Get More Done With Time Blocking

Get More Done With Time Blocking

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | Get More Done With Time Blocking

Now, I know what you're thinking. Will time blocking help me get more done? Yes, it will!

As online entrepreneurs, you're trying to conquer so many things, and instead of feeling accomplished, you feel unproductive, stuck, and frustrated. At the end of most days, it seems as if the day ran away with a lack of focus, leaving you feeling overwhelmed.

Are you tired of feeling this way and ready to be clear about your day and what needs to be done to move your business forward?

First, jumping around from project to project isn't the secret sauce to success. It all boils down to getting laser-focused and completing essential tasks.

You must be wondering how this happens. 

The solution is simple: it's with time blocking your day. Time blocking breaks your day into an achievable structure. What would it feel like to look back at your day and feel productive and efficient? You'd feel like you won the day, just saying.

No worries, friend, if you're not a planner. It's a life skill you can improve, I pinky swear. I'm guessing you're ready to let go of running your business like a disorganized, headless chicken.

Here’s how you’ll time block:

Power Hours

When are you in your power hours? Do you know the time of day when your productivity superpower comes out? You're about to find out this is different for everyone.

If you're not sure, start paying attention and simply jot down the time of day that you easily and effortlessly completed your work. This would indicate that you're in the power hours of productivity.

Let's make this your first official time block. During this time, use it for a creative project or a project you've been procrastinating on. For me, this is not the first hour of my day. I need a slow start in the first hour of my day. Otherwise, I'll find myself sitting and staring at my computer screen.

Here is an excellent post about Eating Frogs! https://misstask.com/eat-your-frogs/

What are Things to Time Block? 

Let me break it down for you; you can time block hours or choose to have theme days.

But what does that mean? It's simple. You may want to select the days and times for your coaching calls and meetings with your team. You can also designate content creation days.

Perhaps you like to have variety in your day, so you sprinkle in a little bit of everything with themed time blocks. With theme days, you'd pick one primary day for all your meetings and coaching and a secondary day for any overflow meetings or coaching sessions.

In a similar fashion, if you conduct discovery calls in your online business, it would be nice to have a specific day for these calls. Could they possibly be on your overflow meeting day?

Now, this is important: your most productive day of the week should be for creative work only. Here's what I mean: no meetings or anything else that will drain your energy. I love the trend that corporate America is following with designated no-meeting days.

Let me clarify: You may want to divide your days into halves. The trick is to work with your personal power hours. If you find that you're very productive in the afternoons, you could schedule meetings in the mornings and plan your creative work in the afternoons.

During your creative block, you will record your podcast, write your blog, and create your course outline. Here's the big secret: time blocking goes hand in hand with batch creation. When you batch similar work, it will get you into the flow and keep you in the state of flow versus bouncing from one thing to another without completing it from start to finish.

This can be done in many different ways; finding when you feel like a productivity rock star is essential. When I ask a new client about time blocking or batch work, they usually don't do it very well.

Start Small 

You must wonder how to start when this whole time blocking and batching is new to you. 

Start small.

The answer? Begin with 45 minutes of dedicated time scheduled 2-3 times a week and see how it goes. What is something you're getting behind on that you find you're doing at the last minute EVERY SINGLE WEEK?

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | Get More Done With Time Blocking

Do A Time Audit to Figure Out Your Time Blocks

Another great way to figure out time blocking is to do a time audit for one week. I understand even the thought of time tracking feels like a burden; I say this with love, suck it up, buttercup, it's only for a week.

Most people don't realize how much time they spend on tasks or how easily they are distracted and waste time. 

Here's how it works: time tracking can be done on paper by jotting down the time along with what you're working on or by using time tracking software to track everything. 

If you'd like to try tracking software, I suggest Toggl Track, a great tool offering a free task-tracking plan. https://toggl.com/track/

 

My Own Example From the Past 

When client work began to fill my days, the creative work for my business went out the window. I was an inconsistent content creator.

Blah, all that time I'd spent building up an audience—well, y'all, that doesn't stay without being nurtured. Unfortunately, this was a business lesson I had to learn for myself.

Then it finally dawned on me that my power hours are in the morning, and my brain is done by 2 or 3 p.m. every day. Now, the first two hours of my workday are dedicated to creating content or the top priorities for my business—also known as the things I'll procrastinate on until the last minute.

