Hey cultivator, Welcome back to my channel.
I'm Curious if you ever set out to do something on your to do list when job
searching and realize that the day has slipped by and nothing on that list got
completed. If yes,
then you'll definitely want to take up this video because I'm going to be
talking about my three time management hacks that I personally utilize to make
sure whenever I have a busy day or a ton of distractions,
I stay committed and focused to the task at hand.
So what I'm going to go over is going to be job search specifics.
However you can really extrapolate all of this and apply it to your entire life
and your career.
Because at the end of the day it really goes to organization and time
management. those are the two areas that I'm going to cover in this video.
All right, so tip number one I have for you is prioritization.
Now I know it sounds simple, on the surface, however,
when we actually implemented it can be quite difficult.
So I'm going to give you a little trick here.
Anytime I have things that I need to do,
I brain dump a huge laundry list. However,
I always go back to line by line putting numbers in circles next to them so he
know what order I need to complete tasks by.
And I know that I don't do step number three until I'd have completed step
numbers one and two. So this will really give you some structure and some order,
which I find to be very important when job searching,
because I know a lot of us get that shiny object syndrome such as I need to
write my resume, but I also need to complete my online portfolio.
And I also want to update my LinkedIn profile and maybe clean up my Instagram
and personal brand and so forth. Right?
So we're kind of pulled into like all of these different directions.
But what happens in that instance is that we make very small progress in various
directions, but there's not a main focus at hand where we can say,
Oh my gosh, I've completed that item. I feel really good about that.
And now I have so much more head space to focus on this next project.
So you can think about all of the different stages of your job search as many
projects and in order to complete a project,
you want to make sure that you can completely check it off the list before you
move to the next step. And the steps are really important. By the way,
if you have not yet downloaded the dream job roadmap PDF,
I'll link it down below.
But having those steps are so important and critical in your job search because
job searching really is like building a house.
If you don't have the strong foundation, in other words,
you don't have clarity or an understanding of what you're saying,
who you're speaking to and so forth.
It doesn't matter if you put up the walls like your resume, your LinkedIn, um,
nothing is going to like really solidify or stay there until you have that
foundation in place. So a highly recommend, not skipping steps,
really understanding your priorities,
what needs to happen first and then next,
and then after that so that you can ultimately land at the offer letter,
which is the end goal in mind. All right, so we talked about prioritization.
Now I want to go into my hack number two, which is all about time blocking.
Perhaps you guys have heard this phrase thrown around before,
but it's essentially where you block off certain days and times to focus on
specific tasks. So I know for a lot of us, myself included,
we're so used to refreshing our inboxes or continuously opening up Instagram or
any type of social media and just looking at updates throughout the day.
But every time we do a certain task and then we try to focus our attention on
something else and then go back to that task,
it eats up a lot of our energy and a lot of our mental capacity to really focus
in the most effective way possible.
Because every time we switch gears or we switch our focus,
it takes time for our brains to catch up. Like, Oh yeah, this is what I'm doing.
And that's why generally speaking they say no human is really that good at
multitasking because we can only have so much mental capacity to give our full
undivided attention to certain activities. So when it comes to time blocking,
I highly recommend for your job search that you schedule things just like you do
in meetings in the corporate workplace, right?
So you might know like from 10 to 12 I am going into this marketing meeting and
we're discussing this topic and this is what we're accomplishing during these
two hours. But during that meeting, you're not necessarily answering the phone,
you're not necessarily at checking your email.
Hopefully you're just staying focused on that one attention.
And when you have, again, your priority list,
this is where you can start to put those into time blocks. So for instance,
I might say instead of breaking down like I want to complete a resume today or
this week and keep it really vague,
I might time block certain sections of the resume.
Like I know I really want to complete a really strong profile summary today.
Like that's my top priority.
And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to schedule this from 10 o'clock to 11
o'clock because I know it's a small section,
but I want to dedicate a full hour to just brainstorming all of the different
ways that I can share my narrative, right? And so when you can do that,
you can make sure that you're focused and you're blocked and you know exactly
what's gonna be on your calendar throughout the day.
And you also time block in your lunches, your breaks, um,
when you are checking emails. Personally, I check my emails three times a day,
10:00 AM I think 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM. So outside of that,
I'm not refreshing my inbox or constantly responding to random emails.
Everything gets done in those specific allocated time blocks where I'm just
dedicating to that one.
So the same goal applies for you and your job search. Again,
if you're looking at the dream job roadmap, really block out,
when do I want to complete this LinkedIn profile by what would need to go into
this time block or this time block or this time block?
