In this episode…

Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day, yet why is it that some people seem to achieve more than others?

In this episode, we’re going to give you some a tried and tested time management techniques you can implement immediately so you can build your business without losing your passion for it.

These healthy habits will serve you in both the start-up phase throughout as you transition and scale your side hustle later on.

• Creating a schedule
• Power Hours and Time Blocking
• Eat the Frog
• Meal Prepping
• Self-care

So let’s dive in!

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Amanda: [00:00:00] Ever noticed how those who are busy seem to get more done? We’re going to show you how to become one of those people!

Kingsley: [00:00:51] Hey, and welcome to episode 11 of the Heart Driven Hustle podcast, we’re your hosts Amanda and Kingsley.

Amanda: [00:00:57] Have you ever noticed how those people who [00:01:00] are busy seem to just get more done? And no it’s  not because they have more hours in the day. I mean, every single one of us has exactly the same 24 hours.

What it comes down to is how we use it. And in this episode, we’re going to give you some a tried and tested time management techniques, which you can implement into your life so you can tick off all your business milestones whilst still having time in there to live a little.

So Kingsley when someone says time management, what do you think of that?

Kingsley: [00:01:29] dry, dull topic. maybe like a school teacher or something telling me that I’m five minutes late for class.

Amanda: [00:01:36] I know, I know it’s one of those topics that has been a little bit overdone, but the fact  is, it’s something that we all implement into our lives in one way or another.

And for many people it’s not done well and it can feel as though we’re always falling that little bit behind. So, what we want to share are our top five tips, which have helped us and they make an absolute world of difference.

And the [00:02:00] reason that we want to share this now is it’s so important to establish these healthy habits early on when you’re just starting out your business so that these then translate into good practice in years to come.

Kingsley: [00:02:11] So what we want to talk about first up is scheduling your work time.

Amanda: [00:02:16] When most people start out a side hustle, they’re going to be doing this in addition to their nine to five. So it means that you’re going to need to be making the most of your existing schedule. You won’t always have a lot of additional time. So it’s really about finding little pockets of time in and around what you’re already doing.

Now, you don’t blatantly want to write off all your other commitments. It’s about being smart. And this way, you know, when you’re going to be working, when you’re going to be doing other things such as exercising, seeing friends or even resting and having some downtime.  By knowing when you you’ll have this downtime, you can actually relax without feeling guilty and feeling as though you should be working instead.

So here’s a little exercise for you. [00:03:00]  Now grab a diary or print out a calendar for the week showing hourly increments.

And what we’ve actually done is put together something for you guys, as well as a freebie, where you can download our template and to use that, to do this exercise.

So first up mark in your waking hours. Ie if you’re not going to be awake at 3:00 AM in the morning, don’t assume that you’re going to be working at this point in time. So mark in your waking hours and then block out the hours that you are at work – including your commute to and from.

Then once you’ve done that,  block out any mealtimes and meal prep.

So it’s probably unrealistic if you think that you’re going to finish work, come home and jump straight into working on your own business until all hours of the evening. Realistically, you’re going to need to stop in there to eat and to prepare that meal as well.

Once we have the work and the eating out the way we they need to look at others, things that are in our existing calendar.

So when do you [00:04:00] go to the gym or any other exercise? Do you go to Pilates? Do you go to yoga? Do you go for a walk down the beach or the park, anything like that, that exists in your life? Don’t neglect it. Pop that into your diary.

Once you’ve done that, have a look and make sure you allocate some time for your existing relationships as well.

So on talking about time with your family, time with your partner, time with friends as well, you certainly don’t want to go neglecting those relationships because when you are starting up a business, it’s so important to have that support from those loved ones around you and we definitely don’t want to neglect them in the process.

Then take a look at what you’re left with. So where are the gaps? Where is the whitespace? And be realistic about when you can work on your business as well.

You don’t want to overcommit and assume that you’re going to be working every single waking moment of the day that you have left only to realize that it’s unrealistic and feel burnt out.

So [00:05:00] take a look at what’s left. Can you wake up an hour earlier to work business then, or potentially go to the gym in the morning to free some time up after work instead.

Other things to consider are – do you really need your full hour lunch break to eat and then sit down cruising social media? Or could you use this time more effectively by say, eating for half an hour and then slipping in an extra half an hour to work on your own business?

By sitting down and having a look at all of these different gaps in your calendar, you’ll actually be surprised at how many little pockets of time you  have.

So, as I’ve mentioned, be realistic. Know how many hours per day and per week that you’re willing to commit and do that.

This way when your diary says it’s time to catch up for brunch with the girls, or check out a new restaurant for dinner, you can do so without feeling guilty.

Kingsley: [00:05:46] So it’s really. About maintaining a healthy relationship with hours that you’re working with, the hours that you’ve got working on your side hustle and the hours that you put towards your, your friendships and your family, and exercising.

