BEING YOUR OWN BOSS IS GREAT, BUT FIGURING OUT A GOOD SYSTEM AND BALANCE FOR PRODUCTIVITY CAN BE TRICKY. MY HOPE IS THAT LEARNING TO BLOCK SCHEDULE YOUR DAYS MIGHT BE THAT GAME CHANGER.

Since I run most of my photography business from home, I’ve definitely dealt with the rollercoaster of managing my own schedule. Don’t get me wrong, it’s wonderful having the flexibility of being your own boss, but it also comes with pressures like “you get out what you put in” and “things won’t get done if you don’t do them.” It can be tough to find the balance of not overworking yourself and not slacking off, ya feel?

So, if you’ve been in a place where the lists feel 10 miles long and you have no idea how you’ll tackle it all, then hopefully block scheduling just might be that saving implementation. I know I touched on this very briefly in my “3 Productive Habits For Working at Home” blog post, but I felt like it’s so important and deserved its own space for further discussion. I want to show you that you have the ability to take control and organize your priorities in a non-overwhelming way!

It’s ok for this to take time - try it for one day. Give yourself grace as you adjust to a new systems. We all need time to figure out and process new ways of working.

Ok, I want to give you essentially a “guide” or step by step to block scheduling - so, let’s go over some things that might help with healthy productivity.

(image - office space with journal? + quote?)

WHAT EVEN IS BLOCK SCHEDULING?

Batching is basically breaking your work up into categories. For example, mine might look like - editing, website upkeep, client communication and workflow, social media posting and scheduling, blogging, photo shoots, brain dump time, etc. You build these categories off of whatever the key components of your own business are. Then, you build a schedule that allows for each to have their own time and space.

WHY IS “BLOCKING” GOOD?

It’s freeing. It gives you more space to FOCUS fully on ONE thing at a time. You’re not constantly bouncing between tasks as things pop into mind. You’re able to give one thing your full attention and mindfulness. You will feel a MILLION times less scattered!

HOW DO I START?

Ok, here are the steps to starting your batch scheduling…

BUILD THE LIST - Build a list of your topics / categories of work that I mentioned above
BREAK IT DOWN - begin breaking it down into daily and hourly segments. Ask yourself, “how long do I need for this one thing?”
FILL THE CALENDAR - Begin filling out your calendar by the hours in a work day.
- I use Google Calendar (image below), but you can use any type of planner or even a notebook to make these kind of schedules
DESIGNATE TIMES - Give each task a designated time in your day, and honor that time JUST for that one thing. Add the nonnegotiable items first (aka the booked photo session or client meeting). Those are the “rocks” in your schedule that you will need to plan around.
RECOGNIZE URGENCY - Are there tasks that are more urgent? Practice assigning those more valuable time slots (i.e. mornings or early on in the week).
SCHEDULE REST - It’s important to build breaks into your schedule. Add that 20 minutes of yoga you need and a lunch break where you can actually step away from work!
OUT OF MIND - Once you’ve made the list and then used it to fill out your calendar, take a deep breath. These tasks should now be out of mind, they have their space and WILL get done. Don’t stress about needed to multitask to fit everything in, they all will get done.

For block scheduling, I typically will try to do 5 days out. But, sometimes I just do one day at a time, and that’s ok! See what works best for you, just give it a try and see if the stress goes away a bit!

RATHER WATCH SOMETHING?

My husband, Josiah (who is a pro at block scheduling), and I made a short IGTV talking all about block scheduling and how to do it. So, if you’re a more visual and auditory listener, go check that out!

WATCH THE IGTV

My hope is that this new system gives you a way to relieve some stress and manage your time a bit better! I also put together a list of a few apps for time blocking if you want to try any of them: