Personal Time Blocking For Success!
One key to success is a simple but powerful technique called "time blocking." Time blocking involves consistently setting aside time for the high priority activities – those that are important (urgent or not) as it relates to the critical growth areas in your life. When you use time blocking you are, in essence, making an appointment with yourself! Ideally you should block time for important activities in both your work and personal life that will have the greatest impact on the growth your desire.
Personal Time Blocking -
You cannot be effective in your work if your inner reserves are depleted. Making time to “recharge your batteries” will actually boost your energy. Block time for exercise, contemplation, relaxation or recreation. Be sure to carve out time for family or friends as well. And, before committing to anything else, be sure to pencil in some vacation time too – this is very important! Then, treat appointments with yourself as respectfully as you would with others.
Time Blocking at Work -
What if you had two uninterrupted hours every day to focus on nothing else but your most important activities? The time might be spent planning or working on one or more projects, sales calls or marketing efforts, personal development, networking, or learning something that will add value to your work. Just two hours dedicated to the really important things. Keep in mind that these two hours are focused, uninterrupted work time and do not include all the other time spent traveling, in meetings, talking by phone, sending emails or any other activities not directly related to your original focus.
As a salesperson and/or business owner, consider the major things you might want to schedule into personal appointments (time blocked) in order to plan and execute for optimal effectiveness. For example, when I started in print sales, it became clear that face to face appointments were critical to developing relationships that would grow into significant clients. I decided one of the most important activities I was neglecting was the one that would usually yield the most appointments – phone calls to schedule those appointments! This was one of my least preferred sales activities; yet I knew if I just planned the calls and followed through, I would get results. And that I did. Each morning around 8:30 I had a personal appointment with myself to make calls. This time was treated at the same level of importance as a typical sales appointment – meaning I would not see other people, take other calls, check email, or do anything other than remain focused on the purpose of my appointment during this time. You can even take this a step further and tell your manager or an accountability partner that you have these “personal appointments” – creating a level of accountability.
The bottom line as it relates to sales: clarify the goals you most want to accomplish this year and the key tasks respective to your success; then schedule personal appointments with yourself (recurring or planned) to execute the tasks you’ve identified.
Make personal appointments with yourself to achieve the success you want!