How a weekly schedule template saved me 37 hours every quarter
Back in 2019, I was building my yoga coaching business, teaching yoga, hosting retreats and workshops, all while being an engineer in my 9-5 job.
I rarely sat still.
Resting felt pointless, and I never felt like I got enough done. I was constantly overwhelmed, exhausted, and stressed out.
I never had enough time.
I know whenever I see someone say that everything changed from this one thing, I cringe. But I’m serious… using a weekly schedule template did that for me.
My calendar helped me heal toxic productivity, my tendency to over-commit, and my shiny object syndrome. Doing so allowed me to rest more, enjoy more, and focus more.
Four years later, I’m running a successful online coaching business and I currently work remotely 3-4 days a week while traveling around the world. (I’m in Cyprus as I write this)
I wouldn’t be where I am today without creating a weekly schedule template that felt good to ME.
In this blog, you’ll learn what a weekly schedule template is and how it saved me 37 hours, and $2500, a quarter. That’s 148 hours, or $10k a year!
What is a weekly schedule template?
A weekly schedule template is your average week pre-built into your digital calendar. It provides a “blank”, realistic, yet flexible structure and a clear framework for planning and organizing your week ahead.
I think of my weekly schedule template as a foundation for all the things I regularly need to do to maintain my life and well-being.
The biggest difference between a "‘weekly schedule’ and a ‘weekly schedule template’ is that you don’t intend to follow your weekly template perfectly, which is huge for a lot of people who struggle with perfectionism or all-or-nothing thinking.
You'd take your template and edit it at the beginning of each week to edit it to fit your real-life tasks, events, and responsibilities.
Once you have a weekly schedule template built, you will…
Feel more in control of your time, weeks, and schedule, and reduce any time-related stress.
Realistically see how much time, energy, and space you have available making it much easier to plan and say yes or no to things.
More easily keep track of everything because you have it all in one place preventing mental overwhelm.
See and celebrate what you’ve done and feel more fulfilled at the end of each day and week.
Increase your awareness of how long tasks really take and more realistically estimate how long things take.
How a weekly schedule template saved me 37 hours a quarter
I used to spend a lot of time planning, then re-planning, because my plans were rigid and unrealistic. I kept saying yes and overcommitting myself. I’d feel stressed out and behind on either everyday life stuff, or on my priorities and goals.
With a weekly schedule template, I saved 37 hours, and $2500, a quarter. That’s 148 hours, or $10k a year!
However, if you like math here it is:
Every quarter I used to spend about 5.5 hours each quarter planning it out. Then at the beginning of the week, I’d sit down and spend about 2.5 hours planning out my week. But since things changed so much, I’d spend another 45 mins each day writing out my to-do list. That’s 44.5 hours each quarter JUST planning.
At my hourly rate, that’s $3,115 spent planning.
With a weekly schedule template, I spend around 1.5 hours on quarterly planning, thinking through what I want to do. Then, I will spend ~30 mins a week editing and updating my weekly template to fit that week. That’s it. And I only spend 7.5 hours planning a quarter now.
At my hourly rate, that’s $525 spent planning.
Looking for your own weekly schedule template?
There’s a lot that goes into building a weekly schedule template that’ll feel good to you, be sustainable, and give you the results you want. You have to take into account your everyday life and responsibilities. Think self-care, kids (if you’re a parent), cleaning the house, commuting (if you do), work hours, date nights, etc.
Your vision, dreams, goals, intentions, or whatever word you use (I use intention!). For example, scaling your business, working 30 hours a week, or writing a book.
Then you need to match all of those with your unique rhythms, at best you can. And doing all of this without your tendency to overcommit or optimistic planner parts to take over!
Digital Calendars For Humans will help you do this in 30 minutes, or less.
Calendar Management: Why your intuition is more important than you think
What happens when we spend hours creating a plan and schedule that would work in an ideal world but doesn’t hold up with life’s unexpected twists and turns?
Many of my clients end up getting overwhelmed, sitting in indecision, and sometimes even giving up on planning altogether. This leads to lots of frustration, disappointment, and time wasted.
If this is you, I see you.
Many factors can throw off our carefully planned schedules, and it’s difficult to navigate these obstacles with confidence.
When it comes to creating adaptable and flexible plans (that don’t feel like a prison), your intuition is so important.
Your digital calendar is one of the best places to plan with and practice trusting your intuition.
In this post, I’ll guide you through how to identify your intuition, why it’s so hard to listen to, the benefits of using your intuition in your calendar management, and give you helpful tangible examples.
What is your intuition?
To me, my experience of intuition is simply a gut response to a decision, big or small, without necessarily having logical reasoning for it. Intuition can show up as a physical sensation, imagery, synchronicities, patterns, and more.
Curious about all the ways your intuition might be showing up? Check out Bustle’s 14 signs your intuition is speaking to you.
