Freelance Amy

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Time Blocking with Google Calendar (Part 2)

2021-02-05
A screenshot of one week in January using time blocking with Google Calendar. Days are blocked off with color-coded time blocks for specific tasks with long projects listed at the top.
A snapshot of my system for time blocking with Google Calendar

In my previous post, I discussed the daily task checklist as a tool for organizing freelancer schedules. In this post, I’ll take a look at the pros and cons of time blocking with Google Calendar.

At the end, I’ll provide a brief conclusion about both systems. Then, you’ll get my final verdict based on this way super-duper deep and exciting examination!

Quick heads-up:
This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission should you decide to purchase items I recommend via affiliate links.

PRO
Time Blocking with Google Calendar

You can allocate time to different-size tasks.

When you are time blocking with Google Calendar, you set aside time for a specific task or project at a specific time of day and focus only on that during that time slot.

If the task takes several hours, you can allocate time, say 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., then take lunch, answer emails, and complete some other task that also needs to be done that day (also time blocked), and then carry on with the original task from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

CON
Time Blocking with Google Calendar

You have to be able to identify how long a task will take.

It can be difficult to determine how long a task will take, and it can be challenging to figure out how to complete other tasks around it that also need to be done that day.

Solution?

Keep track of how long tasks take you using a spreadsheet or other tracking medium you prefer. I use Microsoft Excel* to log my start and end times and then note what project I worked on. Over time, I’ve built up a record of how long different types of tasks take me. And I use that to determine my time blocks for each task.

*To learn more about my tracking system, check out my course “Complete Time Management for Freelancers” on Udemy and LearnDesk.

PRO
Time Blocking with Google Calendar

You can schedule priorities according to your daily rhythms.

When you’re time blocking, you can schedule your most important tasks and most demanding tasks strategically throughout the day. For example, I know that I do my best copyediting and writing work in the mornings, so I block off that time of day for those types of tasks.

However, I also have to balance deadlines, so sometimes I have to compromise a little and maybe push some writing to the early afternoon if a client is waiting on a design project first thing.

CON
Time Blocking with Google Calendar

It can be hard to identify high and low priorities.

With so much on your plate, that ever-growing list can be overwhelming. Which one is the most important, the most urgent, or both? For example:

  • Your most demanding client needs you to turn in a couple mockups by noon.
  • Your dog is barking and needs to go out.
  • Your tooth is throbbing and you need to make time for an urgent dental appointment.
  • You still haven’t been able to get started on building your new website.

Solution?

Take time to think about what’s really important. I’d recommend reading Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In it, Covey provides sage advice on how to identify what’s important, urgent, not important, and not urgent.

The key is to work toward living most of your life in the quadrant of “important and not urgent.” Once you’ve done that, you can handle whenever those “important and urgent” things arise. As you start time blocking with Google Calendar, you’ll find that the more you time block, the more seamless identifying priorities will become.

PRO
Time Blocking with Google Calendar

You can plan out your day carefully and precisely.

When you’re time blocking with Google Calendar, you can plan out your day and even your week down to the half hour or even the quarter hour. You can feel assured that what you’ve set out to do that week has its place and will get done.

And if tasks end up taking longer than anticipated or deadlines shift, you can easily just move those blocks around, especially if you’re using an online calendar. Just drag and drop!

CON
Time Blocking with Google Calendar

You have constant interruptions that disrupt your carefully planned schedule.

Unfortunately, interruptions will strike eventually, and sometimes they can be substantial. And maybe that’s even just the nature of your type of freelance gigs.

You can have good intentions, set up all your tasks when time blocking with Google calendar, and know exactly how long each will take you … Then a client calls you to discuss some urgent issue for what was supposed to be 5 minutes that turned into 2 hours.

Solution?

Consider a combination of time blocking with Google Calendar and daily task checklist! Use time blocking for meetings and non-negotiable tasks or make time blocks flexible.

If your clients are less active in the mornings, plan your most demanding tasks for that time. Then leave the afternoon free for less urgent and less demanding tasks that are laid out on an organized, prioritized to-do list. You can use a combination of Google Keep checklists and Google Tasks or some other app or web-based tool.

Conclusion

In sum, and in my determination to prove that time blocking with Google Calendar is the best system, I somehow managed to state that both are pretty great. And used in conjunction, they are a force to be reckoned with.

