Breaking your weekly and daily schedules into a Block Schedule will change your whole outlook on how to run your business. There was a time when we’d jump from task to task with the goal of crossing each one off of our lists. It didn’t take long for us to realize we were going about our to-do lists all wrong. Enter a block schedule and our whole world changed. This scheduling tool has allowed us to work smarter versus harder,  stay focused on the task at hand and not feel “all over the place.”

What is a Block Schedule?

A block schedule consists of smaller, everyday task lists instead of a large, never-ending to-do list. Each task is given a block of time to be completed each day.

4 Reasons to use a Block Schedule:

1. By using a block schedule, you’ll be proactive in your work versus reactive.

Have you ever had one of those days when you woke up, checked your email, frantically ran to your office to reply because you felt like it needed immediate attention, and then looked over to the pile of paperwork that was left unattended the day before, filed them, jumped back on your email, replied some more, and then after six hours of work felt like you didn’t accomplish a single thing you had hoped to work on?

This schedule keeps you in charge of your day rather than your day being in charge of you. Every business has weekly / monthly to-do’s, as well as new project daily tasks. Automatically schedule weekly/monthly tasks in blocks of time because they are a given. For example, emails. Schedule a block of time to respond and write new emails. During this time, your focus should be solely on emails and nothing else. Once the time block is up, move on to the next scheduled block.

2. A block schedule helps you prioritize.

When you say yes to a task, you’re giving it priority over any other task at hand even if it’s less important. Answering that phone call may interrupt the solid hour you had to write a blog post or write a proposal to a new client, when in fact those to-do’s were more important for the growth of your business than listening to your insurance company explain your new benefits. By selecting tasks and scheduling blocks to focus solely on them, you’re declaring the importance of the task and prioritizing it over any other small to-do that may not help your business at that moment. Prioritizing equals productivity and productivity equals success.

3.   A block schedule keeps you healthy.

How many work days have you completed and realized you never drank water or ate lunch? We’re guilty too! So many times as business owners we get caught up in the list at hand and forget self-care! How does a thirsty and hungry body produce quality work? Friend, schedule blocks for self-care: Lunch, Snacks, Water Breaks, Exercise! Not only will the schedule keep you fed and well hydrated, but it’ll also remove all stress and anxiety of wanting to do it all with not enough hours in the day. We didn’t quit our 9-5’s to work 24/7. Repeat that to yourself as many times as you need!

4. A block schedule helps you say important no’s that will lead you to your best YES!

There are three life-changing books we’ve read, and we want to share them with you. ‘The Best Yes‘ ‘A Simplified Life‘ & ‘Present Over Perfect’ We are “The Busy Bee,” and there was a time when we lived up to that name. We were BUSY, but busy didn’t equal productivity. These three books helped us realize we needed to say some really hard, yet important no’s in order to get to our best yes. This yes would lead to better sleep, more family time and better self-care while allowing us to do what we loved. A block schedule is a helpful tool that will help you decipher the important no’s to get to your best yes.

Soon, we’ll be sharing how we use a block schedule for work, projects and blogging full time but in the meantime, we wanted to help you get started by giving you a Free Block Schedule Printable!

Be sure to share and use the hashtag #TheBusyBossChallenge so we can cheer you on!

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