27 Sep Time Blocks
Hello, my name is Scott Miller, and I am addicted to time blocks. My calendar is a micro-blog of my day. Seriously, if you want to know who I met with or what I worked on throughout my day, just look at my calendar.
I remember when my assistant Julia first took the job and naturally asked for access to my calendar so she could book meetings. I apologized upfront and wondered if she would think I was insane and have second thoughts about taking the job. It’s so bad, I have “yard work” listed on my calendar each week. Fortunately for Julia she only has access to my work calendar.
But the truth is, my calendar helps me get a lot of projects accomplished. I have been an entrepreneur most of my career, and only recently hired an assistant to help manage my schedule. When you oversee a small business that owns two TV networks, a radio network, and a content marketing agency, you better be organized.
Blocking off my day helps me make sure I am not being the bottleneck in our company, which is so easy to do as the leader.
Blocking off my day helps me make sure I am not being the bottleneck in our company, which is so easy to do as the leader. I don’t want my team waiting on me to decide or finish a project that helps them, and their team, succeed. And I don’t want a client waiting on me to return an agreement or fulfill a task.
I tell business leaders that they need to be engaged in content marketing for their companies. Write a weekly blog, host a podcast, or record videos weekly. Most come back with the same response: “I don’t have time to do that and run my business.” But the truth is, you always have time for what you find important.
This is not an original idea I came up with, but one I have adopted and made my own. I started this practice when my to-do list was so long that I was falling behind. I started looking at my day to figure out where I could find more margin. What I discovered was a day filled with long meetings or water cooler conversations. Meetings can be productive and connecting with your staff is good, but you can schedule time in your calendar to do both.
The craziest part is that my calendar actually provides more work-life balance during the week. Because I get my tasks completed throughout the day, I don’t feel the need to open my laptop as often in the evenings. And I use my calendar to also book family events first, so when a client or team members request a meeting, I can tell them I am booked during that time and offer an alternative time to meet. I don’t tell them my meeting is my daughter’s orchestra concert. That is a tip I learned from my mentor and founder of our company, Ed Frazier.
Now that this blog post is finished, time to update my calendar and move on to the next project on my list.
Scott Miller is the CEO of Centerpost Media and host of the Create, Build and Manage Radio Show and Podcast. You can find Scott on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter via “@scottmillerceo.” Centerpost Media is a marketing agency with a vision to help every business they encounter with their media needs by providing outstanding quality, service and value. Centerpost Media is the parent company to BizTV, BizTalkRadio, BizTalkPodcasts and Bizvod.