Time Blocking 101

by:

Kevin Achtzener

An OK Productions Book
Copyright 2011 by Kevin Achtzener
YoureMakingMe.com

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Time Blocking

Table of Contents
ABOUT ME, KEVIN ACHTZENER
PREFACE

Time Blocking Builds on What You Already Know

Being Effective is Easy 2

SECTION 1: WHAT IS TIME BLOCKING?

What is Time Blocking? 3

Should I Use Time Blocking or a To-Do List?
Proactive vs. Reactive

The Multitasking Time Drain

SECTION 2: WHAT DO I BLOCK?

Time Block Whatever Needs to Get Done 7

The Power of the 5 Minute Task List

How to do the most important things, most of the time

SECTION 3: HOW TO TIME BLOCK

10

14

Steps to Time Blocking 14

Bundle Your Time Wasters

15

Reducing Daily Distractions

17

Formal vs. Informal Time Blocking

18

SECTION 4: KEEPING WITH IT 19

Celebrate Your Successes

19

14 Easy Ways to Deal with Distractions

#1 Productivity Tip

25

THANK YOU

26

21

APPENDIX 27
Photo credits

27

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Time Blocking

About Me, Kevin Achtzener

I teach companies how to communicate for results
How you communicate today says a lot about where you will
be tomorrow. Good communication skills dont come naturally
for most people, but luckily, those skills can be learned.
Key challenges for many corporations these days are flat sales,
lack of repeat business, employee motivation issues, and
customer service challenges. I work with organizations to help
create exceptional customer interactions and more satisfied
employees. We work together to improve interactions skills
with clients for sales and service results.
I specialize in persuasion skills and productivity increases.
My training programs deliver concrete techniques that can be used immediately.
The information in this eBook is similar to what I would discuss regarding time
blocking during a live event. Ill try not to hold anything back, but I will say that
its usually more productive and rewarding to attend a live seminar and go through
the exercises in person.
If youd like to have me speak at your upcoming convention or meeting, please
contact me and we can discuss a solution to meet your needs.
Ill be releasing MegaProductivity, a comprehensive productivity course in August
2011. If you enjoy the information in my Time Blocking teaser book, youll love
what Ive got lined up for MegaProductivity.
All the best,

Kevin Achtzener
P.S. If you picked this book up off my site, YoureMakingMe.com, then youre already
set up to learn when MegaProductivity comes out. Otherwise, head over to the web
site and sign up so you can stay up to date on its release.

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Preface
I started using time blocking techniques in 1996 when I opened my first business
and have continued to use and refine those techniques ever since. Although I cant
promise that youll become successful overnight by implementing time blocking, I
do feel that its an important part of any effective time management strategy.
Over the past few years, Ive had the opportunity to speak on various aspects of
productivity and success. Ive found that my sessions on time blocking always seem
to generate many thought provoking questions, and I constantly hear how people
have used these techniques in new ways.

Time Blocking Builds on What You Already Know

The reason why time blocking is effective for many people is because it builds on
basic time management techniques they already use.
In essence, time blocking is a way to help you make your task list more
effective.
Ive broken the book down into four, easy to follow, sections. My hope is that it
wont take you more than a few hours to learn and apply this material. Spending
time to save time; thats a bit paradoxical perhaps, but if you want to go faster,
you often have to slow down at first.

Being Effective is Easy

Go ahead and give these techniques a try. Most are simple, but theyre effective.
Thats the goal of time management. Its a way of taking complex projects and
making them simple and easy to complete.
Complex systems end up creating more work than they save, and Im sure youll
agree that whenever something needs a lot of effort to maintain, its just not
feasible over the long term.
I have people coming to my website every month searching for information on
productivity and time blocking, so I wanted to create a tool to help get you started
and lead you on your way to a more productive life.
If you enjoy this eBook, Id love it if you refer your friends to YoureMakingMe.com
for their own copy.
Also, if theres something in particular in the material that sticks out for you, feel
free to send me an email at Kevin@youremakingme.com. Id love to hear about
your success.

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Section 1: What Is Time Blocking?

Dont count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count.
~ Anonymous

What is Time Blocking?

Time blocking isnt a secret technique, its not even a
new technique, but its effective. Heres how I define
it: Time blocking is you working on one thing for a set
amount of time.
Thats it.

Its a powerful success strategy

Im sure youll agree that learning how to manage your
time is one of the most powerful strategies for success.
Time is the only thing in life we cant manufacture
more of but you can maximize it. Time blocking is an
easy way to improve what you are already doing, and
get more out of life.