Fortunately, there's a simple solution: I work in sprints of time; I set the timer for 50 minutes and pour out all the words. I take a quick break and complete another sprint. And during that time, some days I'll have it all done, others the struggle is real, and I start over a bazillion times.

When planning my day, I know client work does not begin until 9 am. Blocking this time and setting the boundary have also taught me not to say yes to all the things and projects. 

With my people-pleasing, helpful personality, I must not overbook myself. Which was also another business lesson I had to learn for myself. If this is you, be sure to read “Yes to Everything” mindset. https://misstask.com/mindful-yes/

Show Up Consistently—Without Doing It All Yourself

Your Podcast, Repurposed into a Full Marketing Strategy

A done-for-you repurposing service where we turn one piece of content into 5 Days of Marketing Content so you can grow your audience and impact in less time.

5 Days of Content from 1 Podcast Episode

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My Time Blocks are Simple 

You must be wondering how I schedule my day. I have a morning routine that was significantly simplified. 

I don't know about you, but when I started my business, I heard people talk about 2-3 hour morning routines. What I found was that an extensive morning routine simply stressed me out. 

For quite a while now, the first hours have been spent with Bible reading, meditation, journaling, and the daily Wordle, and then I go into the office for my priority work block.

Once I'm at my desk, every weekday is content-focused while I enjoy several cups of coffee. A bulk of my day is reserved for my done-for-you content repurposing clients, and coaching clients are in the afternoons or every other Friday.

Stay with me now; 98% of the time, the block is consistently scheduled at the same time every day. Keeping the schedule consistent has the added bonus of reducing the decisions I must make about what I'm working on.

Flexible Friday! This day is a wildcard for me. I may have coaching calls, podcast interviews, or a travel day. Fridays are the days that I enjoy the freedom that comes with entrepreneurship.

This is a typical Monday – Thursday Schedule
5:30-6:30: Morning Routine
6:30-8: Power Block: Top Priorities for the day
8-9: Eat, Get Ready, Walk With The Dogs 
9-10: Client Block 
10-11: Client Block
11-12: Client Block
12-1: Client Block
1-2: Client Block
2-3: Client Block
3-4:30: Walk With The Dogs, Strength Training
4:30-5:30: Wrap Up Work Day, Look Ahead to Tomorrow and Finish Anything Undone

Will this schedule stay the same for years to come? Nope, but it is what works right now in this season of my life.

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | Get More Done With Time Blocking

It Is Time To Wrap This Up!

If you're ready to stop feeling overwhelmed and start making tangible progress in your business, now is the time to take action. With the power of time blocking and focused productivity strategies, you can transform your daily routine and achieve more than you ever thought possible. Don't let another day slip by feeling unproductive and frustrated.

By identifying your power hours, creating a structured schedule, and focusing on essential tasks, you can break free from the overwhelming cycle of unproductivity and take control of your business. Remember, it's okay to start small and make adjustments as you go. Embrace the journey of self-discovery and be patient with yourself as you develop these new habits. With consistency and dedication, you'll soon find yourself accomplishing more than you ever thought possible, all while enjoying the freedom and satisfaction that comes with a thriving online business. Once you take that first step with time blocking, you will be amazed at how much more productive you become.

The Hidden Side Effects of Giving Away Your Services for Free

The Hidden Side Effects of Giving Away Your Services for Free

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | The Hidden Side Effects of Giving Away Your Services for Free

Have you stopped to consider the hidden side effects of giving away your services for free? When I started my online business I struggled with the belief that the services I provided were valuable and worth paying for. I don’t know about you but I feel going from employee to business owner requires a lot of mindset work. Don’t get me wrong, I believe there is a time and place for giving away your services for free. However, if the decision is driven by self-doubt that the coaching you provide is not worthy that is another thing. How do you prevent free coaching when you’re unsure about the service you offer?

Be Honest, How Do You View Free?

When you come across a service for free, do you question the value? Is this coach really able to help solve my problem? Or what’s the catch if this is free? Are they trustworthy?

Come on really, examian what you think of free? Take a step back and be honest with yourself, if you're given something for free do you appreciate it or give it much value?

Granted something may unexpectedly surprise and delight you, but more times than not it will be pushed to the side and disgarded. 

