#32 Time Blocks for Transformation: Building Your Future Self
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[00:00:00] Hello, welcome to the productivity genius podcast. I'm your host Kelly Fifield. And in this episode, I'm going to help you use every block of time that you've pre scheduled to help you get closer to that future version of you who is freaking amazing at time management and productivity. Now, I know that eventually you're really, really good at this.
And I'll tell you why I know this. You're listening to this podcast. I mean, let's be honest. There's got to be more interesting topics than productivity and time management. And yet you're investing your time, your free time right now to fill your brain with information that will allow you to become this amazing future version of you who has mastered this topic.
So that is one huge indicator showing that you are going to be really amazing at this.
I also know you are a highly [00:01:00] motivated person. You're very hardworking. You hold yourself to a very high standard and you're already accomplished in so many things. I know that about you because if you weren't, there's no shot you would listen to this podcast. This podcast is not for lazy people.
It's for people who have goals, who've already accomplished things. and who want to accomplish more. So I know you're going to figure this out and I know you're in the right spot. I know this is going to help you. So I know in the future you are amazing at this. So, knowing that, right, just jump on there, borrow my belief for a second.
Believing that you are amazing at this in the future, that you are chill when you hang out at night with your family and stuff. You are not thinking about work because you know everything's taken care of. That future you is amazing. on top of everything. Nothing [00:02:00] is behind. You know exactly what's happening tomorrow.
You can relax in the evening because there's nothing you have to try to remember. And you are currently creating that version of you. So what I would love for us to do in this podcast is look at how we can expedite that process with each and every time block on our schedule,
no matter what it's for, whether it's for something simple and silly or something that's really complex and difficult to do. It doesn't matter whatever the time block is and whatever the time is, if it's a five minute time block or a three hour time block, We can use both of those to help us get closer to that person who is following through on their schedule, planning well, and getting everything done.
Okay, so let's look at the time block in three separate sections. We've got the beginning, the middle, and the end. For the beginning of the time block, here's how we're going to use that to create evidence. for ourself that we are becoming this amazing future version of ourselves who is great at this. If you have pre planned [00:03:00] what you are going to do at the beginning of a time block, whether you literally have it on your calendar from this time to this time, fantastic.
If you have it just written down that like, next time I'm working on this, this is exactly what I'm going to have done, great, right? you're somewhere in the process wherever you are, fantastic. But if you have pre planned, your time, that's a win. Definitely see that as a win. Most people do not ever get that far in even pre planning.
They just show up to their day and just start going. If you pre planned, there you go. There's some evidence that you are already killing it here. Notice at the beginning of your time blocks what you're feeling. I know for me, over 50 percent of the time, whatever I had planned in my time block, I don't want to do it.
So if you are the same way, know that there's nothing wrong with you. That just makes sense, right? Your past self who made this plan hopefully hooked up your present self and didn't make A really difficult plan was very clear and let you know what to do, but even thinking through all the things, sometimes you just don't feel like doing [00:04:00] it.
It could be physiological, maybe you're tired or hungry or something like that, or it could be mental, like, you're like, just thinking thoughts like, oh, I don't feel like doing this right now. Whatever it is, notice how you're feeling about it. And no matter what you decide to do with that time, whether you follow through and actually do what you plan or you don't, you could still use that as evidence that you get amazing at this.
Because let's say you get to the beginning, you look at what you're going to do, you don't want to do it, and you don't do it. if you get awareness from that as to what made following through this time hard, you figure out what made it hard. Well, you are one step closer to figuring it out. So that's how we use the beginning.
We notice how we're feeling. And if we follow through, even though we're not feeling like doing it, amazing. Look at that. You're following through even when you don't want to do the thing. And if you want to do it, when you show up, look at that. Amazing. Sometimes I feel like doing what I want to do. That makes it a lot easier.
As for the middle of the time block, what I would love for you to work on doing [00:05:00] is really paying attention to time during that, that middle block. So let's say you've dedicated an hour to get things done. I don't know what would work best for you. You could put a timer on your phone, although it's a little scary because then you're accessing your phone and there's so many tempting things in there.
I use Sunsama. it has a timer on it done for me. So I put all my scheduling things on there and then I just hit. The focus area and I hit start and it just has a timer for me always running when I'm working on things But you want to be paying attention to the time Because as you get to the end of the block or the middle of the block you might notice Oh shoot This time block is halfway over and I am not halfway done and what you want to have tried at that point to do is To use your amazing brain to figure out how you are going to get it done in the time.
You've allotted So you make those adjustments in the middle, if need be, and then you come to the end of the time block. So let's say you've dedicated an hour to do this thing. Now we're coming up on that hour, that hour is about, about to end. Now we [00:06:00] evaluate. Did you actually get the thing done? Amazing.
Most people. Never do that. never define a time and actually get the thing done within that time. That is a very rare person. So amazing. Look at you becoming that person. But if you didn't get it done, there's two things I would suggest. One, don't go over. Don't go into the next hour to get it done.
Instead, stop there, take a note, write down what the next step is so that you can return to this without too much hesitation and too much like lag. Write down what the next step is and then move on to the next thing in your calendar. If you know that every time you don't get something done you're just going to give yourself more time, there's really no hard push to get things done in the time you've allotted.
