Yes, a kind of fixed time blocking. Reminds me a little of the Pomodoro technique. The only difference is that the time is longer... the basic idea is that you have a manageable time frame that is not too long in order to focus on your work and then take a break again for other things... always in alternation. What I don't like about Pomodoro are the very short times of around 25 minutes. When I'm "in the flow" I can't drop everything and do something else... that would be counterproductive. But after 2 hours you often automatically want to take a short break 😎 Thanks Carl for the video!
Loved this content. Thank you! Less is more - looking at this calendar template is so relaxing. Mine is cluttered but I ma practicing Less is more. Your video motivated me to make it simpler and inspiring. Thank you Carl!
Thank you Carl, I like the approach of starting with personal time management and then extending it to work. I believe that by gradually implementing this technique, we could achieve remarkable results in managing our time and improving our productivity. Thanks for the video!
Carl, thank you so much for this video. It reminds me however of something another writer, Philip Roth, said about other writers’ habits: “I don’t ask writers about their work habits. I really don’t care. Joyce Carol Oates says somewhere that when writers ask each other what time they start working and when they finish and how much time they take for lunch, they’re actually trying to find out, "Is he as crazy as I am?" I don’t need that question answered”.
Hahaha, I guess it's my weird fascination with how people do their work. And that might be something to do with me trying to figure out how crazy I am LOL 🙂
Wednesday is my project day. That's the day when those focus blocks are all dedicated to project work. As for tasks, they are done in the miscellaneous sessions. (Plus I am happy to work into the night. I love that time.
Thanks for this idea, Carl. I REALLY like this concept. It also helps deal with a change Google made that torpedoed my appointment system. Until recently, I could set a specific Google calendar as busy or free by default. But they quietly dropped that, which threw a curve at my use of Calendly. A BIG part of my work requires 1:1 meetings, and I prefer that clients be accountable for setting them up since they are rarely on predictable schedules. It was a wonderfully robust system since Calendly would look at my availability across all of the calendars and only offer times that would not be a conflict. Without the defaults, I have to manually ensure that my focus time is not available to be booked by clients. A calendar this predictable makes that a much more straightforward part of the weekly planning and still allows for multiple dayparts in which clients can book. Despite scouring the internet, I have not found any reason that Google would make that change. But they are Google, and they do as they It sure broke my calendaring system.. This will help.
Hi Barry, I've used Acuity for my scheduling service for many years. There I can set the times I am available as recurring times. This way I get to protect my focus blocks and I can build consistency around my coaching sessions.
Interesting Carl- another example of mindset as the driver of process- and timely for me. My work HAS been much more client/ delivery-focused for the last decades with a global book of coaching clients. I needed a lot of availability to accommodate their schedules, their time zones and my travel. While I still take a very few individual coaching clients, now most of my work is with headed toward coaching education and the ability to live in/ deliver from anywhere in the world. My filter for years was to have as much open time and flexibility for clients to schedule as possible- making that ability to set calendar busy/ free defaults critical to scheduling. I can, of course, do the same thing you describe in Calendly. It is the adjustment in mindset that is the change here. My business model is changing and requires a different approach to managing my time, Thanks for that reminder.
@@barrygoldberg2767 After talking with my clients, they told me they prefer early mornings or evenings for their calls. This guided me towards when to be available. I do keep a few "secret slots" for the tiny few who prefer other times, though, bu these days I find I rarely need them.
Part of the reason there's less calendars is that they're essentially all windows into an outside service - they don't have your data, so switching is absurdly cheap compared to having to migrate your tasks and notes over. Plus the format's more standard than in notes apps, so they're less unique between each other.
all writers have a method. But not all have excellent results ... learning from Archer is a must. Thanks its a great idea for better time blocking my week ,personal and work time. thanks
That’s a really interesting idea. I reckon, initially at least, I’d feel twitchy during down times as I’d be worried I wasn’t doing productive work. No doubt those feelings of guilt would disappear over time.
Funnily enough, he often talks about how he developed this method in the 1990s and took it into prison with him. He used it to teach and inspire fellow inmates and help himself through the time.
