“Put it on the Calendar” is a top strategy for managing overwhelm, and in my previous post I called it the Secret Sauce of getting things done. But today we’re going to uncover how we can take protecting the calendar to the next level. Because while blocking off an hour of time a few times a week to focus on specific tasks is a great start, to really generate momentum we need to consider not only the quantity of time but the quality of time.

 

It doesn’t make sense to schedule the same amount of time to develop a board presentation and to generate invoices. And if we get interupted generating invoices, we just start again later. When we get interrupted at the moment we finally figured out the right sequence for our deck, it’s going to be really frustrating when we go back and try to pick up the threads of inspiration.

Schedule Your Time With Intention

Work Waves: For activities where you want to create, where you are doing original work that requires inspiration, where you are stretching your capabilities or learning something new, protect a span of 3-4 hours on your calendar for a Work Wave. Plan it for a time when your creative energy is high. 

Let yourself fall into a flow state and ride the wave as far as you can. Enjoy this time. Activities you do during a Wave are probably why you started your business in the first place.

Work Waves are when you need to employ your Set Yourself Up for Success plan and monotask. Use this time for being strategic, writing proposals, planning campaigns, or developing new products.

Sandbars: For activities where you are doing repeatable processes or where you don’t need to engage your creative mind, schedule a few one hour Sandbars during the week where you can just knock things off your list. Some of them might take the full hour, other times you might be able to work through two or three things.

I call them Sandbars because they are a planned time that you set aside to stop swimming, take a breath and do some of those things that tend to hang over your head and cause overwhelm.

Use this time to do things like invoicing, reviewing your plan for the week, clearing your desk of clutter, or returning phone calls and emails. If you want to multitask during a Sandbar more power to you.