- I don't know how we came up with the idea
for naming this calendar blocking
because every time I say it,
I think to myself,
"This sounds like a really aggressive sporting event
"involving my schedule."
At least at the end of this game,
you know you're gonna win the ultimate prize, more time.
(upbeat music)
Good morning, good life,
welcome back to AmyTV where we come together
to help you go after the life you want.
Take a look at your calendar,
what do you see?
Maybe it's a digital,
filled with random birthdays and some doctor's appointments,
or maybe you're the type
that has one laying flat on your desk
and you scribble lots of notes
for things that you hope you don't forget.
No matter what type of scheduler,
calendar user that you are,
these things can be used in so many different ways
for so many different things.
But, ultimately, it's the calculator of your life.
How much time do you actually have?
It's all displayed right here in your calendar.
So in today's video,
I wanna talk about one of my favorite strategies
for going after the life that you want,
and that is the practice of calendar blocking.
Whether you're new to the concept or not,
I'm going to introduce you to the technique
and talk about the keys to leveraging it
to becoming more productive.
If you like productivity videos just like this,
make sure you subscribe to this channel
and turn notifications on.
Also, just so you know ahead of time,
there is a fun printable download in the description
so that you can get started
with calendar blocking right away.
(upbeat music)
Calendar blocking is the act of scheduling chunks of time
on your schedule for things you plan to do.
But it's not a specific type of thing
that needs to qualify to go on the calendar.
When you are properly calendar blocking,
you're adding everything to your schedule.
Your need to do's,
your want to do's,
tasks, appointments, even free time.
As a matter of fact,
I recommend you use calendar blocking
for absolutely anything that you can think of
as much as you're comfortable with.
Because the more that you use it,
the more you can see how much time things actually take
and how much that extra time that you have,
that free time that seems to slip away so easily,
how precious it is and how easily we give it away.
First, I don't want you to waste any time.
Sit down with your calendar
and just start scheduling everything that you always do.
Do you work Monday through Friday from nine to five?
Add it to the calendar.
Do you drop the kids of at school on your way there?
Add it to the calendar?
Do you sleep?
Okay, well maybe life isn't so simple,
but, yeah, it's a very important appointment
that you have with yourself every single day
for a very extended period of time,
and it should be on the calendar.
Okay, now take a look at that.
These are the things that you always do,
whether you want to or not.
You're keeping pretty busy, aren't you?
What about the wish you were's or the someday's,
or the try to's of your life?
Where are they gonna go?
You can look at the state of this calendar right now
and just get frustrated.
You can absolutely do that,
that is something a lot of people right now,
if they just did key number one,
they will do that.
But what good is that going to do?
I'll tell you the same thing that I said
in a Tweet recently,
your reaction doesn't add
or takeaway from any given situation.
It adds or takes away from you.
If you react to the remaining time on your calendar,
what you actually have to work with
in a glass half full type of mentality,
this is not going to work for you.
You're allowing the status quo to be the case going forward,
you don't have the mindset that it takes
to make changes in your life.
That is a state that is going south,
that is not calendar blocking your life to success.
If you want this to work,
you need to be in the right head space.
I want you to grab that half full glass of wine,
and look at it for what it is.
It's a beautiful thing,
you have a job,
you have a family,
you have a life,
and that takes time.
And those are all the good things
that are happening right now,
we just want a little bit more.
This is pretty good, actually,
I think I'm pretty happy with this (laughs).
Get out of your own way,
say cheers and move on.
Now, take a break from the calendar for a second
and list the tasks you need to do.
Not things someone needs to do,
not things you want to do,
things you need to do,
that if you don't,
there will be a direct consequence.
We're not trying to test the waters
or add any potential risk into our lives.
So that we don't feel like we're falling behind
on the things that are vitally important,
we need to get ahead of them,
and that is where calendar blocking can help us.
So just address them,
right them down,
put down the things you need to do.
Based on the knowledge you have of previous experience
or what you think might happen,
write down next to those tasks
how long you think they're going to take.
