How to Block Your Weekly Schedule

Want my 15-minute rule for calendar management? I used this rule as a CPA to help manage my calendar like a pro during tax season. Here's how it transforms productivity: ➡️ Block Everything in 15-Minute Increments Your calendar isn't just for meetings. Block EVERYTHING - focus time, breaks, email checking. This creates a realistic view of your actual capacity. ➡️ Color-Code by Energy Level Green: High-focus tasks requiring creativity and problem-solving Yellow: Medium-focus tasks like client meetings Red: Low-energy tasks like administrative work Schedule according to your natural energy peaks. ➡️ Create Buffer Zones Always add 15-minute buffers between meetings. This prevents the domino effect of one delay destroying your entire day. ➡️ Protect Your "Power Blocks" Identify when you're most productive and defend those time blocks ruthlessly. For you, it might be as an example 10am-12pm. Nothing but high-value work happens then. ➡️ The "One Task, One Block" Rule Multi-tasking is a myth. Assign ONE clear deliverable to each time block. The specificity creates accountability. ➡️ Weekly Reality Check Every Sunday, review your upcoming week and ask: "Is this realistic?" Be honest about what you can actually accomplish. ➡️ Non-Negotiable Self-Care Schedule self-care blocks with the same importance as client meetings. Your brain needs rest to perform at its peak. What's your biggest calendar management challenge? — Enjoy this? ♻️ Repost it to your network and follow Dr. Jackie Meyer, CPA for more. Want to transform your tax practice into a high-profit, lower-stress business? Join 18,000+ tax professionals in my newsletter at https://lnkd.in/guJeM_VH

I'm excited to share my system for staying productive all day, every day. This system allowed me to sell over $100M in my B2B sales career, then build a 7 figure coaching business working an average of 40 hours/week. Most importantly, my nights and weekends are free to spend with my family. Here's are the 3 simple steps I take every single week: Step 1: Complete a Weekly Plan & Scorecard at the beginning of each week On Monday mornings (or Sunday evening), I print and fill out a Weekly Plan & Scorecard. On this document, I write down all the important tasks and action items I aspire to get done that week in no particular order. I then rank each task in order of priority, typically prioritizing RGA's (Revenue Generating Activities) for my business. I originally took this scorecard from a book called the 12 Week Year, then adapted it to include a "Rank" column, which allows me to prioritize each action item. Prioritizing the Action Items allows me to know where to start every day, and prevents me from getting overwhelmed. Step 2: Daily Task Blocking in Calendar Whitespace At the beginning of each weekday, I fill up all the whitespace on my calendar for that day with high priority tasks taken directly from the Weekly Plan & Scorecard. This ensures that the most important tasks for the week get done first and eliminates daily decision fatigue. The key is to put the specific tasks on your calendar so there's no empty space. If for some reason any tasks on the calendar don't get completed for that day, I move them to the next day in any open whitespace. Step 3: Weekly Scoring At the end of each week, I score my performance using the simple formula: Tasks Completed / Tasks Written Down = Score % My goal is to score 85% or higher each week, although admittedly there are many weeks where I fall short. If there are any tasks that didn't get completed that week, they get moved to the following week. I rinse and repeat this process every single week. This ensures that I SHOW UP every single day, and stay productive throughout the entire work week. Additional keys to success include: 1. Taking short breaks when you feel mentally drained. Stretching, a short walk, and standing desk do wonders to change your state. 2. Minimize the number of daily meetings on your calendar (4 or less is optimal) to stay focused and ensure you have enough whitespace to get deep work done. 3. Give yourself an hour lunch to break up the work day. Every day I have lunch with my wife, and that's also on the calendar. 4. Do one thing at a time 5. If you have an unproductive day, forgive yourself. Of course, this is all easier said than done... That's why next week, in our 2nd *Transformation Tuesday* LIVE training session, I'm going to walk you through exactly how to leverage The 12 Week Year (and Weekly Scorecard) to transform your productivity and your life. Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/gsPsq2XR Only 500 spots available due to Zoom webinar limit!

Are you winging it today? I've found there's a direct correlation between the quality of my planning and the effectiveness of the day that follows. Most great weeks are preceded by planning it out over the weekend. Almost every productive day was planned out the night before. A few things I've learned over the years: Time blocking is your friend. Setting priorities is vital. Use the 80/20 principle. And the rule of three. Write it by hand. First, I write out my locked in calls, meetings, etc. Then, I time block around those scheduled things. I also utilize time blocking in my calendar to give myself some space; without it, the calls will stack up. I need big blocks of time in my day to do focused work; to put on Do Not Disturb and get after it. These usually come in 90 minute blocks. There is simply not enough caffeine in North America for back to back web calls on back to back days. The 80/20 principle guides decision making on where to spend time. The rule of three further guides this. I want to spend my time on the 20% of things that create the 80% of results and value. While knowing that I can't accomplish more than three important tasks in a day. These tasks need to take me closer to my quarterly goals, which are also governed by the rule of three. I can do three awesome things in 90 days, but I can't do 90 awesome things in three days. What tools or guidelines do you use to help you plan and be productive? #productivity #planning #getafterit

I've performed this business growth ritual every Monday for 200 weeks It's my secret weapon for running an independent consulting business It's not meditation or visualization or affirmation. It's much more mundane: Weekly Planning. Every Monday, I create a plan for the week and I intentionally decide how I will spend my precious time. I follow these steps: 1. Goal Review: Review my progress toward annual, quarterly, and monthly goals     2. Project Prioritization: Stack-rank the projects I'm working on based on importance and urgency for the week, aligned with goals     3. Task Scheduling: Based on project priorities, I schedule key tasks throughout the week and—this is important—block time on the calendar I began this ritual back in my corporate job, with a sheet of paper and an Eisenhower matrix. Today, it's evolved into a database-driven efficiency machine. But the system was hand-crafted to support the ritual, not the reverse. If you want to grow a profitable business, then be intentional about how you spend your time. Do you own your calendar or does your calendar own you? P.S. If you want more tactics for running a successful independent consulting business, click "view my newsletter" at the top of this post.