Working for yourself presents tons of obstacles and life-related tasks can easily get in the way of reaching your business goals.

There seem to be an endless amount of time management techniques for digital creators. And while many of them are helpful, in our 15+ years of experience working for ourselves we can confidently say the three simple strategies you're about to read have made the biggest positive impact on our daily schedule.

We promise, you don't need advanced time management techniques to work more effeciently and to feel more in control of daily goals.

Strategy #1: Utilizing Micro-Deadlines

Whether your business works with clients or you build digital products, you’re no stranger to deadlines.

But the problem with setting ONE fixed deadline for a project is a little thing called Parkinson’s Law. Parkinson’s Law says:

“Work will expand to fill the time available for its completion.”

This means if you define one big bucket for a project, your time will expand to fill the bucket. You might find yourself taking the first 3 weeks for the first phase of the project, only to find yourself overwhelmed and in a time crunch for the final week when you have to race through the rest of the steps in the project and your personal life gets in the way.

Instead, when you set your final deadline, our first time management tip is to set micro-deadlines throughout the various stages of the process as well.

Setting micro-deadlines based on project phases

By defining these micro-deadlines based on the specific daily tasks (or weekly tasks) in each phase of your project, you can better keep your work contained to each deadline (with more limited time), making you more efficient overall and only spending the time necessary to complete each group of tasks.

An updated project plan using the micro-deadlines time management method might look like this:

• Phase 1: Planning (due October 1st)

• Phase 2: Research & Brainstorming (due October 7th)

• Phase 3: First draft of designs (due October 21st)

• Phase 4: Final revisions completed (due October 28th)

• Phase 5: Final Presentation to Client (due November 4th)

Trust us, just integrating this simple time management strategy into your project process will better keep you on track, reduce procrastination and overwhelm, and even allow you to take on more projects than before, which will actually boost your bottom line.

Now, let's talk about the next time management skill that took our work output to the next level...

Strategy #2: Time Blocking is a Game-Changer

Time Blocking (aka time boxing technique) can induce eye-rolling due to it's simplicity, but, it's a time management skill every solopreneur needs AND should implement in a way that works best with their unique daily schedule.

The way we like to think about time blocking is in three steps:

1. Put life tasks as time blocks on your calendar FIRST

2. Then add in blocks for work

3. Then finish by adding any non-essential task blocks

You can use a length of time blocking that works best for you, we find that 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and 1 hour blocks help us work as effectively as possible for those periods of time.

Everyone's Time Blocking Calendar is Different

One of the reasons we see this technique for time management fail for people is because they try to copy a daily schedule used by someone else. Time blocking only works when you start from scratch on your calendar and plot amounts of time onto your specific calendar.

An example time management plan using blocks for us might look like:

• 8-9am breakfast and exercise

• 9-11am deep work time activities (design, coding, creating content)

• 11am-Noon shallow work activities (answer emails, posting on social)

• Noon-1pm lunch

• Etc...

But, your exact time schedule might look like:

• 6am-7am breakfast and exercise

• 8am-9am get kids ready for school

• 9am-10am shallow work

• 10am-1pm deep work

• 1pm-2pm lunch

• Etc...

Turn a Busy Schedule into an Effective Schedule

Whether you need to block off daily tasks, study time, time with friends, mental health time, personal time, etc, time blocking can help take critical tasks and give you a place to put them in your daily schedule.

This time management technique is not to be ignored and has helped us run more calm, peaceful, and predictable businesses for over a decade.

There are always going to be time periods where your social life impacts your busy schedule, but by having a well-organized calendar that prioritizes your life FIRST, you can avoid feeling like your schedule is over-stuffed.

Strategy #3: Keep A Time Journal For 1 Week

Keeping a time journal for one week is an effective time management strategy to identify how you spend your hours each day. If you're the type of person who wonders where all the hours go in the week, this strategy is for you!

Here's how to keep a 1-week time log:

1. Choose Your Format: Select a physical notebook, digital app, or simple spreadsheet to record your daily activities.
   
   

2. Record Everything in 30-60 Minute Increments: For each day starting when you wake up, make note of all the tasks you accomplish hour by hour, both big and small. This includes work activities, daily tasks, study time, personal time with friends, and even time wasters. We highly recommend recording every 30-60 minute chunk of time from the moment you wake up until bedtime.
   
   

3. Stick With Tracking: There are going to be blocks of time when you're focused on work or when you're living your personal life, but try your best to write notes during this short 1-week tracking time period.
   
   

4. Categorize Tasks Daily: How many hours did you spend on social media? Answering customer requests? Editing videos? Eating meals? Etc. Categorize work tasks, non-essential tasks, leisure activities, life tasks, etc together.

Analyze Your Week (Without Judgement!)

Once you finish keeping a time journal for 1 week, it's time to reflect and review your time management habits. It's important to do this without judgement! The point of this exercise is see this journal as a time management tool to learn from.

• Where did extra time go in your weekly schedule?

• Did you spend enough valuable time working?

• Did demanding tasks take longer than you thought they do?

• Did you have lower energy levels on days that were more broken up?

• Do you spend too little time on extracurricular activities (balance is good!)?

This time management method can be extremely eye-opening and can be the catalyst to create an amazing change in how you work and how you structure your day.

And, if you were already wondering, "would micro-deadlines and time blocking be easier after a week of doing a time journal?: The answer is YES! These time management techniques can be linked together for an optimal schedule that works best for your life.