Based solely on my past experience, when I gave away my services for free, they weren't appreciated. It can be difficult enough to get people to show up for a coaching session, but when it’s a free coaching session, let’s just say I’ve spent time sitting on a Zoom call alone.

 

Your coaching will be undervalued and underappreciated is a hidden side effect of giving away your services for free.

The Hard Truth Ah-Ha

Hey, I'll admit I did this longer than I should've and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. You see providing my time, energy, and knowledge for free or little to nothing wasn't going to allow me to support my family and give me the freedom to be present for them. 

Continuing down this path of fear and self-doubt about charging money for my coaching, wasn't going to allow me to support my family or actually create an impact. 

You will limit your ability to create an impact and support your family is a hidden side effect of giving away your services for free. 

 

The Mindset Shift Needed to Prevent Free Coaching

Once I had my hard trust ah-ha, then I finally understood I had to become mindful of giving away my services for free. But that's not all, it pushed me to start to do the mindset work necessary to move from employee thinking to business owner thinking. 

 

Because Friend, not stepping into business owner thinking is a hidden side effect of giving away your services for free.

Should you Ever Work For Free?

Should you ever work for free? Now, I know what you are thinking how do I gain experience and confidence in my services if I don't work for free? What most service providers don't realize when they start out, it doesn't always have to be an exchange of money.

Okay, now some are not a fan of swapping services with other service providers. In the beginning, this is exactly what I did to gain experience to give me the confidence to charge for my services.

Another idea is to work for a testimonial to provide social proof of your work. It's a great way to help create raving fans that talk about you and the fabulous service that you provided.

It all boils down to this, time is your most important nonrenewable resource, you need to have something of value traded for your time. Because that is the one thing I can guarantee you'll never get back. 

It's important that the exchange feels in alignment with you. It can be a testimonial, a referral, whatever. Stay with me now, you need to get something, otherwise, it will be for nothing. Nothing doesn't keep your business doors open.

 

This is where new coaches run into trouble when they are gaining experience. They are afraid to ask for something in return, a hidden side effect of giving away their services for free.

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | The Hidden Side Effects of Giving Away Your Services for Free

You Have To Get Good At Asking

The solution is simple, you have to get good at asking. Friend, if you don't ask, the answer is always no. Not asking will leave you sitting in the world of the unknown, struggling to make ends meet in your online business.

It's okay to ask for something in return even if you're not comfortable with charging money as you gain experience.

Let me clarify for every service you provide for experience, it needs to have a clearly defined agreed-upon in writing exchange. The first time starts at zero, the next time you charge for the service, it can be $10 an hour, then the next time $20 per hour.

All that experience is causing you to become an expert, a specialist at that service.

Clients pay for your experience. They pay for someone that can do it better than they can in less time. That's what you're building up too. 

When you step into your power it's a beautiful thing.

 

When we don't ask, the answer is always no this is a hidden side effect of giving away your services for free. 

If you need more on this subject here are a few other great articles that are in alignment with working for free for potential clients. 

Should You Ever Work for Free? at Women Who Money https://womenwhomoney.com/work-for-free-exposure-experience/ external_link 

The Marketing for Health Coaches Podcast Episode #9 How to Avoid Coaching for Free

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-marketing-for-health-coaches-podcast/id1667866641?i=1000605953298 

 

One Final Point | Consistent Content Creation

You had to know this one was coming, right? One final point, the content that you create on a consistent basis is your free coaching.  

By consistently creating content, you build trust with your ideal clients. All of this free content will increase your visibility, and build relationships with potential clients. 

When you consistently provide valuable content, you give your ideal client a sneak peek into your knowledge and how you can help them solve a problem. 

You see, if your content is helpful the right people will find you. When you’re consistent this is a gateway to success, so it is essential to make sure it's packed with valuable content.

Show Up Consistently—Without Doing It All Yourself

Your Podcast, Repurposed into a Full Marketing Strategy

A done-for-you repurposing service where we turn one piece of content into 5 Days of Marketing Content so you can grow your audience and impact in less time.

5 Days of Content from 1 Podcast Episode

  • 2 vertical video clips
  • 1 Carousel post graphic and caption
  • 1 Quote/Static post graphic and caption
  • 1 Graphic and caption to specifically promote the podcast episode
  • 4 Additional Social Media Captions

Time To Wrap This Up

The journey from employee to business owner mindset is not an easy one, but it is essential for the success and impact of your coaching business. 

By being mindful of when and how you offer your services for free, you can prevent the hidden side effects that can undermine your value and limit your ability to create change. 

Remember, your time and expertise are valuable resources that deserve to be exchanged for something of worth, whether it's money, testimonials, or referrals. 

As you continue to grow and develop your skills, don't be afraid to ask for what you deserve. 

And finally, by consistently creating valuable content, you can attract the right clients and build lasting relationships based on trust and expertise. Embrace your role as a content creator and watch your coaching business thrive.

The Content Blueprint: Goal Mapping for Consistent Content Creation

The Content Blueprint: Goal Mapping for Consistent Content Creation

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | The Content Blueprint: Goal Mapping for Consistent Content Creation

Have you ever wondered why some content creators seem to have an endless stream of ideas and consistently publish high-quality content each and every week? They make the whole thing seem effortless, am I right? Friend, you’re not alone! Maintaining consistent content is one of the biggest hurdles that I had to overcome in my business. I tease you not, when I say I went over a year without putting out one single piece of content on my website. Of course, this was long before I dip my toe into YouTube only to discover that podcasting was the right platform for me.

I stopped because the whole process of creating content week after week with seeing little to no traction, felt overwhelming. However, I knew that long game marketing would get me further than social media. I was not until I dug in my heels and decided I had to find an easier way. That is when I began the trial and error of figuring out what worked for me.

Discovering My Content Blueprint

Then, I set a goal. I was determined to be a consistent content creator; no more excuses. That became my goal: to be a consistent content creator and figure out how I could love creating content.

Goal Mapping for Consistent Content Creation

This is where goal mapping came into the picture. Goal mapping, for me, is creating a mind map of all the actions that need to happen to reach the goal. You can do this on paper, or I’ll map things out in MindMeister as well. 

No two days are the same for me if I’m chasing a lot of shiny objects that day. Paper, pen, and the sofa are my go-to. If I’m laser-focused, it is my office and MindMeister.

Making It Easy

Goal mapping is a powerful tool that helps you stay focused and motivated on your path to consistency. Friend, capture every thought; do not disqualify anything. Keep writing out every idea and thought that will make consistent content creation easy for you. 

Keep asking yourself: What else would make content creation easier? 

Let your mind come up with ways to make content creation feel simple to you. Often, we try to fit the process that works best for someone else and not for us. Don’t get me wrong; starting with something is better than starting from scratch. The key is to take that process as a starting point and make it work for you.

Continue to write down everything—until you have zero ideas popping into your head. Remember, at this point, no idea is too small or too ambitious. 

You’re simply getting all out of your head.

What’s Your Easy Button?

For me, the easy button was creating a checklist of everything I needed to do to create one piece of content. That checklist would be used time and time again and refined as my process changed. That one thing made it feel easier to me. What is your easy button?

When you’re unsure, remember all you need to do is ask yourself, “If I did know, what would it be?”

Maybe creating a system is right for you, too.

Perhaps you need to have structured creation days or even creation retreats to batch create and get the content done. 

I know that there are times when content pours out of me really easily, and other times, I’d spend hours forcing myself to write content.

Do you know the days when creating content is simple? If not, tracking this would be one of the pieces on your goal map. That would be an action because it is in your best interest to figure out how you create content easily.

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | The Content Blueprint: Goal Mapping for Consistent Content Creation

Be Realistic

How often are you able to be consistent? 

This is not a go-big or go-home. Nothing good comes from setting an unrealistic goal. It's about setting realistic; I’m a busy person who dislikes creating content expectations.

You see, my transition from being an inconsistent content creator to creating content on the regular took a hot minute. 

When I say a hot minute, it means a good couple of years of dread mixed in with tears of overwhelm, mainly because I did not take this advice. 

Of course, I did not set a realistic and achievable content creation goal. Quite the opposite, I set the once-a-week goal because that is what you should do, right? Wrong, looking back if I had given myself grace with a realistic goal I would have started to enjoy the process quicker.

What can you commit to? Does monthly content, sound like your sweetspot? Be honest and give yourself grace. Guess what? Creating one core piece of content consistently is better than creating content sporatically.