How much time do I need specifically for this one activity or this one section?
And you can really start to map out your day around when you're also at your
best.
What I mean by this is I know that I'm most creative at night and I just thrive
in the kind of like the nocturnal setting.
So whenever in creating new content for instance,
it's not something that I'm going to be doing early in the morning just because
I don't operate that way. But you might.
So I would ask when am I at my best for what kind of activities?
And just build your schedule around that.
Now you might be working full time and not have like the eight to five available
so you know, are you going to be at your best on nights or on weekends?
And really start to again think about what hours do I want to dedicate and
devote to each step of my job search. I know when it comes to networking,
for instance, a lot of us might just be randomly,
haphazardly I reaching out to people. But maybe you set up a time block of,
you know, you want to spend an hour on Tuesday evening.
I'm just sitting down with my dessert and going through LinkedIn to see who it
is that I admire and just build out a list.
And then maybe on Thursday at lunch you decide, you know what,
I feel most social during this hour,
I'm going to go ahead and start reaching out to those people on that list I
compiled, I always told my clients, if you can treat it like non-negotiables,
like you're in a meeting at work and you can't just cancel or not show up, um,
you know,
do that for yourself because you're going to be the only one accountable to your
job search.
Nobody cares more than you other than me about your success and landing your
dream job, right? And maybe your partner. So, um,
I highly recommend just making sure you know what you're committed to,
what your goals are, and then it's time to move into tip number three,
which is all about finding that focus. All right. So tip number three,
which is finding your focus means that you know exactly what your non-negotiable
is of the day. I know a lot of us can get distracted,
but no matter what,
every single morning you should know what is it that I want to accomplish today?
That no matter what happens, how busy I get, how tired I get,
I'm not going to go to bed until I complete this one task. So for me,
during the mornings when I have my cup of coffee with my breakfast,
I'm always thinking about what is like the one big thing that I really want to
tackle to say, wow, today was a really productive day.
It's so glad that I was able to get that done and I really commit to that one
thing. Um, and I make sure that I focus on prioritizing that.
So again, this goes back to your own style and what you thrive in.
And you might want to experiment. Um,
I personally experimented for over a year before I got my system down. Uh,
but you know, for some people they say that they like to complete their biggest,
most challenging tasks at the beginning of the day and just get it done with.
So then everything else seems manageable.
I personally don't thrive that way because I like having small successes and
wins. Um,
and I also like to just make sure that before I tackle a big task at hand,
I have a clear mind. And so for me,
what that means is I actually thrive best when I check my emails again at 10:00
AM I get back to all of my clients because I don't want in the back of my mind
thinking, Oh, shoot, Alyssa needs this. Or Oh shoot, I owe this client this.
Right? I just declutter my mind if you will,
and just check through all of those small wins and boxes that I know are very
task-based that I can get done really easily and quickly and then again go into
my prioritization by time block and then focus on what does that one big thing.
When am I going to do that during the day? And I make sure that it gets done.
So if you can do that too and apply that to your job search,
there's no reason why,
you know a week would go by that you still haven't touched your resume or you
still haven't reached out to the contacts that you have or the hiring managers
that you want to connect with, right?
Because you're setting these very intentional goals,
you know when you're doing it,
that's important just having very like specific times and just doing it because
again,
nothing is more liberating than checking something off the list that you've
completed that and just know as well that your job search really is a marathon
rather than a sprint. And so when you can put in this structure in place,
you're more likely to keep the momentum up and continue progressing forward in
your job search versus job searching off and on for years on end because you
haven't fully committed to the step-by-step foundations throughout your job
search that you need in order to succeed. So again,
if you have not yet downloaded the dream job roadmap,
you can find it down below.
If you guys are watching this from the happily hired program,
you actually have all of the detailed step by step instructions,
all of the trainings through the job search.
So hopefully you're calendaring that in and making sure that you're chiseling
away day by day or week by week and you're ultimately landing to where you need
to be. If you have your own tips, drop them down in the comments down below.
I read every single one of your comments and I feel that we can all learn from
one another. Again,
I'd want to emphasize that what works for me may not necessarily work for you,
and if you don't know what works for you,
just tough fun with experimenting and you might go through some trial and error.
That's okay. I'll live.
Your experiences are going to inform more of what works for you and what doesn't
work, so I can't wait to see where you land. Until then,
I hope that you continue to cultivate your life and career and don't forget to
subscribe and like this video and comment down below so that it helps the
YouTube algorithm. And until next time we will talk very soon.