The hardest part of Time Blocking

The actual concept of time blocking is simple and its already used informally by
many people, maybe even you. The simple act of setting a date, time, and length
for your work unit means youre committing to finishing what youre working on.
The hardest part of time blocking is
following through on your plans, even if
little interruptions creep in.
These days, people feel proud to be
labelled a multitasker, and thats fine to
a point, but the real hallmark of a
successful person is to be a finisher.
Working on tasks isnt the same as
completing them. Time blocking is a way
to help you finish what you start, not just look busy when the boss walks in.
The hallmark of a successful person is being a finisher.
- Kevin Achtzener
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Should I Use Time Blocking or a To-Do List?

For some reason we all like comparing time management solutions to a basic todo list, and thats fine. In essence, time blocking boils down to making a
structured list and then setting aside time to work your way through everything on
the list.
What Im not a fan of is making one giant list, and then doing a couple of the easy
tasks from it. Then, the next day you come into work and spend an hour rewriting
the entire list. This is a huge waste of
time, especially if youre doing it every
day.
A more effective strategy is working
from targeted lists during the day.
Here are some common examples:

Phone calls you need to make.

Emails to send.

Activities requiring you to leave
the office.
When its time for you to Work the list, you just take it out and either work from
top to bottom, or in order of priority.
As you move down the list, you MUST take action on each item, whether its easy or
hard. Theres no room for excuses, just action.
The difference between successful people and average people is that successful
people do all the things average people avoid doing.
Successful people dont like doing unpleasant tasks either, but they still finish
them, and thats the key.

Proactive vs. Reactive

If you want to be more successful, you need to consistently do the activities that
yield the highest rewards. You also need to reduce the number of reactive
situations in your day.
Time blocking is definitely proactive. You plan the work and then work the plan.
Answering emails as soon as they arrive is completely reactive, and it can take over
your day if you let it.
When youre in a reactive state, youre at the mercy of whats happening during
the day. Youre out of control, even though youre working hard to try and stay on
top.

Being reactive
Its easy to get into a reactive state. Theres probably so much going on in your life
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that you can suddenly find yourself struggling to make it through each day.
For instance:
Have you ever found yourself picking the easiest thing
from your big to-do list?
Have you ever re-written your to-do list with all the
hardest activities at the bottom?
If you have, congratulations, youre normal, but you
have to put this behaviour behind you, if you want to
take things to the next level.

Being proactive
When youre proactive, you dictate whats going to happen during the day and then
follow through no matter what.
For instance, you might say to yourself, OK, from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM Ill make
phone calls. Ive got 10 to make and I wont do anything else until theyre
complete.
When Im working, I find one of the best things to do is
turn off the Wi-Fi on my laptop. That little gesture
makes it just hard enough so I wont check my email.
I also turn off the ringer (and vibration) on my phone.
Doesnt it drive you crazy when you hear your phone
vibrate on your desk, and you start wondering whos
calling, texting, emailing, tweeting, or Facebooking.
Its a complete distraction.
Heres the amazing thing. Over the years Ive been
using and teaching time blocking, Ive found that there
isnt anything that cant wait for 30 minutes.
Most urgent issues and panic situations are simply a result of someone not
doing the right work, at the right time.
Of course, theres the odd one-in-a-million disaster situation, but if you let your
life be run by fluke circumstances, youll go nuts.

The Multitasking Time Drain

A common problem that most people arent aware of is
the fact that whenever you switch from one task to
another there are always a few seconds, and in some
cases a few minutes, where your productivity drops. For
most people, it can take anywhere from 20 seconds to a
minute to switch between tasks.
Think about it. When youre working on your email and
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you need to make a phone call, what do you do?

Do you roll your chair back, pull the phone close to you, take a sip of water, and
then dial the phone? Theres your 20 seconds.
Now, I realize everybody wants to be known as a multitasker, because its the cool
thing to be right now. Unfortunately, multitasking can be a time drain that can end
up actually costing you valuable time during the day.

Its all in the transition time

It doesnt seem like much, but all that transition time adds up during the day,
especially if you switch activities a lot.
Let me give you an example. If you
make a phone call, followed by
sending an e-mail, and then talk to a
colleague, send a text message, and
finally make another phone call,
youre going to have time gaps. Its
impossible to do all those things
with seamless precision.
Even if theres a 30 second gap
between activities, all those little
bits of time add up during the day.
You can practice all you want at
shortening your transitioning
between skills, but no matter how good you get, youll still be losing time
whenever you shift internal focus to a different task.
It takes less than a second to switch tasks internally, but its something you cant
train for or change. Constantly switching internal focus can also prevent you from
really immersing yourself in a task and being super-productive.

