Running your own business can stretch you far too thin across all your tasks and roles. You’re marketing one minute, doing chargeable work the next, before answering accounting queries from your bookkeeper.
The mental distraction of wearing so many hats reduces both productivity and enjoyment.
If you don’t have a team to delegate to, one is the best things you can do for your sanity is to time block.
I’ve written before about daily calendar management, but here I’m suggesting you consider saving one day a week to work ON your business.
This means that all those guilt-inducing, must-do tasks – posting on social, sending a newsletter, invoicing, developing a new brochure – don’t need to be a distraction on your core ‘work’ days.
Four days a week, you have the freedom to focus and get your client (chargeable) work done. And one day a week is devoted to working on and growing your business.
I guarantee you will enjoy your week more. You mind will feel decluttered and you’ll do better quality work.
The four-day week
The four-day week has had plenty of media coverage. In New Zealand, it’s currently undergoing a trial run at Unilever, and is being championed globally by Andrew Barnes and Charlotte Lockhart of Kiwi venture capital firm Coulthard Barnes.
The main premise is working, say, 32–36 hours a week, while (typically) receiving the same pay as before.
It’s based on the idea that you can get just as much (if not more) because your work-life balance is better. Productivity becomes the benchmark of success.
But instead of taking long weekends, business owners can use their spare day to work on the all-important and brand-building business tasks. We might call it a four-plus-one week.
A deep-dive day
Let’s call your business day a ‘deep-dive’ day: time to get stuck into some really focused work. If you’re self-employed, this could be the day you focus on growing your business by updating your strategic aims, cold calling prospects, catching up on creating social media content, or clearing office space for that new equipment you’re keen to set up.
A couple of years ago, a team of researchers conducted a trial to test the effect of blocking out specific times for those critical tasks. The results were conclusive: those who did set specific time aside (and switch off all distractions so that they could focus on one task at a time) reported being 14% more effective with their time and 12% more likely to meet deadlines and accomplish more in their day.
The control cohort – who didn’t block time out – reported being 6% less time-effective and feeling 10% more overwhelmed by their workload.
What does this mean for the four-day week? Simply that setting up your deep-dive day for specific critical tasks can help you ensure they get done.
Making it work
It’s critical, though, to aim for success, and it will require a period of transition where you lay down the law to your devices and contacts. Inform clients that you work four days, and on the fifth you are strictly AFK – away from the keyword.
For some people, Friday is the ideal deep-dive day, because you know that all those critical tasks will be swept up after your busy client-facing days.
Others prefer a Monday. Or, if it suits, you could block three afternoons a week. But whatever you do, you need to be intentional about it.
Tips
• If you use project management software, set tasks to be tackled on your deep-dive day.
• Use the Eisenhower Matrix (aka Urgent/Important Matrix) to triage tasks; I explain this in greater detail in my e-book Convert Time into Results.
• If you use an appointment app, such as Calendly, block out the day so that your deep-dive hours remain yours alone.
• Work with your natural rhythms: if you’re a ‘morning person’, for example, consider blocking out mornings for deep-dive work, leaving the afternoons for the more miscellaneous task list.
You’ll likely need to build up to a full day. So start by blocking out a morning, then let the rewards be your motivation to block out a full day for you and your business.
If you’d like to start taking advantage of a 4 day week for all sorts of benefits, get in touch, we can help.
Very interesting subject, regards for putting up.