And to keep up to date on my blog posts, courses, and other offerings, don’t forget to subscribe to Freelance Amy!

To learn more about how to manage your time and priorities effectively, check out my online course. In “Complete Time Management for Freelancers” you’ll learn to identify priorities, organize them, and get them done. In addition, you’ll learn to keep focused and maintain good habits. Your enrollment includes access to resources like the time tracker I mentioned above, worksheets, and book recommendations. The course is available on Udemy and LearnDesk.

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Daily Task Checklist vs. Time Blocking (Part 1)

2021-01-29
Daily task checklist on paper with pen
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay 

There’s a war going in the time management field over the best tools for organizing freelancer schedules. One camp favors the daily task checklist, or to-do list. And the other advocates for the time blocking calendar, or as I sometimes refer to it, extreme scheduling.

I would staunchly identify with the time blocking calendar as you would learn from my online courses. However, I have many friends and colleagues who are determined to hold onto their daily task checklist as if any other system were morally impossible.

Some of them even swear by piles and piles of Post-it notes, and I shudder at the thought. If they are getting things done with this system, though, more power to them!

But in the next breath, some may complain that they never can get to that one project on their list. Its presence instills guilt and remorse each time they see it or think about it.

Is my bias too obvious here?

So, to be completely fair and forthright, I’m going to examine that bias by taking a deeper look at each system. For this first post, I’ll discuss the pros and cons of the daily task checklist.

PRO
Daily Task Checklist

It’s a quick way to jot down tasks and projects.

Back when I used a daily task checklist, I had a big legal pad next to my keyboard. Each time a new task came in via email, phone, or conversation at the entry of my cubicle—this was before I was a freelancer—I would diligently write that down even before I finished reading or talking.

It was out of my head, so I knew it would eventually get done. No need to fret because it was right there on the piece of paper as an hourly physical reminder.

CON
Daily Task Checklist

It can be unorganized and ever growing.

The physical legal pad can quickly become unorganized as more tasks come in. Which one needs to be done first and how much time do I need to complete each one?

And as the list keeps growing, the self-assurance I once felt about getting it out of my head is quickly replaced with the overwhelm I was trying to avoid by using a daily task checklist to begin with. I start to run out of paper and need to either flip to the other side or start a new page.

Solution?

Back in the day, I had a simple way to overcome the overwhelm of an ever-growing and unorganized to-do list. I labeled some tasks by order of priority. In other words, I just numbered them.

Over time, though, some tasks seemed to be at the same level of priority. So then I started to label them with letters. All tasks considered #1, for example, got a letter to drill down their priority even more. I ended up with tasks labeled #1a, #1b, and so on.

This daily task checklist seemed to work for me back then. But now, as a freelancer, I juggle multiple personal and business priorities. And they all depend on several factors: deadlines, level of effort, client expectations, ideal time of day, and ETA of the actual work in my inbox. It would be impossible for me to implement all of these using just a primitive handwritten paper list.

These days, though, we have an app for that!

Instead of a legal pad, you can use online checklists to move things around just with your mouse or finger. You can even go a step further and add a date that triggers a reminder on the assigned day. It’s still on a list, though you can also put a time if you like.

For simple checklists, I would suggest looking into Google Keep, which is also a notetaking app. For tasks, I would suggest Google Tasks, which also syncs with Google Calendar.

PRO
Daily Task Checklist

You can use any medium for the daily task checklist.

No matter where you are, especially in this plugged-in world we’re living in, you can jot down a task or idea to refer to later. Yes, you can write it down on the list next to you at your desk, but you can also leave a note for yourself on your phone via email or a notetaking app.

Or just carry a small notepad around with you. Or even leave yourself a voicemail. Or write it down on a Post-it note. The possibilities are endless!

CON
Daily Task Checklist

You can end up with several different lists in different places.

The possibilities are endless! Did I say that already? If you do end up writing things down in a multitude of places—I mean you should be recording tasks whenever they come up just to get them out of your head and avoid stress and overwhelm—you could end up with so many lists that you can’t possibly know which needs to be done first, when, and for how long.

At some point, you’re going to need to consolidate all those lists, and that can be time consuming and overwhelming. Just the thought of having to do that can be overwhelming and make the most laid-back person want to lie down on the floor and sob. Or throw things. Or hide under the table.