So you want to almost penalize yourself a little bit, not like in a mean way, in a growing way, right? Like, you have to get this done. Like, like I'm holding you a high standard. You can do this, right? If you don't get it done, [00:07:00] totally fine. We're going to get it done in some other block of time, but not right now.
We've got to move on and do the next thing. And then when you evaluate at the end of the day, Or even at the end of that time block, maybe you can do it real quick and say, why didn't I get it done in that time? Was it a scheduling error? Was I unfocused? Did I, not know certain parts? Did something happen?
You know, whatever the reason is, it's just an opportunity to learn. What didn't work that time so we can improve it next time. Now you're going to have a bunch of blocks, most likely on your schedule. And initially you might only be able to follow through as planned. 10 percent of the time or something.
Fantastic. If you are still planning and only following through 10 percent of the time, again, that's so much evidence that you're going to be so good at this because if someone is seeing success 10 percent of the time. They're gonna give up most people, but you're not most people, right? You're gonna say man, I got some work to do here.
You're gonna go to work [00:08:00] and figure it out You are going to be the person who has this amazing schedule Knows everything that has to get done gets everything done in the future You get everything done in the day And then you end your workday and go into the rest of your day with a completely clear mind It's a gorgeous future and you are building that right now.
So next time you enter a block of time that you have scheduled, At the beginning, notice how you feel. Do you feel like doing it? In the middle, keep time. Keep an eye on the clock and really work to get it done in the time you've allotted. And three, at the end, don't allow yourself to use more time at that time.
You're gonna have to reschedule it for a future time. And if you have like 10 seconds at that moment, So you can figure out why didn't you get it done. One little pro tip. I would suggest that when you're [00:09:00] looking for why you didn't get it done, you do your best to look for the things that you have control over and take as much control of everything as you can.
So for example, let's say I have an hour block and 10 minutes into my hour block of getting something done, somebody walks into my office. with something, right? I could decide the reason I didn't get that thing done, in the time that I allotted is because so and so interrupted me. Or, I can decide the reason I didn't get it done is so and so walked into my office and I didn't tell them I'm in the middle of something.
I don't have time right now. Is there something I can help you with in like two minutes? Otherwise, I'm going to have to come see you later, right? How could you take responsibility for the things? The more responsible you are for all of the things in your calendar.
The more power you have, and the faster you're going to get amazing at this, for sure, [00:10:00] things are going to come up. Things are going to need to get rescheduled. There's going to be interruptions that you want to be interrupted for, right? That you're like, oh, this happened, and I'm happy that I stopped doing this thing, because based on my priorities, this was the more important thing to do at the time.
But be careful to
abdicate responsibility or to give responsibility for things outside of yourself for the reasons why things aren't getting done. For sure, 100%, those things are going to happen, and that's totally fine. That's not a problem.
But if you can find ways that despite these things happening, I could have behaved or done this or that to still get the thing done, or maybe, maybe even you couldn't have changed that moment or something, but I could have built in an hour block into my schedule every day that is just free for all of this crap that comes downstream to me.
that regularly does, right? Like, if [00:11:00] you're getting interrupted regularly at work, it's probably not a one time thing. There's probably interruptions throughout the day, perhaps. Or maybe you're getting phone calls or emails you have to answer, right? Or someone's requesting something from you and you really don't know when that's going to happen.
If you look at over, say, a two week period of time, you'll probably see that That happens with some regularity, and maybe on average you have 45 minutes of interruptions, or 45 minutes of time that you need kind of free to deal with these things that pop up. Well then you just put that in your calendar, in your schedule, and if that comes up while you're working in a block, that is totally planned for.
So that isn't you not getting done the thing that you were planning on doing in the time. You've pre decided, oh no, if this comes up while I'm in this hour block of work, whatever I was going to finish gets moved to that other block, and, and that is on time to me. I've decided that still meets the criteria for being on time.
So see how much responsibility you [00:12:00] can take in following through on your schedule. It's a more empowered way to look at it.
and one other tip, this isn't an all or nothing thing. And it is cumulative. So let's say you are killing it with scheduling for like a week and then you are just off the rails.
You just don't schedule anything. You're super overwhelmed. You're just surviving and getting the things done that absolutely have to get done and you haven't paid any mind, any attention to scheduling. That's totally fine. It's not a setback. When you pick this back up, whether it's for one day and then you're off again for three days, and then you're back on, each time you come back to this work, you're going to make a little bit more progress.
Obviously, the more focus and attention you give to it, the faster you're going to learn all this stuff. But when you take a break from this work, All is not [00:13:00] lost. All that progress you made just kind of sits there and waits for you to return to it. So if you have a bad day, a bad week, a bad couple months where you're not scheduling things and then you're like, Oh man, I got to get back at that.
Just get back at it. No harm done. Actually a bunch of learning. When I would take those breaks, and then I would come back to scheduling and take another crack at it.
I Always came back to it with a new Enthusiasm because I would see how uncomfortable and stressful living without being scheduled was for me, and then I was even more excited to dive back into this. So totally fine if you're not doing this consistently. It actually makes sense if you're not doing it consistently if you don't yet believe you're a person who does this naturally.
So don't beat yourself up about it. Just get back at it because remember the future you is amazing with [00:14:00] this.
And the reason she is, is because of the accumulation of all of the times you jumped back in and did this work.
the future version of you loves you so much and is so appreciative that you did all this work. So keep at it.
You do eventually figure this out. Have an amazing week.