The multitasking time drain adds up

Looking at the time wasters, you may not think much of them, but they really
begin to add up when you look at them on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis.
When you look at things on a large enough scale, youll start to see that youre
bleeding time. At the end of a year, youll have lost days worth of productivity, just
from the small moments when changing tasks that seem insignificant.

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Section 2: What Do I Block?

Time Block Whatever Needs to Get Done
Time blocking is a tool to help you be more effective, so feel free to block off time
for anything you feel is a high-priority item.
Consider time blocking as one of the tools in your productivity tool belt. Its not a
cure-all, but its definitely a key
tool for success.
For instance, you can block off
time for:
Family
Relaxation or exercise
Planning for the upcoming week
Flex time, in case disaster strikes
Set a time to go hang out at the
water cooler or in the lunch
room. If you plan 15 minutes,
stick to it and then get back to
work. Although it is not directly
related to your job in many instances, chatting with others makes work more
enjoyable.
Remember: Plan on activities taking longer than you expect. If youre done early,
just take care of something from your 5 minute list (well get to this shortly).

Is it better to use time blocking for short or long tasks?

Time blocking works well with both short and long tasks.
Long tasks are great, since theyre often ones youve been putting off because
theyre so complex. You can work towards completion of a long task by simply
setting a certain length of time, say one hour, and then working on only that task.
You wont be done that day, but youll definitely make progress when you focus on
nothing else.
Short tasks work great with this too, because you can combine a number of small
tasks together and take care of some of those nagging issues youve been putting
off. The benefit is that youll be productive and will be able to avoid the
multitasking time drain we talked about earlier.
For instance, you can take a block of phone calls you need to make (anywhere
between 3 and 30 depending on complexity). Now all you do is sit down and make
the calls. You wont get in touch with everyone, but you can leave clear
instructions in your messages.
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Leaving a clear message performs 3 critical roles:

The message may convey all the relevant details so the other person may not have
to return your call.
Youre more likely to get a call back by someone with the information youre after.
You can suggest a time youll be available so they dont call you during one of your
other time blocks.
No matter the length of what youre working on, the key is to give yourself
uninterrupted time to complete the projects.

Successful people spend more time doing important things than

unsuccessful people do.
Its a fact that with our busy lives, we all have important things that should be
getting done, but simply arent.
If youre in a reactive state and dont have important items planned out, you might
not get to them. If you want to make sure that the important things are getting
done, all you need to do is spend a few minutes at the beginning of the week on
planning and prioritization.
By planning ahead and designing a schedule
that incorporates all the critical processes,
youre much more likely to get most or all of
your high priority activities done.
Then, and only then, you can begin to
complete the lower priority jobs in
decreasing order of importance.
Of course, there are always things that come
up during the week, so any good planning
system will include time to deal with last
minute jobs that need your attention.
The following week, you do the same thing. You review your known goals for the
week and reprioritize them.
If something keeps getting pushed down your list, either delegate it, pay someone
to do it, or delete it. If you keep putting it off, its probably not critical to your
business, so stop worrying about it and get rid of it.

Should my planner be set in stone?

The more you stick to your plan, the better.
You dont want to be like one of those captains of old, and go down with the
ship no matter what.
With a little practice you should be able to get through most weeks without having
to make major changes.
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You need to be careful with making changes
because once you start cancelling or
postponing time blocks, it can start to
become a habit. If you postpone actual work
too often, your system is guaranteed to fail.
There will always be things that come up, but
if you have a solid framework around your
week, you can easily adapt it to emergencies
that arise.

I set aside somewhere between 30 minutes

and 2 hours every day to take care of stuff. Some days I can predict that there
will be things coming in that I cant control. If Im lucky and I block off too much
time, I can easily fill it by working on the next highest priority activity from my
list.
My goal is to work only 5-6 days a week and I do my best to have at least one whole
day off to spend with my family. I plan most of my week from Monday to Friday,
and leave Saturday to finish off things that didnt get done.

The Power of the 5 Minute Task List

Have you ever been in a situation
where you've finished an
appointment early and had five
minutes to spare?
What did you do with your time?
Did you go for a coffee or shuffle
papers on your desk? Did you find
one of your co-workers and start a
conversation?
Having a 5 Minute Task List is a
great way to help you become
more productive in those small
gaps of inactivity during your day.
Like the name suggests, your 5 Minute List should be made up of simple tasks that
can be done in about five minutes. This could include phone calls you have to
make, emails that need to be sent, or planning and consideration for upcoming
projects.

Whats the purpose of the list?

