The benefits of half hour time blocking - BenefitsPro

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I’m not very good at time management.  I suspect I’m not the only one.  Early in my career, my manager said I should start each day with a prioritized “To Do” list and prepare the next day’s list before leaving the office that day.  Perhaps he said “leaving that night.”  I still do that today, but many of the projects towards the bottom of the list don’t get done.  However, now I’ve rediscovered time blocking.

Why don’t projects get done?  I can think of three reasons:

1. Avoidance.  I don’t want to do them.  Prospecting tops the list.
2. Down the rabbit hole.  I get wrapped up in the small details like wasting time checking an address for one name when there are 500 names to get through.  The project stretches on.
3. Distractions.  Email is a big one for me.  The computer screen lets me know new messages have arrived.

Why 30-minute time blocking is the solution

There’s another related reason:  Fatigue.  The project seems to have no end.  Cutting the day into 30-minute segments seems to solve lots of these problems.

I take my list of projects and assign one or more 30-minute time slots to the project.  Prospecting is a good example.  Once the project is done, I move onto the next one.  You might think 30 minutes spent prospecting is not enough.  You are right!  Projects like that get more than one 30-minute segment, but they are spread throughout the day.

Here’s why my strategy works;

1. Focus.  For 30 minutes I work on that project and only that project.  No temptation to check out email.  Why?  Because cleaning up and responding to emails gets its own timeslot.
2. Variety.  I get bored easily.  I get sloppy.  It’s not difficult to focus your attention if it’s only for 30 minutes.  Then I move onto a totally different project, which has a fresh appeal.
3. Think about mail delivery.  It’s tempting to check email every time something arrives.  I equate email with the USPS surface mail.  It’s delivered once a day.  I’m fine with checking it once, later in the day.  If something is really important, the person can call or send a text.
4. Phone calls.  They can be scheduled, yet they can be a welcome distraction.  When an advisor calls with a question about something I taught or an article I wrote, it’s an opportunity to interact.  Here’s an important point to consider:  When I was in production, we lived in New York City.  Three minutes was a fine length for a phone call.  You can get a lot done in three minutes.  A call like that doesn’t steal that much time from a 30-minute segment.
5. Achievements.  At the end of each day, I write in my business journal.  What did I accomplish today?  My aim is to list at least 10 good things or projects completed.  Each of those 30-minute segments represents an accomplishments. 

Exceptions to the rules

You are not a financial monk, rising early in the morning, working all day, eating dinner, then going to sleep and repeating the process again.  You have a life.  The 30-minute segments merely define your average workday.

1. Office hours.  Even when working from home, you should keep set hours.  The office might close at 5:00 or 6:00 PM on most days.  You stop working.  When I leave my office, my wife asks: “Is the office closed?”
2. Breaks.  These need to be included too.  Since I work from home, I get started about 7:30 AM.  (Catching up on LinkedIn is my first activity!)  About 9:45 AM I take my “Perry Mason break” joining my wife for the last 15 minutes of a B+W Perry Mason rerun on TV. That’s a coffee break for everyone else.
3. Lunch.  It’s important to physically leave the office for lunch.  For me, it’s 12:30 to 1:30 PM.  Afterwards I head back to work.  If you have returned to your downtown office, lunch should take you away from your office.  The change of scenery helps “vacuum your head.”
4. The last activity.  My last two activities are planning the next day’s schedule and recording the day’s activities in my business journal.

Time management has been around forever.  If you adopt some techniques like time blocking, you will be amazed at how much you can get accomplished in a day without wearing yourself out!

Bryce Sanders is president of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc. He provides HNW client acquisition training for the financial services industry. His book, “Captivating the Wealthy Investor” can be found on Amazon.

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