December 06, 2020

Time Blocking for Productivity Helps You Achieve More

Here’s a little secret: without time blocking, I would not get my prospecting done each day.

Why?

Here’s a list of reasons (or excuses?) See which ones you can identify with:

  1. It’s soooo much easier to just check email than do deep work…

  2. That’s an interesting discussion on social media - I better join!

  3. My phone keeps ringing, and I HAVE to answer a ringing phone.

  4. My team can’t operate without my constant supervision.

  5. So many people just need me.

Oh, yeah. That’s just the beginning of the list. Do you think extremely productive people are just wired to do focused work and important tasks first? That they have fewer responsibilities and phone calls than you do? That they’re just somehow more disciplined and are naturals at time management techniques?

Nope. They’ve just admitted they’re human, with human weaknesses and susceptibility to distraction, and an overwhelming desire to do what’s easy rather than what’s best. They’ve taken the first step - admitted they have a problem with time tracking.

So what do those super-productive people do? Here’s the greatest tool I have ever implemented to help me achieve: time blocking.

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Live by your calendar. Pull your calendar app or Google calendar up on your phone or computer, or pull out your planner. Look at next week. Find (or make!) chunks of time no smaller than 90 minutes, and make an appointment with yourself to focus on productive time to complete a singular task for that block. The world will still be there when you turn your phone and email back on, I promise.

Pro tips to get started with a time-blocked schedule:

  1. Start small. Baby steps - this is a new behavior. Step by step, you will get all that important work done.

  2. Have Grace for yourself when you fail. It happens to us all.

  3. Block specific time for your personal/faith life first. You are the biggest factor in your ability to achieve.

  4. Schedule your prospecting blocks of time in the morning.

Believing in you today!
Athena Captain
Athena Captain is Director of Sales and Marketing at Turner & Son Homes, where her passion is building a referral-based company in a niche market. She has helped create a business model that allows Turner & Son Homes to become the “concierge” of building on land in Oklahoma. Athena has successfully led sales teams within retail, banking, and finally bringing her talent to bear in the construction industry. Athena has developed a prospecting system while at Turner & Son Homes that allows any sales professional to become a referral magnet. She will share her system in her upcoming book The Making of a Rainmaker, soon to be released nationwide. With the launch of AthenaCaptain.com, she hopes to help other sales professionals, business owners, and companies apply her proven systems to increase revenue through referrals. She was honored to be a finalist for Edmond Woman of the Year in 2014. She is active within her community as a Board member for Oklahoma Family Network, and she is on the Leadership team of Savannah Station Equine Therapy Program.
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