The five minute lists gives you a bridge between activities you should be doing
immediately and those that should have a block of time set aside in your daily
schedule.
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I can pretty much guarantee that you already have a list where you do activities
like this. The difference here is that the activities I'm asking you to do are short in
duration and unrelated to the others on your list.
I dont recommend longer activities, as they usually work better when you set a
time to complete them during the day. If you do put a task that will take 20-30
minutes on your list, you will likely find that it just gets skipped over, because its
hard to find a spare 20 minutes in most peoples days, but 5 minutes is doable.

How do I make a 5 Minute Task List?

Make the list the same way you would any other. I recommend that once youre
finished writing down all the tasks, that you dont modify the order. Choose the
first item from the 5 Minute Task List and do it.
Its easy to keep pushing boring activities down the list, but theyll never get done
if theyre constantly avoided. Completing items from top to bottom, without
skipping is the most efficient way to get rid of those ugly tasks youve been putting
off.

How to do the most important things, most of the time

The classic system
The classic way for determining
importance is to use the ABC
system. Youve no doubt heard of
it, or something very similar
before.
What the ABC system does is get
you to put an A, B, or C next to
each of the tasks on your to-do list.
The As are the most important, so
youre supposed to do them first
and the Cs are least important, so
they only get done if theres time
left at the end of the day. Bs are
somewhere in the middle and are
usually items that are still
important, but not critical at the
current time.

A powerful 10 point system

I like using a scale from 1-10. The idea is the same as the ABC method, but it gives
you a chance to make finer distinctions between the actions on your to-do list.
To put it into practice, all you need to do is ask yourself, On a scale of 1-10, 10
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Time Blocking

being high, and 1 being low, how important is if for me to get this particular job
done?
Comparing this to the classic system, an A task from the ABC method would turn
into an 8, 9, or 10. Something that was a B activity turns into a 4, 5, 6, or 7, and
a C task from the old system is now a 1, 2, or 3.
I know I always tell people
to make things as simple as
possible, but I think this
little increase in
sophistication is a huge
help. So often in our day
we come across situations
that both seem critical.
With a ten point system, it
makes your job of choosing
whats most important a
little easier, but doesnt
add much more strain to
your thinking process.
With a 10 point system, you
can easily know that anything labelled as a 10 needs to be done immediately. You
can also tell that a 10 is more important than an 8, even though theyd both be
considered A activities under the classic system.
On the other end of the scale, if theres an activity you decide has a priority of 1,
you can decide whether to delegate it, have a virtual assistant do it, or simply
delete it from your list.
Its better to pay someone a few dollars per hour or to decide not to do a low
priority activity than have you spend time doing things that wont get you ahead.
A big plus of this system is that you dont need to constantly re-order your lists. You
still will from time to time, but its very easy to look at your tasks and pick the
next most important job.

But Kevin, everythings important. Theyre all 10s

You might find yourself rating a lot of action items as 10s, but Id caution you not
to over-exaggerate their importance. In reality, you probably have a handful of
10s, and then a few in the range of 7-9.
Moving forward, it should now be clear what you need to work on. Go through the
10s, one-by-one, until theyre complete. Then, work your way down the list in
order of importance.
Its always better in the long term to work like crazy and take care of one 10 item
on your list, than work just as hard and finish a handful of activities marked 3 or
4.
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I know it feels great to check off all the little jobs youve done, but at the end
of the day, its the big activities, done well, that make you successful.

10s are easier to procrastinate over, so just do them

Lets face it. The most important activities are often the easiest to procrastinate
over.
For example, its probably easier for you to
organize your desk or send an email, than it is to
sit down with an underperforming employee and
have a crucial conversation with them.
In the end though, if you want to be successful,
you need to focus on your highest priority tasks
until theyre done. Then, you move on to the next
down the line. Thats the real secret to success.
Everything you do that doesnt help you
complete your top priorities is simply
avoidance. ~ Kevin Achtzener
Remember this: If you do the important things,
well in advance, the smaller things usually take
care of themselves.
In the end, your goal should be to only do
activities that only you can do. If someone else can do it, then youre not being as
effective as you could be.

Start off by only blocking a small part of your day

The best way to ease into time blocking, is by starting out with only a few
scheduled times during the day. Then, make changes slowly and consistently until
youre where you need to be.
With time blocking, Id recommend only planning out one or two blocks during the
day. Your initial goal is to find times where you wont be interrupted and when you
can get work done.

Does It Matter When I Block Certain Things?