Solution?

My best advice here would be to limit the media you use to record tasks as much as possible. If you tend to write things down when using a daily task checklist, keep one notepad at your desk. Alternatively, designate a notepad for each type of task, such as professional versus personal.

When you’re away from your desk, consider using an app on your phone for any tasks you think of on the road or in the next room. Then, designate a time each day to transfer the notes from your phone to your lists at your desk. I would recommend doing it when you first start working for the day.

PRO
Daily Task Checklist

Checking off an item is deeply satisfying.

When I use the daily task checklist now—I use Google Tasks for small things—I find it difficult to find a greater feeling than that which comes with checking off a task.

It’s done! It’s not only out of my head, but also gone forever and complete. What more can you ask from life?

CON
Daily Task Checklist

You keep adding more items, sometimes five more for every one!

But, alas, checking off one task just means you need to move onto the next one. And while you were checking it off, you probably thought of a few more. The list starts to feel never-ending.

Well, it feels never-ending because, well, it is never-ending! Your to-do list will still be there the day you take your last breath, and that’s a sobering thought, isn’t it?

Solution?

Then again, and I’m going to get a little philosophical here, understanding the perspective that a to-do list is forever and it’s the same for everyone around the world may be a reassuring feeling, if you are inclined to feel that way.

But, if that doesn’t work for you, stay tuned for my next post about the pros and cons of the time blocking calendar. Might this option be a good one for you to explore? Maybe just give it a try for a week or two? Even just for a day?

Thanks for getting to the end of part 1 of my two-part series examining the pros and cons of the daily task checklist and time blocking calendar. Stay tuned for part 2 coming soon!

And to keep up to date on my blog posts, courses, and other offerings, don’t forget to subscribe to Freelance Amy!

If you want to learn more about managing your time and priorities effectively, check out my self-paced online course “Complete Time Management for Freelancers: Strategies for the Virtual Workplace,” which is available on Udemy and LearnDesk.

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Time Management Tools for Freelancers: Top 10 List

2020-12-28

I’m often asked how I manage to get things done, how I budget my time, and what tools I use to do both of those things. I’ve been freelancing for over a decade, and I’ve built up quite a set of effective tools over the years. So here’s my top 10 list of time management tools for freelancers.

1. Desk organizer

Desk organizer as one my time management tools for freelancers. This one has one large drawer, a shelf, and three slots on top for mail and documents.
My desk organizer

Get a desk organizer for three important reasons:

  • First, you won’t be distracted by all the clutter while you’re trying to work.
  • Second, a clean desk will get you motivated and in the right mindset to work.
  • Third, you’ll know where all the odds and ends are when you need them, like extra staples, binder clips, and sticky notes. If you can’t find these items just when you need them, you lose time, energy, and money looking for them.

2. Multiple screens

Me and my screens

I worked exclusively from a laptop when I first started freelancing. But after a few months of sore eyes and an aching back, I invested in an external screen.

I saw not only improved ergonomic benefits but also doubled productivity overnight. I was also able to work much more efficiently and much less painfully. A couple years later, I set aside the laptop for travel only and switched to a desktop computer.

Now two large high-quality screens are among my top time management tools for freelancers. I am able to focus on my editing and design work on the primary screen. I then keep track of my time on the other.

3. Notepad

I do most of my business on the computer, but a notepad is always by my side. I use it to quickly jot down ideas, outline complex tasks, and note an RGB code for a Word document.

I also take meeting notes with it, draw up a quick one-off editing checklist, or write down ideas or tasks that wake me up in the night. Then, once a week, I look through all the notes to determine if I might need them again.

Those notes that I won’t need again go into the recycling bin, and then I scan the others for safekeeping in the cloud. Once electronically filed, the original hard copies are recycled as well.

4. Note-taking apps

If you’re like me, you have lots of ideas all the time for new projects, whether personal or professional.

A project can be as small as figuring out what ingredients you need to buy for dinner or picking out a movie to watch with your partner. Or, it can be as big as writing a novel or planning a trip to Peru. For these ideas, I use a note-taking app that I can access both on my phone and on my computer.

Currently, I use Google Keep because it’s simple, it syncs across devices, and the note is saved or deleted immediately. I can also move the notes around the screen, color code them, and organize them into folders.