[00:06:00] Amanda: [00:06:00] A hundred percent! It’s about being entirely committed and focused to the task at hand, rather than you having your mind wander to something else thinking, okay, well, I’m sitting here with my partner, but I’m actually tapping away on my phone, working on my business. We don’t want that to happen.

Kingsley: [00:06:14] Yeah, so for important to be present  with whatever you’re doing when you’re doing it.

Amanda: [00:06:19] Top tip number two, power hours, and time blocking. And the concept here is to focus solely on a single task during this time. So carrying on from what I just mentioned… This should be a high paying activity within your business, which is going to relate to an income generating outcome.

The idea being with a power hour is to go all in with full effort in a short burst of time to avoid any procrastination that might be going on. Most people will actually feel comfortable knowing that they have to perform only a task for an hour so they just get in there and do it.

If you were presented with a big, long list of different tasks instead, our mind will come up with all kinds of excuses and [00:07:00] alternate necessary things that you could be doing. And before long, your kitchen is sparkling. You’ve baked up a storm with every kind of raw treat under the sun and your clothes have been reorganized by color scheme.

I’ve been there. I’ve done it. So watch out for that one.

Kingsley: [00:07:15] And the biggest part about this is, once you’ve done it. It’s a big sense of achievement because you’ve knocked off a high paying activity for the day. You’ve sat down. It’s probably been about an hour or so, and you’ve managed to get a lot of work done for what would seem like a fairly short period of time.

So power hours are great for a sense of achievement.

Amanda: [00:07:35] Definitely and time blocking is similar in where you actually block out chunks of time in your diary for set tasks. This works in perfectly with the previous activity where you’ve actually set aside time in your diary to do set things .

Now with time blocking, you’re going to schedule in chunks of time throughout your day for individual activities. The great idea is to set an alarm in your calendar for that set period of time. And then once it [00:08:00] goes off, that’s it, the activity should be complete.

If that task isn’t complete though, you’d need to actually consider or whether you’ve underestimated the time it takes to do it.

Or have you been sidetracked with something else? Could you have found a more efficient way to do it? Or if there was another reason which may have prevented you from achieving it in this specific time.

Now the beauty of time blocking is that it helps to avoid the trap of consuming before you create. And what I’m talking about here is getting caught up in your email inbox, responding to everyone else’s requests or agendas before your own. The important thing here is to be aware of your own outcome and focus on the task that which will get you there first.

So do your tasks and then sit down for the allocated time that you’ve set out to attend other people’s requests. Don’t neglect them, but remember yours come first.

Kingsley: [00:08:51] The next point we want to talk about, it’s got a funny title. It’s called ‘Eat The Frog’. Now, hang on a second guys. I know what you’re thinking.

We’re not [00:09:00] eating frogs here but what we want to do is the night before we want to create a list of tasks to do for the next day – should only be around six or seven. Don’t write a long list of 20 things to do, because then you’ll achieve none of them. And the task, which you have the most perceived fear you want to put at the top of the list and do that one first.

That way you’re not going through the day and dreading that task, therefore avoiding the whole list.

You do the one that you dread the most, the first  and then that way, the other five tasks that you’ve got on your list of six to do, they just breeze by, because you’ve already done the hardest thing for the day.

Amanda: [00:09:36] That sense of achievement again, isn’t it you’ve been there. You’ve ticked it off. And then you can complete the other tasks on your list, feeling on a high!

Kingsley: [00:09:44] Exactly you have like  a win in your brain once you’ve achieved that thing and you go, wow,  I can’t believe I just did the hardest thing for the day.

And it was actually really easy. And then everything else just runs so smoothly and you get everything done so much quicker.

Amanda: [00:09:58] Yeah. It’s such an amazing [00:10:00] feeling. And I know when I started doing that myself, it made such a difference to just my mindset and how I felt when I approached the rest of my day.

Now, the next item that we have in our list may seem a little bit odd, but it does actually tie into the time management theme really well. And this is meal prepping.

So it is something that we have started practicing over the past few years and it has saved us so much time and energy.

Meal prepping can be something that is done for one meal, two meals, all your mails. It is completely up to you how you want to fit that into your life.  One of the things that you need to consider is do you need to eat a brand new dish for dinner every single night of the week? Or can you get away with cooking every second night instead?

Doing this will easily free up three plus hours per week when you consider the amount of time that you would spend cooking and then cleaning up as well, not to mention trying to come up with additional recipes [00:11:00] and potentially a cost saving from leftovers and additional ingredients that you don’t need to buy as well.

Kingsley: [00:11:06] Yeah, it’s a great one for saving time in the kitchen, as well as saving with any wasted food.