The best time to work is whatever time works best
for you.
For me, the earlier in the morning I start working, the
better. Im actually a night owl, but I know from
experience that waking up early and getting important
work done, can give me a lift for the rest of the day.
The first thing I do each morning is work on my
highest priority activity. Then, I have my normal
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Time Blocking

phone call block from 9-10 A.M. because it works well with my schedule. I feel like
Im usually at a peak energy level around 9 A.M., so I take that opportunity to make
phone calls when my voice is at a high.
Naturally, I keep my schedule flexible to accommodate my speaking and coaching
appointments, as well as any urgent things that I have to handle personally.
I think most people would agree that there could sometimes be a drop in
productivity during the afternoon. Its when that feeling a fatigue can descend over
you.
I like taking a short break for a snack and exercise so that I can get back to work,
refreshed and recharged. I find that the mid-afternoon is also a good time for me
to do some of my mid-level tasks.

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Section 3: How to Time Block

Steps to Time Blocking
Make a list
The first step in creating an effective
time blocking system is to get all the
things you need to do out of your head
and onto either paper or an electronic
document.
You can start out with a basic list, or
you can use something slightly more
exotic, like a mind mapping program.
The benefit of a basic list is that you
probably already have one set up, so
this should be fairly easy.
Spend some time making sure the list includes all the phone calls you need to
make, reports that need to be written, and any other relevant information.

Group similar tasks

The next step is to take that list you have and group similar items together. What I
prefer doing is making several specific lists so that I dont need to be worrying
about copying things over to a new list.

Phone calls to make

Emails to send

Actions at the office

Actions that require roaming around
town

Family
It may seem redundant to write down the task of emailing someone, but you dont
want to have to stop making phone calls just to email someone. Just give it a try. It
works.

My list is huge, now what?

If youre like most people, youll find that the list of things you want to get done is
much larger than what you could possibly do in the next few weeks.
Thats why one of your most vital tasks is to prioritize tasks. If your list is
electronic, you can just drag and drop the items to put the highest priority tasks
first.
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Otherwise, I suggest using one of the systems weve already discussed - the ABC
method, or my 10 point scale. If neither of these feel right, you can simply put a 1
next to the item youll do first and count up from there.

When to plan out your week

Ill normally spend about 30 minutes each Sunday evening looking over the week
ahead and slotting in my highest priority items.
I recommend that you do your planning on the same day each week. I feel I have
more clarity when I do it on Sundays, but you can feel free to do it whenever it
works best for you.

What do I do when Ive finished my task and still have time on

the clock?
Sometimes youll find that youve completed what you were working on well ahead
of time scheduled.
For example, say you wanted to call 20 people.
Unfortunately, 15 were unavailable, so youre
waiting for them to call back. The other calls
were quick, and now you have 30 minutes left
until your next scheduled activity. Do you find
something else to do or do you keep making
other, low priority calls?
I usually recommend doing something from your
5 Minute Task List if you only have a few
minutes, but if theres a lot of time left over,
things get a little more complicated.
For me, the answer depends on what Im doing.
If Im making phone calls, I usually get into a
zone. After Ive make 20 calls, Im ready to
keep going. During my phone call block, Ill
rarely set the receiver down, so Id rather just
keep making more calls until Ive completely
exhausted all of my options. In most circumstances, Id prefer to go down the list
and make every single call possible.
Of course there are times when I want to get back to something important, so Ill
use the time to complete a high priority action instead.
Youll need to see what works best for you and go with it.

Bundle Your Time Wasters

A big time waster for me used to be making phone calls. Cold calls in particular
were really troublesome.
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Sometimes I would take two or three

minutes to get ready to make the
calls and other times it would take
me at lest ten minutes. I hated
making cold calls, so taking extra
time to prepare was avoidance
behaviour.
I still usually take at least two
minutes to get into the right frame
of mind when I make calls these day,
but once I start, I keep going until all
my calls are made. I call it bundling.
I find that I can be much more
effective if I make a number of calls, one after the other. Its productive because I
dont have to get up to walk over to the phone, and then go back to something
else.
When making calls, I sit there until Ive gone through my list. Ill take the odd
break, but once I pick up the receiver, I rarely set it down. I just press the release
button to hang up and start dialling immediately.

But Kevin, I cant work all the time

Its true that you cant be going all the time and that
you need multiple breaks during the day or youll burn
yourself out.
The key is to add down time into your daily plan and
then force yourself to shift to a lower gear when the
time comes. As you raise the importance of short breaks
during the day, youll probably find yourself feeling
more effective when you get back into productivity
mode.
When you feel you deserve a break, you can head over
to the water cooler and chat with a clear conscience,
and you can feel free to enjoy your time, instead of
thinking about rushing back to your desk to do all the
work youve put off.

Narrowing your focus can help your creativity

Focusing on one task for an extended period of time can also help you become
more creative.
One of the best ways to come up with new ideas is to think intensely about
something for an extended period of time and then take a break. Its strange how
well this works.
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If youre multitasking and constantly changing activities, your concentration gets

broken up. You might be busy, but youre not as effective as you could be.

