You can always make more money but you can’t make more time - this is something I’m always saying to my clients.

Do you ever sit down at your desk on a Monday morning, stare at your big to-do list of what you want to be working on, and get completely overwhelmed knowing what to prioritise to move your business forward? I get it.

I’ve had that to-do list as long as my arm staring me in the face and it can be so hard to know what tasks are good for you and what you enjoy, versus what tasks are just dead space.

I’ve been online for over 7 years now. I run a business, I create a lot of content, and I also have a personal life. So it’s safe to say that I’ve become a bit of a ninja when it comes to managing my time and some of my most loyal followers call me the time blocking queen...what can I say?!

So if you’re struggling to get everything done and stay on top of your schedule, keep reading for my actionable tips on how you can block your time and protect the hell out of it.

P.S. If you want to know how to prioritise your money making tasks so you can generate consistently monthly income, save your spot at my FREE From Productivity To Profit Challenge here.

MY 5 BEST SECRETS TO HELP YOU GET MORE DONE WITH YOUR SCHEDULE

#1 | Keep A Time Journal

Are you amazing at putting way too much on your to-do list or underestimating how long it’s going to take you to do a certain task? Then you need to keep a time journal and it is what it says on the tin.

A time journal allows you to track your time and how long it takes you to do the key activities that are pretty constant in your week so for instance, commuting to the gym, working out, making dinner and so on. You can track this on the notes on your phone, track it just on a notepad or use an actual timer app to track it.

You will be astonished at how much time you waste doing things like scrolling through social media or watching Netflix or just procrastinating. This will also make you realise how much time you actually have available to get things done during the week if you knew how to do it efficiently.

Plus if you’re really going to plan out your week to get things done and feel amazing about it, you need to know how long things actually take you to do so you can realistically map it out.

#2 | Ask Yourself Some Questions

The biggest question you have about your to-do list is, “what do I do first?” - right? So when you look at your major to-do list that you’ve got sitting in front of you, which lists all of the things you think you need to be doing, ask 3 questions and be really honest about them.

Does this need to be done?
Does this need to be done right now?
Does this need to be done by me?

Once you ask yourself these questions about everything you have on your to-do list and on your never-ending list of tasks, you’ll start to realise there’s a lot you can take off it.

Ask those questions, get real honest, and then:

Delete or delegate anything that doesn’t need to be done by you
Delete anything that doesn’t need to be done at all
Or postpone it if it doesn’t need to be done right now

#3 | Set Weekly Goals

The reason I’m teaching you how to plan your week vs how to plan your day is because of weekly goals.

I realised that when I tried to plan every single day there’s too much variation, you never know what could come at you during a day. So I like to give myself spaciousness so I don’t feel so stressed out about my daily tasks and that’s why I like to set weekly goals instead of a daily to-do list or a daily task list.

Trust me - this in itself is going to change your life and I’m going to explain how to do this in a later step.

Keep in mind that we’re focusing on weekly goals instead of a daily to-do list and tasks, and it will exponentially speed up your growth and your efficiency in getting things done.

#4 | Outline Your Daily Priorities

For me, my daily priorities don’t change. They are the exact same all the time, there are only four things I focus on each day and that’s it. Now yes, there are other areas of importance but if I’m not focusing on these four things I’m not really focusing on building the business I want to build, creating the freedom I want to create and being able to make the impact I want to make.

My four daily priorities are to:

Cultivate relationships and get enrolments for my programs
Drive traffic to my pillar content and email list
Get testimonials and do market research (because the more wins my clients get, the more testimonials I have and the easier it is to sell)
Product development (creating the best product in the business, creating the best programmes in the business)

Those are the only four areas I focus on on a daily basis and it makes such a huge difference because it keeps me focused on the things that actually matter.

Of course there are other things that I want to do in my day, there are other things I want to focus on. But everything needs to be linked to these four priorities, otherwise it might be a make-work project or something that I’m just trying to do to stay busy.

#5 | Bring It Altogether

The final step is tying all of this together and when I say that, I mean that my weekly plan and how I plan out my week is based around things that I have set out for next year.

I have yearly goals and things that I want to accomplish, I have quarterly goals, and then I have monthly goals and then weekly goals, and my weekly goals all stem from those longer term goals.

My yearly goals are things like overall revenue I want to achieve for the year, that’s something I know I want to make happen. So the next question is, how do I make that happen on a quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily basis?

Here’s what that might look like broken down:

Quarterly goal: programme updates
Monthly goal: pick one specific section to update/do product research for
Weekly goal: (what I need to do to actually focus on making that monthly goal happen and breaking it into smaller sections).

On my wall in my office, next to my daily priorities, I have the following week laid out. Every Friday, I map out the goals I want to achieve for the following week to make sure those are the only things I’m focused on. This is how I plan out my week and it keeps me really focused and on task.

It’s right in front of me on a daily basis as a visual reminder so I don’t forget. This is so powerful because it allows me to focus on the things that really matter, that are going to push the business and not just do this crazy busy work because I’m distracted or procrastinating.

There we go! Believe me, I used to write down so many things on my to-do list. I felt like I had to get them done and when I didn’t accomplish them, I’d feel like a failure. These tips allows you to look at the week ahead and feel confident that you’re focusing on the most important things you need to get done, and that is truly making the most of your time.

DO YOU FIND YOURSELF WONDERING IF YOU’RE FOCUSING ON THE RIGHT TASKS IN YOUR BUSINESS?

Register for my free 4-day From Productivity To Profit Challenge to help you learn how to plan your week in a way that means you’re moving your business towards your goals every single day.

ABOUT THE BLOGGER

Hi! I’m Holly Bray

I’m an expert at online marketing, a nerd when it comes to the numbers, and my obsession is teaching others how to know what tasks to focus on so they can create a business that GIVES them life (not one that takes it away).