Is it one hour?
Is it 20 minutes?
Maybe it's longer than two hours
if you had to estimate.
Now we're gonna dive into that calendar.
Based on what you think it's going to take
to get those things done,
block spaces of time
to when you can do the tasks you need to do.
I don't know about you,
but when I go through this process,
I immediately feel better
that there is now a date and time,
and potentially a game plan for doing something
that is looming over me.
Is it the hardest part?
No, actually making it happen is the hardest part,
but if it's always sitting on an arbitrary list
that doesn't represent the actual time in your life,
it's not even close to getting done.
But if you actually make it a point
to decide when you're gonna focus on something,
it feels a lot better and you're not procrastinating on it.
Things happen, the timing might be a little off
and maybe you have to reschedule something,
but doing your best to get ahead of the game
is sometimes half the battle.
This is where it gets very fun,
start listing the tasks that you want to do,
or the things that excite you,
that you wish you were doing.
Have you been wanting to start a side hustle business?
Do you wish you were fluent in a foreign language?
Have you been meaning to write that book?
There are a lot of things that we wish we were doing,
but the most amount of time we have dedicated to any of them
is scrolling somebody else's social media feed
to be a little bit jealous
of the success that they have found
in that particular area that you haven't even tried to do.
This reminder of the lack of our accomplishments
is not inspiring.
What does inspire you?
Get them out of your head,
write them down.
Which ones feel right,
which ones maybe feel a little bit off?
Which ones feel like you can see yourself in that scenario?
Which ones get you so excited
that you wish you weren't making a list right now
and you wanna immediately get up and go do the thing,
and (shouts) shiny object syndrome.
Pick one, which one genuinely excites you the most?
Calendar blocking is a great idea,
and maybe you need to get more productive
in all the things in your life.
But if there's not something on your calendar
that actually gets you excited
that you did all the stuff you had to do
and now you get to focus on what's important to you
or what you aspire to,
it's just kind of a worthless strategy
that we're not gonna take seriously
more than the first time.
Decide what the first step is going to be
on that thing you want to do,
and block it on your calendar.
If you can't find any free time for the next few weeks
and you really can't move anything, that's okay.
Schedule it, look forward to it,
you have something to look forward to.
But maybe also there's something on your calendar
that you don't actually have to do.
That need to do conversation,
the things we say we need to,
otherwise there will be consequences,
we often put things on that list
that don't actually have to be done by us.
So maybe this is a moment
to reassess some of those things and say,
"I really wanna start writing my book,
"do I really have to do that other thing?
"There are things I have to do,
"but is that one of them?"
The more proactive that you get
about scheduling your whole life,
your tasks, your needs,
your wants, your inspiration,
the better you get at saying no to things that don't matter.
Oh, and then we find some more free time then, don't we?
Yes, yes we do.
Mm, excellent.
One of the most important things
when I've got all my tasks,
my appointments, my stuff I gotta do on the calendar
and it's starting to get a little crazy,
color code, color code, color code.
I need something that's gonna tell me,
"Girlfriend, hair and makeup required, okay?"
Use different colors on your calendar
to distinguish between different things.
So if it's important that something's an appointment
so it's in pink,
versus a task so it's in green,
then do that.
I need bright colors when I need to leave the house,
get properly dressed and do my hair.
You need to wave down a plane when that's the case.
But if it's like a work from home day
and I'm just chugging away at some administrative stuff
or doing things around the house,
it's a softer color on my calendar.
It's like a light, light pink.
This is where calendar blocking gets really fun,
is when you use this sister strategy of task batching.
It's more of an advanced look
at all the things that you need to do,
appointments or tasks,
and trying to find the similarities
so that you can do similar tasks at the same time
when you're in that mode.
These types of things can add up.
Don't go to the bank on one day,
the grocery the next day
and the dry cleaner the day after that.
Knock all of that stuff out,
you'll probably find
that you're quicker in each of those scenarios
and can do all three in less than two hours,
and you're not running around all over creation
every other day of the week.