Reducing Daily Distractions

You can be more effective by simply learning how to reduce the distractions in your
day.
Instead of having your e-mail program pop-up or ring a bell every time an email
comes in, you can take charge by modifying the settings so it doesnt distract you.

How often should you check email?

Have you ever tried checking your emails only once per houror less?
OK, I know youre probably ready to jump through the computer screen at me for
this, because you think I dont know how busy and important you are.
Let me ask you something.
Do you feel like you have to respond
instantly to every single e-mail you
receive?
Probably.
Is it necessary?
Nope.
The reality of the situation, and Ill be
very honest here (Im not trying to be mean), is that youre not as important as
you think you are.
Let me clarify
Youre very important and we care about you tremendously, but the chances are
incredibly good that the e-mails you get on a daily basis are rarely so time sensitive
that they have to be responded to immediately.
Phew, I said it.
Most of the time, a delay of 30-40 minutes, even an hour, wont make any
difference to the person on the other end of the email.
If the timing matters that much, its probably because you screwed up before and
didnt do something you were supposed to.

Time blocking task

So heres a task for you. Take one week to try
this out. Stop checking your emails immediately
when you get them (unless you work at a
nuclear power plant ).
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I know its hard. I still like checking e-mails frequently too.

Some days thats fine, but other days, when you really want to be productive, turn
off your phone, email, close your social networking tools, and even turn off the WiFi on your laptop.
If you remove as many distractions as possible, you can then focus completely on
your work, and get it done quickly.

Formal vs. Informal Time Blocking

Formal Time Blocking and Informal Time Blocking are terms
I created to describe the different ways you can organize
your time.
Informal Time Blocking is when you describe time in a
general way. You might say to yourself, OK, on
Wednesday, I'll spend two hours on project X.
Formal Time Blocking is all about being specific. Its when
you use a scheduling tool to plan and achieve a particular
goal. Youd probably say something like, On Wednesday at
9 A.M. Ill sit down and make 20 phone calls (from the
phone call list) in order of importance, or for one hour, whichever comes first.
Most people use a system that involves informal time blocking. That works alright
for average results, but if you want to amp up your productivity and take things to
the next level, a shift to formal time blocking is needed.
I want to help you simplify the process and magnify the results.
Sometimes the simple ability to name a process you already use can make it more
powerful.

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Section 4: Keeping With It

Celebrate Your Successes
Why rewarding yourself with stuff can damage your success
When most people reach a small goal, they feel like
they need to buy or get themselves something.
Unfortunately, thats a mistake. I think rewarding good
behaviour and success with stuff is the worst thing you
can do.

Using stuff doesnt work

By stuff', Im talking about things like clothing, electronics, trips, or even
something that seems harmless like a coffee.
Let me give you an example.
Say you make a deal with yourself that every time you follow through on making
calls during the day, then you go for coffee (or whatever beverage you enjoy). Its
nice to splurge every so often, but if done too often, you start building an
association that every time you make calls, you have to end with coffee, or its not
complete.
Now youre relying on an outside influence to
make yourself feel good.
You might reward yourself with coffee one day,
and then food the next, or perhaps a trip if you
have a good month. Bribing yourself with food or
items isnt a healthy or sustainable motivational
model.
You also run into the potential that youll start
over-rewarding yourself.
What if one day, you dont finish all your calls?
That should clearly mean you dont deserve a
coffee, but youve conditioned yourself to go for
coffee every day, and youre body is probably
craving a caffeine hit.
Youre not supposed to have the coffee, but
maybe you do anyway, because you tell yourself you need it to stay awake for the
afternoon.
You just took the reward, but didnt do the work.
If you do this once, it gets much easier to do again and again. It sounds like a little
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thing, but thats how small problems get big little by little.
The other obvious downside is the fact that it will cost you a lot of money to keep
up these habits. This isnt what Im focusing on today, but the costs can definitely
add up.

Tap into your most powerful reward system

I agree that rewards in general can work, and Im OK with them for larger
goals, but Ive seen the downside they can bring when theyre too frequent and too
big.
If you want to have true lasting success, theres a better, long-term solution. It
involves using your emotions.
Dont worry, Im not going to get too touch feely here today, but its true that using
emotions to influence your behaviour is a both a sustainable and long-term solution
to motivation. Its also free.

