About PowerSuiting
    • Contact Me
  • Blog
    • Career
    • Life
  • Client Testimonials

Fully Unplug With Time Blocking

February 9, 2019 by Wendy Toth Leave a Comment

time blocking with powersuiting

The big theme of this post is learning to be a jerk about your time, through time blocking.

I don’t actually condone being a jerk. Part of the reason I started this blog was to dispel the whole “Nice guys finish last,” cliché.

That said niceness is subjective, and if you read my blog, you probably have the same problem I do: You’re too nice.  

I like being liked to a fault.

Why You Being a Jerk is Better for Everyone

I can’t stand to think that I’m letting people down or not meeting their expectations to the point that it either:

  1. Sends me into a complete state of overwhelm as I try to be everywhere for everyone. Or
  2. Sends me into hiding. If no one can find me, no one can expect me to do anything.

These are both terrible options. It is much better to be a little bit of a jerk up front, protect your time, and be fully present when you are lending it to someone else. You end up with:

  • respect
  • sanity and
  • stronger relationships.

It’s time for you to be a jerk too. By the end of this post you’ll be serious about time management, and you will be time blocking like a boss.

What Is Stopping You From Time Blocking?

But before we get into that, let’s talk about your feelings (my favorite)!

If you don’t already time block, why?

  1. Is it because you think other people who are rigid with their time are selfish jerks, real ones?
  2. Are you worried that “time management” means you will never be spontaneous? That you’ll become a robot?  

Those are the two most common worries I hear from clients and friends around time management. 

Let’s handle #1 first.

1. Will time blocking automatically make me a jerk?

Do you know someone who makes plans way ahead of time?

“Who schedules a night out 3 months in advance?!” you yell to your other time-challenged friends.

Hint: If you dig deep, I guarantee the answer is not “to annoy me” or “because they are an asshole.”

In situations like these I always reach back to something I learned in journalism classes called the “5 W’s and 1 H.”

When writing an article, you learn to go through the:

  • Who
  • What
  • When
  • Where
  • Why
  • How

If I’m tempted to be critical of someone, I’ll quickly run through these questions. In the case of the obsessive time-manager, we need the “Why.”

Do they have kids, a demanding job, big personal goals, or are simply very organized and left-brained? 

Put your journalist hat on, giving your friend a call and asking them both “Why?” and” How?” they handle their calendar.

“But Wendy. Don’t encourage them!” You yell at your computer screen.

Now I’ll ask you “Why shouldn’t I encourage them?”

Is it because they make you feel bad in comparison, walking around with their cute “millennial pink” planner and color-coded Google calendar? The truth is you should put a little work into your time management. And then YOU can be the one walking around with a planner.

I’m betting that once you talk to your friend you’ll want to join their ranks. We should all be selfish jerks about our one most precious commodity! It’s crazy not to.

The difference for you, now that we have this self-awareness, is that I won’t let you get called out for it. You can smile, knowing you’re being a little bit of a selfish jerk, without giving up your nice person reputation.

How to Be a Jerk Without Offending Anyone

Here’s the secret to being incredibly selfish with your time and not being perceived as The Worst: honesty.

Just be honest. Let other people know your “Why” up-front. That way, you can be a “jerk,” but never be perceived as one.

One caveat. If your “Why” is perhaps something like you are ditching your friend repeatedly because you think they are a toxic person, or you’d rather watch Netflix, this probably doesn’t apply. But if you need to switch up your weekly book club to every other week to make time for writing your own book, then I have a feeling your book club will understand.

Moving on.

2. Will time-blocking ruin all spontaneity and make me a time-obsessed robot?

No! It’s the opposite!

If you aren’t planning your work days by the hour, and any big events or trips you have by the quarter (every 3 months = 1 quarter), then you’re missing out. Why?

Chances are you end up doing a lot of scrambling at the last minute.

You might have a lot of near-misses with deadlines. You might never have taken that Hawaii trip you’ve been dreaming about for the last 5 years.

Time-blocking doesn’t make your life rigid.

  • It allows you to have focused hours for work and events so that you don’t have to worry about those things when you’re free.
  • It lets you be free, when you’re free.  
  • It allows you to live in the moment without worrying that you’ve forgotten something.
  • And it allows you to plan and save for the big things, so you actually do them!

Finally, just having a calendar doesn’t make you a slave to it. You can move things around. It’s your calendar. You should be protective of it. You should be…a jerk about it.

We’ll just keep that last part between us.

How to Time Block

Time Blocking Step One: Use the Quadrant To-Do List

The Quadrant To Do List came on the scene in Steven Covey’s book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The idea is to take your to do list and break the items up into four buckets, or quadrants. Each quadrant forces you to think about both the Importance and the Urgency of each item, then prioritize them.