5. Mute function

Spam texts and phone calls really irk me, and I’m sure they bug you as well. Because I’ve lived on both the east coast and west coast of the U.S. over the past decade, I get them early in the morning and late at night. I’m also not fond of phone calls while I’m trying to focus on an important task.

My solution? Mute. That’s right, I always have my phone on mute, unless I’m expecting an important call. Periodically, I check my phone for messages and answer right away if needed. But about 99% of the time, an immediate answer is unnecessary.

Most people have their own cell phone and constant access to the internet. So it’s hard not to find someone online in one way or another. If my phone is muted, I still get the text or the voicemail. It just doesn’t interrupt my current flow because I don’t see it right away.

6. Dictation

Qwerty keyboard on a smartphone
Use the mic icon at the top right to dictate on your phone.

The opposite of the mute function, sort of, is the dictation function. I started using it as one of my time management tools for freelancers about a year ago. And it has been a game changer for me in regards to productivity.

When I need to take a quick note on Google Keep or send a text, I select the little microphone icon in the virtual keyboard. I then simply speak out loud what I want to write.

Beware, though, that it is never 100% accurate. I always have to re-read the dictated note and fix a couple things. But that’s still a savings of both time and personal energy. I use dictation for anything I can use it for: notes, text messages, chats, and tasks (see the next tool on this last one).

7. Tasks app

When I need to get something done and I know about when I want to get it done, I use the Google Tasks app accessible on my phone and computer.

This app has a simple interface that allows you to enter a quick task. You can save it just like that, but I would advise that you at least put a date on it. Putting a date makes it easier for you to keep up with your list of tasks and not feel overwhelmed.

You can also set the task to recur. For example, you may need a reminder to do the laundry or submit an invoice. Often, I create a task when I’m not at my desk just to have it there for when I can schedule it more specifically later on.

8. Pomodoro timer

I don’t always use a Pomodoro timer as one of my time management tools for freelancers. But when I do, I use the Focus 10 app available in the Windows 10 store. But you can use whatever timer works for you.

The basic premise is this: The clock starts counting down from 25 minutes, and then you get 5 minutes for a break. I use this system when I need to edit a huge document all in one day. I just work toward getting specific chunks done during each interval. At the break, I do some stretches, answer a text, or make a cup of tea before going on to the next chunk.

You can also use the timer as an ergonomic tool that gets you up and away from your desk. Use the breaks to stretch those hip flexors or stare out the window for a moment to avoid eye strain.

9. Time tracking software

As a freelancer, you already know that you need to track your time for invoicing. But you also should track the pace you generally keep for specific tasks and projects. Keeping track of your pace will help you estimate time for future projects.

I use Microsoft Excel, but there are a number of options you can look into, such as Toggl, HoursTracker, QuickBooks, and Smartsheet. They all have different features depending on your needs.

Because I use the cloud, Excel is accessible across all my devices. It allows me to plug in whatever values I need. I can then run customized reports based on clients, dates, payments, and so on. I also track business expenses on the same spreadsheet.

10. Online calendar

Screenshot of my online calendar as one of my time management tools for freelancers
My carefully time-blocked online calendar for one week

Finally, my online calendar is the most important of my time management tools for freelancers. I would be completely lost without it.

Google Calendar is free and syncs across all devices. Some people may think of a calendar as just a tool to schedule meetings, but it can be so much more than that. In fact, meetings are the least important use I have for my online calendar.

Time blocking

To keep up with my various freelance and personal projects as well as daily and weekly responsibilities, such as folding the laundry or cooking dinner, I use a system called time blocking.

The idea is pretty simple, actually. You schedule a task over a block of time and focus entirely on that task during that time. I keep to the system by blocking out my time for the following week every Friday. I also use color codes for things like freelance projects, exercise, personal tasks, and so on. Then, each morning, I review my schedule and make tweaks as needed.

I almost never stick to the original set of time blocks because, well, freelance life. But the initial setup gives me peace of mind and makes it easy for me to determine whether I can take on more work that week.

And to keep up to date on my blog posts, courses, and other offerings, don’t forget to subscribe to Freelance Amy!

I hope at least one of the time management tools for freelancers on this list will be useful to you. Learn more about how to schedule your time and priorities from my course “Complete Time Management for Freelancers: Strategies for the Virtual Workplace” available on Udemy.com and LearnDesk.

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