Everyday I fight against millions of potentially distracting pieces of information. My time is precious – I’m juggling entirely too many things to give in to procrastination – yet some days I loose the battle.
I don’t want to loose the war, so I had to arm myself with a schedule and learn to focus on less.
I had to – it was either that or completely loose my mind.
What makes it work for me is that I try NOT to allow myself to participate in time draining activities such as compulsively checking email, reading my feeds, lollygagging on Twitter or blog hopping without a purpose.
I’ve got set tasks that I need to complete each week and there’s no time to spare. Even if I do well one week, if I don’t remain disciplined, everything could totally unravel the next week.
I’m going to present you with my schedule – but don’t just copy this and try to live by it without personalizing it. Instead, take a look at it, and then think about how you could tweak it to fit your needs. If you don’t personalize and simply try to copy it, it will only feel totally unnatural for you – and you will abandon it.
On top of that, just to let you know, I consider this a tentative schedule. There are some days when other pressing things pop up. On other days, my schedule may change for various reasons and to be honest – some days I just don’t feel like adhering to it. I’m a human being not a robot and I can’t program myself to be the same every day. But I can try and that’s the whole point.
So here’s how I manage my time:
7:00a-8:00p (sometimes runs over 10 or 15 minutes)
- Create today’s To-Do list
- Scan email for urgent matters. If there are none, don’t reply or delete, just keep it moving.
- Visit TheInfoPreneur forum for Reciprocal tweets
- Schedule tweets for the day
- Stumble some posts
- Submit to BlogEngage and vote for a few posts
- Schedule posts for Tues. and Wed (if possible)
- Start some drafts of new post OR add an idea to Blog Post Idea List
10:00-10:15 (may run over 5 minutes or so)
- Read Problogger and comment
- Read CopyBlogger and comment
- Read TheInfoPreneur and comment
- Post some tweets
11:30-12:15 (some days I don’t get to all of these)
- Check email/respond
- Respond to Blog Comments
- Read 2-4 Blog Posts to gather links for Monday’s Link List
- Post some tweets
- Stumble some posts
- Work on blog post drafts/start a new post/add to idea list
- Work on weekly newsletter or other on-going project
2:00-2:15
- Scan email for urgent matters – no replies
- Post and respond to some tweets
4:30-5:00
- Check email/respond
- Respond to blog comments
- Post and respond to some tweets
7:00p-8:30p (this is not an everyday item)
- Consulting activities
- Blog planning
You may notice that there are gaps between my schedule. That’s because I’m also a technical writer and that’s what I do most of the day. Some evenings and weekends I consult with local business owners – so that last entry is not an everyday item, but I still try to keep a regular time set aside to attend to those tasks.
Also note: to increase productivity, I really try not to do anything that is not on this schedule during those scheduled times. I don’t always succeed, sometimes I end up reading more than the planned 2-4 blog posts, sometimes I read less. Did you notice earlier that I said this was a tentative schedule?
So how do you operate? How could you tweak this schedule to work for you?
Jean Sarauer
Evelyn
Tia Peterson
Josh Garcia
Gurl
Blog Angel a.k.a....
Wayne Howard
Justin Germino
John Soares
Mike Roosa
Thanks for sharing this. Time management/scheduling is a huge issue for nearly every blogger I talk to.
I start working early in the morning (usually at six but sometimes as early as four) and then I work til noon most days. I do all my blogging activities plus client work during that time. Then I’m done other than 1-2 hours for reading/commenting. Usually I break that up and just pop on the internet for 15 minutes here and there. It makes it look like I’m working all the time, when in reality I’m seriously goofing off most of the afternoon/evening :)
Jean Sarauer´s last blog ..If You Host It, I Can Digg It
Hi Jean,
Yeah, I’ve had more than my share of goofing off. :)
Kiesha, we have similar, though not identical, schedules. (I’m usually up by 5:30.)
And like you, I’m also a writer, except I work primarily for college textbook publishers.
Sometimes, like now, I’m very busy with a writing project and writing for my blogs and connecting with others gets trimmed back a bit.