As you build up your consistency muscle, you can change your schedule. Nothing is forever. Figure out what you can commit to. Also, figure out if you need outside accountability or if you able to hold yourself accountable. 

What else needs to be on your goal mapping for consistent content creation?

Where will you be saving all of your content ideas? An action on your goal map will be to create an idea bank. Along those same line, how do you determine what is a good content idea?

Oh my goodness, I have a very long list of ideas in my idea bank. Likely, about half of them will see the outline column in my workflow. 

You see, making the decision on what is a good idea for content and what is a squirrel idea is always a good thing. When you’re scrambling to pick an idea for a piece of content to create. A good first question is, does it fit into my content pillars? 

If the answer is no, it's probably not a good content idea. 

We all have dreams and aspirations in life, but oftentimes, we struggle to turn them into reality. We get caught up in the daily grind and lose sight of our goals. If you do not enjoy the process of creating content, this will be the first thing that falls off the to-do list.

This is where goal mapping comes in. Goal mapping is a powerful tool that can help you stay focused and motivated on your journey towards consistency.

Show Up Consistently—Without Doing It All Yourself

Your Podcast, Repurposed into a Full Marketing Strategy

A done-for-you repurposing service where we turn one piece of content into 5 Days of Marketing Content so you can grow your audience and impact in less time.

5 Days of Content from 1 Podcast Episode

  • 2 vertical video clips
  • 1 Carousel post graphic and caption
  • 1 Quote/Static post graphic and caption
  • 1 Graphic and caption to specifically promote the podcast episode
  • 4 Additional Social Media Captions

Using Goal Mapping Effectively

You can create a clear roadmap for achieving your goals by breaking them down into smaller, more manageable steps. 

With goal mapping, you'll be able to visualize all the actions needed to achieve your goal. When you check off actions, you can see your progress, track your achievements, and stay on track even when faced with obstacles.

Creating consistent content is hard work, and goal mapping is an alternative approach to making your dreams a reality.

All The Actions To Get To Your End Goal

When you have your goal map, it is time to set dates and milestones. Since this was created with a mind map, actions are already grouped together. 

Next, it is about figuring out what comes first. You can do this by creating cards in Asana or Trello with each mind map branch and moving them around. Or if you’re a paper and pen gal, write these out on index cards and rearrange them to the right action order.

Your mind map contains all the actions you need to take to achieve your end goal, which is to be a consistent content creator. It’s okay if you missed an action or two; you can still ask yourself, “What else do I need to do to accomplish this goal?”

While they may seem silly, these are really things you need to decide on or do in order to become the person you want to be. We all have dreams and aspirations, but often, we get caught up in the daily grind and use that as an excuse to lose sight of them. 

Often times we use it as an excuse to put our goals on the back burner. You’ll tell yourself, I just don't have time for that. You do. You have time for whatever you make time for, but if you don't enjoy the process of creating content, I can guarantee you that's a hurdle that you need to overcome. In order to not put creating content on the back burner. 

Remember, you are not a consistent content creator yet—the “yet” that's so important to grasp. This is why goal mapping is essential—it's a powerful tool that helps you stay focused and motivated on your path to consistency. 

 

When You Break Down Your Goal

By breaking down your goals into small, manageable steps, you understand that little actions make huge progress. Even when things arise, and you feel overwhelmed, when your old thoughts begin to kick in, you are able to quiet that voice. 

You'll know exactly what you need to do because you've have dates assigned to those tasks. You have to decide on your timeframe. 

This is important, the timeframe is what is reasonable for you in order to make it achievable. 

Hopefully, you picked up, but I was laying down.

Time To Wrap This Up

I think I've said enough here today. I hope that you found this to be insightful and helpful in your goal mapping for consistent content creation. I hope that you leave with a newfound energy to tackle that content creation challenge that you're probably experiencing. 

Please remember you’re not alone. Creating organic content to drive traffic to your website can feel like a grind. Consistency is the hardest thing when you do not know if all your efforts are worth it. I know from my own experience that it's something that you can overcome. It comes from a little mindset shift and taking small, repeatable action steps week after week.

Because, friend, remember you are not a consistent content creator yet, but you will be. I know you will be. The key to success is starting small and building from there. 

Happy goal mapping and I'll see you next week. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you and I hope you have a wonderful week. 

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | The Content Blueprint: Goal Mapping for Consistent Content Creation