Take Control of Your Calendar & Maximize Your Productivity
I am pretty notorious for being spontaneous.
If you are an Enneagram person, then you can potentially relate if you are also a type seven. Enneagram type sevens are enthusiasts and adventurists (you can read more here). No one close to me would be surprised if I decided to take off on a nomadic and only tentatively planned road trip.
Oh wait, yep, we did do that last summer (my road trip tips live here).
Teddy and I also planned our own surprise wedding at the end of that trip.
So, I repeat, I am a pretty notorious for being spontaneous.
Because I know this about myself, I’ve adopted habits to effectively manage my time and maximize my productivity. I know that if I’m not intentional about the finite allocated hours in my day, I will likely get distracted and, in turn, experience negative thoughts about my motivation levels and outputs.
My first step that I’ve adopted is called the Pomodoro Technique.
According to Todoist, “This popular time management method asks you to alternate pomodoros — focused work sessions — with frequent short breaks to promote sustained concentration and stave off mental fatigue.”
I have work goals I'd like to accomplish each week. On Sundays, I assign hours to them and schedule out those hours for the week. I then break it up so that all goals get accomplished by the end of week.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
The “rules” for the Pomodoro Technique are as follows:
Pick a task
Set a 25-minute timer
Work on the task until the time is up
Take a five minute break
Every four pomodoros, take a longer 15-30 minute break
The second layer of success comes from my calendar. I take this technique, and I map it out with colors over the course of my entire week. I’m extremely visual, so this supports in cementing my schedule into my brain, which typically leads to a much higher execution rate.
If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I am very committed to my morning walks and/or workouts. These are in my calendar. So are my breaks, including times that I spend playing fetch with Frankie. Those breaks share the same color.
As I work on different parts of my business, those also have their own color codes. When I look at the week as a whole, I can also see quickly if I’m appropriately allocating chunks of time to specific projects or needs. For example, when I was working on building out the new TL Method portal, I expected that the couple weeks leading up to the launch would be pretty monochromatic.
The colors keep me in integrity with my commitments, and the Pomodoro Technique supports my mental health in that I know that I need to get outside and move to be more effective in other areas of my day. When those breaks are in my calendar, I am much more inclined to hold myself accountable to taking care of myself.
The first, and most important, means of increasing your productivity is to know yourself. You must dig into what energizes you and what drains you and then work to create habits that support your ability to flow in and out of those two states.
Todoist actually has a quiz that you can take here to see what productivity method is right for you.
Then, utilize a calendar app (I usee Google) to create some structure for yourself.
Will emergencies come up?
Of course.
Will some days require flexibility and shifting of these blocks?
Absolutely.
You must give yourself grace in those moments.
But, overall, I find that the notification alert is now ingrained in me to recognize when I need to shift activities. And I feel like those dings are little reminders of the commitments that I made to myself at the beginning of the week to achieve a certain set of goals.
Plus, if you don’t own your calendar (as in, your time, and not just a physical calendar that you write or type in), then you are setting up your days for someone else to own them.
You owe it to yourself to maintain that power.