Use Mini Celebrations to maximize your productivity

The best way to maintain any success system is to take
time whenever you complete both small and significant
tasks to feel proud of yourself.
Rewarding good behaviour is the only way to perpetuate it.
I recommend you learn how to throw yourself a Mini
Celebration whenever you can, since it will reinforce the
successes in your life.
In a nutshell, a Mini Celebration is taking about a minute
to feel good about what youve just accomplished. Much of
what we do in life is directed by our emotions, and by
consciously directing how you feel, you put yourself in a
better position to control how you will act going forward.
Heres instructions on how perform a Mini Celebration.
Like I always say, Its the little things you do each day that make you great.
Doing Mini Celebrations wont change your life overnight, but if you use them, I can
pretty much guarantee youll raise the level of your achievement.

Go strutting
Another simple solution to put into place is using walks as a reward. Im not talking
about regular walks, which are great too, but what I advocate is going walking with
swagger, like youre the most important person in the world.
As you walk, take the time to feel great. Something you can do while on your
success walk is to think to yourself that everyone you walk by is whispering, Its
Him, or Its Her.
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When you feel like a success, you act like a success.

I couldnt resist adding this clip of John Travolta from the movie Staying Alive.
After he nails his performance at the end of the movie, he goes out strutting,
another way of saying walking proudly. Check it out.

Small, frequent internal rewards are the key to long-term

success
Some days you work hard, but nobody seems to recognize all the effort you put in.
When you make it OK to feel good about what you do, it will allow you to feel good
about your accomplishments and enjoy the moment, without having to rely on the
coffee being just right, or about what someone else thinks.
Now, if youll excuse me, Im going strutting

14 Easy Ways to Deal with Distractions

A big part of the coaching I do revolves around teaching people how to deal with,
and tune out distractions. These days, everyone
wants to be a multitasker, but in reality, dividing
your focus wont make you more successful.
Remember that you need to be able to choose the
most important task, complete it, and then move
on to the next important task.
Being able to do 10 things at once is counter
productive if little gets done or done right. If you
can effectively deal with distraction and complete
your most important piece of work, youll be well
on your way to success in any role you have.
Here are 14 ways to reduce or eliminate distractions:

1. Set a deadline
Give yourself a deadline and stick to it. When someone comes in you can say, I
have to get this report out by 2 P.M... Can this wait until then? Youd be surprised
how well setting an artificial deadline can work.
Its like the old saying goes:
If it werent for the last minute, nothing would ever get done.

2. Use a timer
Some people find their productivity jumps when they start using
a timer. This works because youre setting a short-term deadline,
but also because you are committing to doing your best work for
a short period of time. Typical lengths of time would be 15, 30,
or 60 minute blocks, but you can choose any length of time that
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suits your needs.

I use this technique with my primary mastermind group. We each have ten minutes
to discuss our results and projections and look for suggestions. If anything more is
needed, we book another time or do 1-on-1s. It helps us get through a ton of
information in a short amount of time.
A countdown timer can be found online, as a small program for your computer, or
as a built-in feature on many cell phones.

3. Close your door

Im a proponent of having an open door
policy for management, but like any
rule, there are times when its
beneficial to close the door and
eliminate distractions.
I suggest setting aside a 30 minute to
an hour block of time where you can
completely focus on any situations that
need your personal attention.
Once everyone realizes that youre not
to be disturbed during these periods,
they will either take care of the
situation themselves, or make a list of
things to talk to you about after youre
done your closed-door session.

4. Use a private office

This is a technique Ive used and love.
It goes beyond simply closing your door. You actually find an office somewhere in a
back corner, so youre not distracted by your phone and people dont really know
where you are. This puts you out of the hustle and bustle of the everyday life and
its quiet too, so youre forced to work.
Ill usually take my laptop, turn off the Wi-Fi, mute the ringer on the phone (if
there is one), and just start solving problems.
Sometimes Ill take a huge sheet of flip chart paper with me, so that I can plan and
prepare for any important activity that Im working on. I love it.

5. Turn off email

I dont want you to freak out on me when I suggest this. I know youve probably
already heard this tip a million times, but youve probably ignored it..until now.
If you turn off your e-mail for an hour or two at a time (that's righta whole hour),
you will find a nice bump to your productivity. You wont be distracted by
minimally important emails, and youll soon realize that much of what you thought
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was URGENT, can probably wait an hour before being worked on.

6. Create an Always Answer list

Create an Always Answer list and then resolve to only take phone calls from those
people when youre doing some focused work. You can call everyone else back in
20 minutes when you're done.
I created the concept of the Always
Answer list because I hear from my
clients that there are still some calls
they absolutely have to take. For
instance, Ill always answer calls from
my wife, even if its during one of my
time blocks. She knows how important
my blocks of time are to me, so shell
keep the call short, make fun of me for
being a productivity geek, and then say
goodbye.
A list like this ensures that the people
who need to get hold of you for something crucial are able to. Everyone else will
just go to voice mail. You can return their phone calls at a later time.

