Alright, blog post #2 on time blocking. I know you guys have been itching to hear how my week has gone, right? Just nod your head to make me feel better 🙂 .

Everyone says, “Get up early! Start your day!” That’s all well and great, but how do I start my day well? Someone in my brokerage mentioned the book Miracle Morning several months ago; I read it and thought a lot of it made sense. A good start to the day is incredibly energizing.

My mornings had been really quite haphazard. Depending on the day I could be up at 5:30am finalizing a listing to get a house on the market first thing, or I’d be up at 6:30 to get a load of laundry and do my Bible study before the kids woke up, or fall out of bed at 7 am saying “Guuuuuuys…get out of beeeeeed, we have to get ready for schooooool.”

Enjoyable Mornings

But this past week my mornings have been consistently very enjoyable.

6 am: Get up, brush teeth, have a cold glass of water, get a cup of coffee, sit in a comfy chair. The cat (we call her kitty, Copper, or Norman 😊) takes over my lap, purring like a monster because she was lonely from being locked out of our bedrooms at night. 

I spend some quiet time praying and reading my Bible, reviewing the personal commitments I’ve made to myself to set my head on straight and be the best version of who God made me.  

Then I crack open my to-do list, goals, and calendar and plan my day based on the demands of the week. My days often include housework, exercising, meetings and appointments, and doing all the things realtors need to do.

7am: “Guys…get out of bed! Time to get ready for school.” And then on we go.

Two Planners and a Notebook

Does anyone else LOVE planners? Handwriting lists? I’ve tried keeping a to-do list on my phone and it fails miserably. In all my jobs, I’ve always used a handwritten calendar and lists. I keep my Google calendar up to date, but for planning my day specifically, I like to write it out.

Don’t laugh, but I use three, yes THREE, different notebooks/planners to get myself in order. There is a method to my madness. I’ve always done this and it works well for me.

1. One is for to-dos only, a perpetual task list if you will. A top spiraled notebook where I write everything down that I have to do. Whether it’s today or this week, it goes in the notebook. If I am in the middle of a project during the day and I remember something, I write it in that notebook and then get back to my project rather than get sidetracked by trying to do too many things at once. In the back of this notebook, I write down the larger projects and ideas that I have so I don’t lose track of those either.
2. Christy Wright’s 2022 Goal Planner: I bought this in the fall to use for this year and found the weekly space isn’t big enough to time block, but perfect to keep my top priorities for the week in front of me, what to-dos need to be done on specific days, and keep my food journal. I use an app for food tracking too, but I like to write it down best.
3. I needed something with lots of space to write down my time blocking and I found one at Bid2Benefit in Hudsonville for $2.49. Win! It’s an academic calendar so it’s actually from July 2021-June 2022 but I’m using the 2021 sections to take notes on phone calls and meetings.

The conclusion: I found it much easier to organize my day and focus on what lies ahead by starting this way. By the time the kids got up, I was focused, knew what needed to get done that day, what my next few days would probably look like, what we were going to have for dinner, and give myself permission to stick to my calendar for the day. I did have a few surprises come up relating to work and I anticipate that each day, so I decide what can be moved around a bit to meet those priorities.

All in all, I am very happy with how the week is shaping up.

What organizers or apps do you use to manage your to-do lists and calendar?

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