And here's a pro tip
that hopefully will give you a little bit of confidence,
don't fall into the trap
that you batching your time is inconveniencing others.
Absolutely no one is going to respect your time
the way you need to respect your time.
If you want others to respect it,
you have to have boundaries.
You're not going to eventually teach them
how to respect your time,
you have to have the boundaries,
you have to follow through with them,
and you just gotta say,
"Sorry, I don't meet people for coffee
"at eight o'clock on Monday mornings.
"I have many, many, many, many better things to do
"to start my week off right,
"even though I value your time.
"I want it to be undistracted
"and I want it to be valuable,
"so Thursday at three sound good?"
Because I know in my head
when I take those type of appointments.
Set those boundaries and actually follow through with them,
people are gonna be fine with it.
And if they're not,
find better people.
This is your chance,
this is a moment for you to show up intentionally
for the things you need and want to do.
There are going to be many times daily
that people want to nudge you to do something
that's going to take you off track of your calendar block.
Like the suggestion to stay up late
and watch that extra episode on Netflix
when you planned on getting an early start in the morning.
Or that invitation to happy hour
when you had already scheduled time
to just be with your family at home.
Do not be afraid to be ruthless about your time.
Your most precious asset is time,
you can always make more money,
but time continues to leave your bank account of life
no matter what you do to try to stop it.
Look, there it goes, crap.
And you wanna make time
to make sure you're spending your time wisely.
I like to do a weekly reflection every Sunday,
I've actually done a video on that
if you would like to check it out.
But this is the moment where I look at my calendar,
I schedule those tasks,
I make sure that time is batched appropriately.
I reschedule things as I need to
and I prepare myself mentally
for what I'm going into for the week.
Okay, and here is a bonus key tip for you,
start with one small win
in calendar blocking to success
and develop a morning routine.
I believe that you will realize how capable you are
of being ruthless with your time
when you start the day on your terms.
I have a manual for success in that regard in my new book,
"Good Morning, Good Life:
"5 Simple Habits to Master Your Mornings
"and Upgrade Your Life."
Links to where you can get your copy on Amazon or Audible
will be in the description below.
All right, here's your question of the day.
What's something that you're looking forward
to calendar blocking on your schedule this week?
Leave that in a comment down below.
That's all for today,
thank you so much for tuning in,
I appreciate it as always.
Make sure you subscribe for good vibes,
kiss the ones you love,
and go after the life you want.
Cheers.
Have you heard the news?
"Good Morning, Good Life" is an Amazon best seller.
Thousands have already joined the movement
and are starting each day on their terms.
So if you're finally ready to do the same
and go after the life you want,
take your pick.
The book is now available on Kindle,
paperback and Audible.
More details can be found at goodmorninggoodlife.com.
Hello, hello, hello,
welcome to my new home (laughs).
Do I look awake yet?
It's a little early for me to be filming.
I hope you have bloopers,
oh, maybe that was one.
Let's make sure all this crap is turned off
because it's like calendar blocking, get it.
Make sure you sub (mumbles).
I knew my tummy was gonna rumble
if I didn't eat that banana,
dang it, should've eaten the banana, shoot.
I got loud bracelets over here.
(bracelets jiggling)
That was a good improv moment, good.
Oh, I was gonna have wine for this, shoot.
Dang it, maybe we can get the husband to do it, hold on.
- [Husband] Hello.
- I need a favor.
Can you bring me a half of a glass of wine,
not full and not empty, half.
- [Husband] Yep.
- That would be really great.
- [Husband] What kind of glass?
- You know, any glass with wine in it
is a a wine glass to me.
Thank you.
I almost thought I didn't turn the camera on (laughs).
That would have been a little late.
We're done, (moans).
How did we do?
Did we do okay?
This is the first one in this space
and I don't know how it's gonna be,
but I'm freezing because it's cold outside
and I had to turn my heater off.
There's that.