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Time Blocking

 The one resource that is the most important beyond yourself, and that you have the most control over, is your time. You may have a schedule set for you, but that schedule has time in it for you to plan. Or there is time before the everyone else that will demand your time shows up, or they have left. That may be different for each person, but there is time.

What is critical is that you make that time important. Too often we feel guilty if we are not giving up our time to make sure we are fully available for everyone else, leaving us unable to take care of the most important things we need to work on. What is critical is that you realize how important that time is to you, and to achieving your goals. If your goals are set in such a way that they are truly impactful, then what are you and everyone else missing out on when you don't make that time your priority.

Time blocks can be as short or long as you need them to be, or have in your day. I hear people in the corporate world talking about setting a 4 hour time block to work. In my world with the hectic pace of a school day, a 4 hour block seems ludicrous! But I can steal 4 hours throughout the week if I put them on my calendar.

I use Google Calendar to run my life, professional and personally. Without that, I would forget just about everything. So what I started doing last year was scheduling in Focus Time on my calendar, usually in half hour increments where I could. I would make them titled "Time Block for ... " to remind myself of what I was planning to do, and then when the time came I would close the blinds, shut the door, put on Do Not Disturb on my phones, and get to work. Using Focus Time on my calendar also makes it so that others cannot schedule a meeting with me during that time. Without that set up, I would find myself floundering on being productive. I'de still be plenty busy, just not doing the work I needed to do in order to reach my goals. 

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