The Nitty-Gritty On The Word “Hustle” …

Read that ONE. MORE. TIME.

Okay, done? Great!

I hate to admit this out loud — but there are a lot of “time wasters” in our daily lives which tend to usually have a negative impact on what we’re trying to accomplish. That’s why it’s so important to understand the low-down on time management as well how to “hustle” the right way without compromising yourself — which in reality can also be viewed in partnership with project management therefore making productivity well rounded. 

We don’t want you getting burnt out, so the key words here are PLANNING and TIME BLOCKING. You want to work smarter, not harder. You want that life of freedom. You want your big dreams to become reality. So, in order for that to all happen you’ll need to plan things out according to your daily tasks, projects, and goals.

Realistically, if you work too hard you may lose sight of your bigger picture. And if you think multitasking is the way to go, you’re actually going to run yourself backwards. And we most certainly don’t want that to happen as that’s what we’ve been working so hard to build up to in order to gain more sanity with this “hustle” lifestyle. Research actually suggests that as we burn out, we have a greater tendency to get “lost in the weeds” — that’s the last thing you want. So, how exactly do you escape this dreaded lifestyle we’re calling the “hustle pandemic” through planning and time blocking?

Well, it’s simple really … By preparing yourself for each and every business day. It’s all about creating a small handful of routines and processes to save yourself time and efforts in the long run, thus making room for massive growth. It’s all about manipulating your time because we do not have the power to slow it down. For this type of planning, it’s better to set aside some bittersweet quiet time.

For me, nothing kills productivity and my laser focused mind than becoming distracted. I highly value every single moment I have and am ruthless about killing any and all distractions! You’re probably wondering what I mean here … This means doing things like:

• Having my email, Slack, and social media notifications on silent all day (even though my phone is always within reach).
• Not leaving 5 million tabs open at one time, I close each as I’m done with them.
• Only checking social media posts during certain times of the day (unless a client needs me to otherwise do so).
• Doing my best to not let my mind wander over to my email (whether business or personal) throughout the day making me distracted from the tasks at hand.

You think I’m an over-the-top nerd, I know it! But you know what? I’m okay with that!

Now that you’re in your quiet time with zero distractions, it’s time to get into virtual hero mode with time blocking … which is basically controlling your schedule so it doesn’t control YOU!

Time blocking is a time management assist method we use that asks you to divide your day into different blocks of time. Each block is dedicated to accomplishing a specific task, or group of tasks, and only those specific tasks. Yes, you heard me right … NOTHING ELSE! So, instead of keeping an open-ended to-do list of things you’ll get to as you’re able, you’ll begin each day with a concrete schedule that lays out what you need to work on and when. With a little wiggle room for emergencies of course.

The golden key to this seemingly crazy method is prioritizing your list in advance — so a dedicated weekly (or even daily) review is an absolute must. You need to take stock of what’s coming up for the day or week ahead and make a rough sketch of your time blocks for each day. Then at the end of every working day, review any tasks you didn’t finish — as well as any new tasks that have come in — and adjust your time blocks for the rest of the week accordingly. We prefer to do this with a weekly schedule in mind, on Fridays for the week to come. Then do a mini review at the end of each day to see if adjustments need to be made due to current things on the go and/or new project requests that may have come in.

The wonderfulness of this all is that with your days’ time blocked in advance, you won’t have to constantly make choices about what to focus on. 

All you need to do is follow your time blocked schedule. Then rinse’ and repeat.

Okay, so now that you’ve learned the art of time blocking, let’s dive into a mini version of planning so you can become a master of your time like us!

#1. Set a time limit to each task. Don’t forget to add buffers in between in case you don’t complete a task on time and so you don’t take time away from whatever is next on your schedule.

#2. Use a to-do list or project management platform — which you’ve heard me talk about many, many times. Creating one of these for yourself will keep you laser focused and will also motivate you as you see what you’ve already achieved, and what remains.

#3. Plan ahead (which we just talked about with time blocking) by spending your mornings on your most important tasks. If you have the most amount of energy in the morning don’t waste it fiddling around!

#4. Change your schedule if you must but don’t “half-work” your routines. And by “half-work” I mean, don’t stop randomly to check your phone for no reason or pop onto social media to cruise. A wandering mind never gets things done on time.

#5. Follow the 1-3-5 rule, which is mapping out one big thing, three medium things and five smaller things you want to get done daily (and yes, those are what we like to call a reasonable number of items for your to-do list).

#6. Purge your lists on a daily basis and be realistic with your goals.

#7. Stop trying to be “perfect” because (1) there’s no such thing; and (2) when you’re trying to be a perfectionist, nothing will ever be good enough which means nothing will ever get done and you will be in “rinse n’ repeat” mode for what feels like an honest to goodness lifetime.

My team and I are firm believers in the mindful “hustle” culture but in such a way that we’re not “stuck” to any one way of doing things. And we know when it’s time to throw in the towel when a process or routine just isn’t beneficial any longer. We’re also firm believers in every single time, organization, and project management tip we share with you. We wouldn’t share them if we didn’t do the work and try them out ourselves first — and felt that they actually saved time. (And in some cases, money too!) This information isn’t fluff. It’s not a sales tactic. Were not trying to sell you a way to get you to like us. We honest to goodness share these things because we test them out then follow them faithfully when we know they really do work and add value to our day and business. We share them because our true passion is to help anyone and everyone on this similar adventure in any way, we can … even if you’re not a paying client. That’s how much we nerds love what we do!

So, if you have found yourself in this space of struggle … and stuck in the rinse n’ repeat mode the “hustle pandemic”, please take advantage of these great pointers and make the necessary changes in your business life in order to get your schedule and productivity working for you, not the other way around! And when you know what you’re working on, when you’re working on it, and why you’re working towards it, then everything that doesn’t serve that goal can take a fucking backseat.

The most productive (and results-yielding) work we as a team have ever done came from being intentional about our time and efforts, alongside our vision to empower leaders — just like yourself – by deeply connecting with you with real facts and real truths, beyond the everyday “untangling” we do.

Our “why” is YOU! And to create more moments of genuine connection, so that people can finally start seeing one another as human beings (not human doings) … like the way of this “hustle” culture.

So, if you take away anything from today’s post, let it be this … Don’t lose sight of why you’re pouring your life forces into your business in the first place – as long as you use the tools we share with you, hold your vision close, work hard – but mindfully of course, you will always produce instead of distract.