Here is a quadrant to do list diagram I made.

quadrant to do list powersuiting

I recommend you work through the quadrants in order:

  • Quadrant 1: Urgent + Important
  • Quadrant 2: Not Urgent + Important
  • Quadrant 3: Urgent + Not Important
  • Quadrant 4: Not Urgent + Not Important

WARNING: Quadrant 3 is the one you want to watch out for. These are the things that a lot of people end up spending most of their time on because they are urgent, but low-pressure. They make you feel like you’re being really productive because they are easy and fast. I recommend seeing if there is anything here you can delegate to someone else.

Quadrant 4 is likely full of small things you can ignore, or do in your down time. If something needs to give, you’ll find it here.

How to Make a Quadrant To Do List

I make mine REALLY simple so that within the “quadrants” I can write as much or as little as I want for each task. To build one I just just:

  • Open a Google Doc
  • Insert > Table> 2×4
  • Put the headings at the top and go!

Time Blocking Step Two: Block Time in Your Calendar

Every week, either Friday afternoon, or Monday morning, open up your quadrant to do list and use it to block out your calendar.

Even include time you need for planning, thinking, and basic stuff like daily email checking.

  1. Front-load the “Urgent and Important” items towards the beginning of the week, and at times when you have the most energy available.
  2. Sprinkle the other items in where they make sense.
  3. “Unimportant” items are good candidates for lower-energy times.

Time Block the Small Stuff

I block out even crazy basic things like coffee with a new coworker and “outlining.” This is how I stay sane and how I’m able to go home at night and play with my kids while my phone sits tucked away in a backpack, and all work-related ruminating stays with it!

If it’s not in my calendar, it doesn’t exist.

Repeat after me: If it’s not in my calendar, it doesn’t exist.

If you honor your calendar, then the rest of your times is yours. Doesn’t that feel great?

For one-on-one support managing your time, schedule a free Career Chat.

Book Your Career Chat

Filed Under: Finding Balance, Organizing Tagged With: anxiety, career, system

Reach your full potential.

powered by TinyLetter

Featured Articles

Gifts That Start With A: An A-mazing List!

Gifts that start with A can be handy for everything from a themed “A” party to a white elephant gift exchange with your work friends. The letter A holds special meaning for many people. Giving gifts starting with the letter A is a creative way to show how much you care.  There are tons of […]

11 Positive Psychology Books for Newbies

In this article, we’ll cover: What is Positive Psychology Common Positive Psychology Topics Personal Growth Books Best Books for Positive Psychology Best Books on Positive Psychology The best books for positive psychology are the ones you’ll read! Seriously, this growing field of research is perfect for anyone who wants to live a more fulfilled life […]

Spotting Hammerhead Sharks in the Galapagos

I have a glamorous travel journalist friend who once let me tag along with her on assignment to the Galapagos Islands. This was before marriage. Before kids. Before having more than a couple of employees. I was always game for such adventures. Fast forward to now. I’m reading a “Magic School Bus” book about the […]

Why 90% of Us Hate Networking, and What the 10% Know

When you boil it down, networking is having relationships. Having friends. Then why does the very concept make most of us FEEL uncomfortable? So icky. Are you cringing a little, right now, just thinking about it? For this, you can thank your Social Survival Mammoth. This guy kept popping up, relentlessly, in my mind while […]

How to Romance Your Career

Anyone who claims they aren’t emotional about work is lying. Rather than ignore it, romance your career! It will love you back with the things you want.

how to hold people accountable

The Magic Email: How to Hold People Accountable

The Magic Email from the book Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss, really works. About the book itself: An ex-FBI international kidnapping negotiator opens each chapter with a crazy-but-true hostage negotiation story. Then he takes whatever tactic was used and applies it to regular life. You […]

how to care less about work

How to Care Less About Work (and Why)

“How to Care Less About Work (and Why)” is an eye-opening guest post from Corrie Shanahan, the author of Do it, Mean it, Be it. The Keys to Achieve Success, Happiness and Everything You Deserve at Work and in Life (Career Press).  I was speaking recently at a large financial institution that operates in Latin […]

shirts in closet

How to Build an Emergency Outfit that Will Work in Any Situation

Yes, this post describes how to easily build an emergency outfit, but I thought about calling it “Never make your family late again.” Or “Never nag your family about WHAT TIME WE HAVE TO LEAVE THE HOUSE for four hours, and then make them late… again.” In it, you’ll find a quick system I use to […]

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Welcome!

About PowerSuiting I’m Wendy, a long-time journalist and career coach. I started PowerSuiting to help other creative women get ahead, without giving up who they are. Wondering if I can support you in a career transition? Book a FREE call with me.

Win a FREE Career Coaching Course!

Transform DIY

Get a fresh career development tip (it’ll be fun, I promise) each month

AND

Be entered to win TRANSFORM DIY for FREE!

powered by TinyLetter

*One winner is chosen quarterly.

Topics

accessorize anxiety be helpful books career closet cleanout essay finances gifts humor interview makeup quotes shopping system What's Your Power Suit?

I’d love to connect with you!

Copyright © 2023 · Genesis Sample on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in