7. Have a scheduled break to do stuff

Have a pre-made time to go around and take care of all the not so important
things youd like to do. This includes activities that arent productive, but might
be fun. You could go and chat with coworkers or head over to the coffee shop next
door.
Ideally, you would put one of these stuff sessions after an important block of
work. You can use it like a carrot to encourage yourself to work hard, since the fun
will come as soon as youre done.

8. White noise machine

Some people use white noise machines very
effectively. Theyre the little machines (or
programs on your computer/smart phone) that
create a variety of sounds including waves,
streams, thunder storms.
My wife and I use one when we have people
over in the evenings. You see, my two year old
daughter is a light sleeper so we often turn on
the white noise machine in the hallway so it produces the sound of a babbling
brook. The background noise helps disguise distracting noises from us talking and
helps keep her dreaming sweet dreams.
My friend Veronica swears by the chirping birds selection she listens to while she
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works.

9. Find out what distracts you

Different people are distracted by different things. Some stare out at the clouds;
others keep checking Facebook status updates. Whatever it is, see what types of
things distract you and simply eliminate them from your work environment.

10. Make a list

If youre working and you suddenly remember an
activity that has to be completed, simply add it to
a list (computerized or pen and paper).
Writing down a task accomplishes two things. First,
it acknowledges the thought and clears your mind
so you can back to work quickly. Secondly, it
creates a list of important actions that you can
work on later.

11. Get up earlier

Ive been getting up at 5 A.M. lately (thats early
for me) and find it gives me extra time to get
important jobs accomplished. The house is quiet
and theres nothing going on to distract me.
Im really more of an evening person, but Ive
found a lot of value in creating personal time in
the morning. I remember when I used to work at 6
A.M. It was nice to know that my day was officially
over at 2 P.M. and then I could do whatever I wanted.
This isnt for everyone, but you might want to give it a try. Believe me when I say
its hard at first, but if you can get used to it, youll definitely get results.

12. Stay hydrated and properly fuelled

Eat and drink before you go to work so your brain and body are ready to go. Visit
the little boys'/girls room to make sure you dont have any personal emergencies
once you begin. If youll be making phone calls, you might want to have some
water handy, in case your throat gets dry.

13. Get off email/RSS mailing lists

I regularly go through my RSS feeds (an alternative way of receiving blog updates)
and trim any extra feeds that are no longer sending me relevant info. Ive
completely removed myself from any email newsletters. They are more reactionary
and they clog up my inbox. Years ago I switched everything to RSS feeds. I still
check them multiple times per day, but I can better control the content Im
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viewing, as opposed to having new emails come in and buzz my phone. Of course,
Heaven forbid that you would ever leave the YoureMakingMe.com list.

14. Write out a plan

Having a written list is an excellent way to avoid
distractions. When you know exactly what youre going to
do, it is much easier to do it. Besides, as you complete the
various activities, you get to put a check mark beside it.
That alone might keep you energized, because one of the
most satisfying things a person can do is tick off a
completed task.
Feel free to add any other easy ways to deal with
distractions that arent on this list.

#1 Productivity Tip
Focused planning leads to specific results.
The best way to be productive when you work is to be
focused on what youre doing, and to do specific
actions that move you towards your goals.
If you remember nothing else, following this simple
formula will get you places. Specificity in anything you
do is what separates the successes from the failures.
Remember: Its the little things you do each day, that
make you great - Kevin Achtzener

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Thank You
I hope you enjoyed this introduction to time blocking and the MegaProductivity
system. If youd like more information on my system or would like to book me for a
speaking engagement, you can visit my website at YoureMakingMe.com, email me
(Kevin@youremakingme.com), or reach me by phone (780.932.7702).
You can also visit my website for more tips on productivity, persuasion, and
achievement.
If youve enjoyed this book, I highly recommend that you pass it on to anyone else
who might benefit from it.
I simply ask that you forward the eBook intact, as Ive spent a lot of time and
energy creating it.
I sincerely thank you for reading Time Blocking 101.

Kevin Achtzener

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Appendix
Photo credits
Cover: Clock hand
Section 1: Question mark, Reactive
Section 2: Cards, Planner, Calendar, To do list, Groups, Hands, Wooden 10, Man
using phone
Section 3: Power plant, Hourglass, Bundling, Shift down, @ symbol, Tuxedo
Section 4: Fireworks, Cupcake, Timer, Closed door, Answering phone, Productivity
tip

copyright2011 YoureMakingMe.com