Do you have things planned to do in the coming week or you want to achieve the goals you set at the beginning of the year? but you always struggle to find the time or you just keep on postponing them? 

Everyone struggles through such situations in various phases of their life. Life can get messy and at any given point we are juggling different things: family, job, relationships, friends, etc. A simple solution can be to focus on priorities and forget about less important things. But this is not realistic all the time. Therefore we need to find new solutions so that we are able to do more things without wasting our precious time. It only requires us to work in an organized way.

In order to start working in an organized way, you can use a very simple productivity exercise that many people use. The name of the technique is Time Blocking. It's used by very busy people such as Bill Gates and Elon Musk to get things done. 

The only thing you require to start using this technique is a calendar. Use your calendar to block time for specific tasks. The time allocated depends on the task at hand. For example 15 min at the start of the day to check your emails, 20 min to research and write the first draft of the blog, etc. During the allocated time frame your need to stick to the task for which it was allocated. This way you don’t have to think about various tasks you have to complete throughout the day, you just let the calendar lead the way. 

For this technique to work you need to sit down at the starting of the week or month and plan things out accordingly. For recurring tasks such as meetings and emails, set a specified time in the morning or evening. Always be realistic and don’t overschedule, you can be productive only a certain number of hours so plan accordingly. Give 10 min every evening to figure out the schedule for tomorrow.

Done right, time blocking can help you make optimum utilization of your time. By dedicating a specific amount of time to one task, you will have sharp focus and minimize mindless switching between several tasks. You will start treating time as the precious resource it is. You will only allow tasks that have meaning and ensure that you don't spend time thinking about less important tasks. It will help you to be on track. You will know that if you watch Youtube or scroll through your Instagram you will fall behind schedule and you will delay other tasks lined up. It will also provide a sense of control and stability as all our tasks and priorities are planned out against set dates and times. You will be equipped to give every task its deserved attention and any workload will look like it is manageable.

Planning every bit of your every day might seem unnatural and robotic. But if you give it a shot you will find that this technique provides structure and focus, which some of us (especially me) might lack. 

According to my experience if you implement this technique you will definitely improve how you spend time on individual tasks and also you will get a clear picture of how much time is just wasted with meaningless tasks.