Amanda: [00:11:13] Definitely. And the same goes with weekday lunches too. So can you prepare these on the weekend for the week ahead? And that way all you need to do is grab and go in the mornings instead of making them. So this will easily save you 10 minutes every morning, or if not more. And plus it guarantees that you’re going to end up with a healthy option, each lunchtime, rather than sitting there scratching your head and then going, I’ll just grab a salad sandwich again.

Now, if you can’t stand the idea of eating the same dish too many times in a row, batching and freezing the recipe is another great way around it. Simply just cook a double amount, pop it in the freezer for another time when you know that you will be tight on time and there you go – defrost and away you go with it.

Kingsley: [00:11:55] So it’s essentially having like a little bank of different things to eat in your freezer and you just, [00:12:00] whatever you fancy for that day, you pop it out of the freezer the night before, and then it’s good to go for the next day.

Amanda: [00:12:04] Just make sure you choose dishes that can easily be frozen and defrosted. particularly heartier dishes.

They work really well. No one likes a limp bit of lettuce.

Kingsley: [00:12:14] Nothing worse than the thawed out kale.

Amanda: [00:12:18] Kale smoothie is a different story, but yeah…

And this takes us to our final point, which is taking time to practice self care. And I know this sounds counter intuitive, but have you ever noticed that when you feel stressed or overwhelmed or you can think about as being overwhelmed or stressed?

And you’re unable to focus on anything else. I mean, think back to the days of studying when you had an assignment due… who would rush home and start the assignment immediately? I know, I didn’t..

No, instead you’d wait for them weekend before it was jus just putting it off and then you’d sit there feeling extremely stressed that the deadline was creeping closer and [00:13:00] closer. And you’d be staring at that blinking cursor on the screen, as you tried to write those final few paragraphs… you know, that dreaded executive summary. You’d watch the hours disappear on the clock, feeling more stressed as the deadline loomed closer.

And my now you’re feeling so overwhelmed that you could practically feel your shoulders touching your ears as you sat hunched over your computer writing and then rewriting those final few paragraphs. And your brain would simply no longer function. And you thought to yourself that look at walk in the fresh air would clear my head, but there’s just no time.

But by now, your brain is just mush and you feel that you can’t do anything at all. Finally, you step away from the computer in frustration and take a 10 minute break outside. And then when you return, you smash out those final few paragraphs and submit your assignment with a sigh of relief.

And you think, why didn’t I do that in the first place place? The thing is life is just like this. So setting aside time to practice self care, reduces our anxiety and overwhelm and allows you to tackle a task with a fresh [00:14:00] mindset and a fresh set of eyes.

So just taking time to yourself, even if it’s only five or 10 minutes completely refreshes you and allows you to feel more productive when you return.

Simularly if you’re feeling flat. And this will come out in any of the content that you create or your response to people – yes, I’m talking about even those in writing… it’s as though your energy can be felt through your words!

So if you’re feeling flat, stand up, shake it off, have a little dance, put an over the top, grin on your face and take a few deep breaths before you sit back down again and tackle that task at hand.

I mean think about the potential time that you’ve wasted by producing lackluster content or response when all it would take is just a quick little dance around the room to be bringing back your A game again.

So there you have it guys,  our top five time management tips for you to start implementing now so you can create your passion project without feeling overwhelmed and losing your passion for it.

[00:15:00] Remember those healthy habits would you create today whilst juggling work? Your business and maintaining a life will see you through as you transition and scale your side hustle.

So here’s a quick recap.

Kingsley: [00:15:11] First of all, schedule your life so it’s in your diary. Work when it’s  time to work and then relax when it’s time to relax. It’s that easy.

Amanda: [00:15:20] having that white space in there for you so that you can live without feeling guilty during a downtime is such a big one.

Kingsley: [00:15:27] Oh yeah.

Power hour and time blocking. So focus on the high paying activities for short bursts of time and block out allocated times in your diary for different activities.

Eat the frog! Create your daily tasks so the six or so things that you want to do for the next day.

And do the one that you dread most of the first,

Amanda: [00:15:48] That’s it! You left start the day feeling on a high!

Kingsley: [00:15:51] Meal prepping.  Spending less time in the kitchen through smart planning

Amanda: [00:15:55] whilst ensuring that you still eat nutritious meals all throughout the week.

[00:16:00] Kingsley: [00:16:00] And don’t forget to practice self care. Taking time out to focus on yourself mindset and your mental health is really important.

Amanda: [00:16:07] That way you’ll be the most productive when it is actually time for you to focus on your business.

We hope these tips have served you well and would love to know how you’re implementing these into your life so slide into our DMS and let us know!

To help get you started with hacking your schedule. We’ve created a free downloadable template, so you can structure your week and be in control of your time.

Head over to the show notes to download this free resource at heartdrivenhustle.com/11.