John Soares´s last blog ..Create an Information Product in 30 Minutes a Day
Hi John,
I totally understand having to trim back social networking activities – sometimes all I can do is get a post written and worry about promotion later.
That’s quite the schedule. I wish I could map out my day like that. I tend to waste a lot of time doing random things.
Brandon´s last blog ..Writing 101
Hi Brandon,
Yeah, that’s why I had to develop a schedule because I was doing so many random things that I wasn’t getting any writing done. I would be all over place (still ends up that way some days).
Tell me about it, Kiesha. When it comes to doing random things, I don’t think anyone can beat me. I have tried lately to change though. I now have a schedule that I follow every week. And this has helped to stay focused on the things that matter.
James Tayo´s last blog ..4 Ways to get People on your Email List
Hi James,
Yeah, it’s super easy to go on a random trail of clicking through the blogosphere. I’ve done it far too many times than I care to share.
I can’t say that good things didn’t come from it sometimes, but I knew that at some point, I’d have to get serious or the distractions would begin to cost me.
Keisha, You are amazingly organized. No wonder you can get so much done. I think I started on my first task for today, which was checking social networks like Twitter and Google Buzz, 4 hours ago and I’m still reading and commenting!! I know that I need to do better but I have to admit that I’m having fun – apparently way too much fun though.
Thanks for this. I submitted this to MMOSocialNetwork so others can take advantage of the info.
Ileane @ Ms. Ileane Speaks´s last blog ..Top 5 Social Media Extensions for Chrome
Hey Ileane!
Thanks for sharing my post! I can’t knock it – it can be fun! :) That’s why some days I don’t always succeed at sticking to this schedule, but I definitely try.
Hey Kiesha,
It’s always admire to see other entrepreneurs schedule. My is just as busy as yours. I see that you use your skills by helping businesses. I as well work with business owners and help them create an online presence.
Chat with you later…
Josh
Josh Garcia´s last blog ..How Video Marketing Online Presence Will Boost Your Business
Hi Josh,
Yeah, I try to stick to it as much as possible, but for some reason, this week has been tough. Glad to hear that you are using your talents to assistance business owners – I think social media has really made it possible for small business owners to compete against big corporations and I enjoy helping them take advantage of it.
Yeah I don’t really have a good schedule but try to get what I feel is important to get done for the day early on. I’d probably have a bit better results if I did get a schedule going again.
Hi Eric,
Yeah, on the days that I stick to this schedule I really get a lot done. Those are the days that make it possible to keep up.
Nice tips on time management because it is needed at every point of your life, will try to implement this steps to my blog
Vinish Parikh´s last blog ..Why Short Selling is different from Buying Put Option
Hi Vinish,
I encourage you to give it a try.
Poor planning is something that usually would hurt me the most when I first started. I learned the hard way how to get it all done right.
Phil´s last blog ..Choosing The Right Software
Hi Phil,
Yeah, a little planning goes a long way. :)
My practical side tells me to be more scheduled, my artistic side tells me to go with the flow. Which side wins? It changes from day to day! I consider it a miracle that this low-tech kinda gal(me) even has a blog at all!
Hi Jean,
I’m the same way! That’s why some days I just have to keep it a little spontaneous – I use this schedule to keep me from overindulging.
Keisha,
having a schedule and a blogging plan is a great thing to do . i have one but unfortunately ,i am not consistent with following it to the letter.
i think the idea here is just to spell out the important things that should be done..then do them.
things don’t always play out as planned
mk akan´s last blog ..Online Business Idea from a job search problem
Hi Mk Akan,
I don’t think it’s necessary to follow it to the letter everyday – I don’t, but the point is to make every effort to stick to it as much as possible and take care of those important tasks that need to get done.
I like the way you showed how you work in other things you have going on. I am going to give it a shot for a couple months and see how it works.
Thank you for the very usable time template!
Hi Trevor,
I’m glad you found it to be useful. I’d love to hear about how it works out for you after that time – stop back and keep me posted :)
Great to see someone else’s schedule. Do you use time-tracking software to keep track? We’ve found that it really helps people limit their “goofing off” activities if they measure how much of it they’re really doing – it can be really eye-opening to discover how much time you’re actually spending on email / twitter / facebook etc!