Also, personally, human design has also really helped me tap into my intuition. As a manifesting generator, I have a sacral (or gut) yes or no response to external stimuli and decisions.
However, at the end of the day, your experience of your intuition is what matters most.
What is YOUR experience of your intuition? How does it show up for you? Comment below and let me know!
Why is it so difficult to listen to your intuition?
For many reasons. The 3 biggest that I see are:
It’s almost impossible to tap into your intuition when you’re tired, overwhelmed, anxious, stressed out, in your head, or busy. If you’re often in these states… that’s your answer.
We confuse fear, critical, or “should” voice as intuition. (My intuition shows up as neutral, calm, and clear.)
Intuition isn’t often honored as an important business or time management skill/strategy in our culture. Even though 85% of CEOs in this one study confirmed that intuition was central to their decision-making process
We all have intuition, whether we realize it or not.
The more we understand it, the more we can apply it to better our lives.
The massive benefits of listening to your intuition
Honestly, the benefits of listening to yourself reach far and wide. But when it comes down to it, you get days that add up to a life more beautiful than you could ever imagine.
Listening to your intuition allows you to live a life true to you.
What’s better than that?
My clients, and I, often feel like we need proof to trust more. If you’re like us… I can confidently say you already have proof!
Ask yourself, “What’s happened in the past when I’ve listened to my gut?”
Ease, flow, peace, accomplishment, success, abundance. For me?
Changing my offerings in my business, then selling them out.
Choosing to become a digital nomad and experiencing more peace and freedom than ever before.
Being super tired, putting my work down, opening Netflix for a brain break, and watching an episode that gave me tons of ideas allowing me to return and accomplish what I was doing way faster and easier.
What’s happened in the past when you HAVEN’T?
Frustration, guilt, resentment, suffering, pain, delays, and spending loads of time and energy overthinking and NOT making a decision.
Some more personal examples:
Forcing myself to do a workshop with someone, spending a month marketing, and having to cancel it because of the low attention and excitement it received.
Attempting to be a morning person and work out first thing, always being miserable when I do it and when I don’t guilt-trip myself.
Not deciding what to do with my day so just go along with whatever comes up in my inbox, and ending the day feeling like I did nothing.
How do I use my intuition in my digital calendar?
Now you know what intuition is, how it shows up for you, and how important it is to listen to it.
Unfortunately, time management or calendar management advice rarely recommends you listen to your intuition.
The typical advice is to time block your whole day or week to the minute and perfectly stick to it. Then, if you can’t then something is wrong with you.
Good thing I’m not your average time management coach!
I know it’s nearly impossible to perfectly stick to your schedule every day, all day, AND be happy. I wouldn’t even want to anymore.
So, let’s start with what calendar management even is.
What even is calendar management?
Calendar management is the process of prioritizing your time and managing your life through the use of a calendar(1).
I use my digital calendar to organize and manage everything in my business and life. It’s basically my personal assistant, and it’s free!
Linking calendar management and your intuition
You can use your intuition when you’re creating a daily or weekly to-do list and/or schedule.
You can also flex your intuition throughout the day and week by moving time blocks around when you feel like doing the thing.
Tangible examples of intuitive calendar management
Asking yourself how your schedule feels to you.
Leaving gaps to move around tasks when you feel like doing them.
Dragging and moving time blocks/containers around without guilt.
Using language that feels good to you when naming events.
Putting tasks when you’re most energized, creative, and excited.
Scheduling time to work on goals and dreams that are deeply important to you in your calendar so they finally happen!
Ask yourself, “What it would look like to use my intuition more in my calendar?”
When you use your intuition in your calendar, you can…
Trust and listen to yourself more, leading to more peace and fulfillment.
Make decisions that will give you the freedom you want.
Have more energy, be more productive (in the good way), and be happy with yourself and how you spent your time.
Your intuition is the most important, yet underrated, time and life management skill out there.
Now you know how crucial it is…
Intuitive scheduling and time blocking? Yes, please!
Enroll in Digital Calendars For Humans now.
4 Mindsets to heal for a more supportive digital calendar experience
You’re done feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and unmotivated. You want to feel organized, clear, and like the badass that you are. Yep, I’ve said it… you’re a bad ass.
If you’ve been following along with the digital calendar for humans series, you know by now your digital calendar can be a magical tool to support you in creating the life you want.
The problem? Everything we’ve been taught about how to use our digital calendars. We’ve been told that we have to consistently follow it perfectly 100% of the time.
In this blog post, I’ll be sharing why your mindset impacts your digital calendar and the four most common mindsets that need to be healed if you want to have a more supportive experience with it.
By healing these four harmful mindsets, you can use your digital calendar to work, and stress, less and live more.
So, take a deep breath and keep reading.
Why your digital calendar mindset matters, a lot
A mindset is a mental attitude or set of beliefs that impact how you think, feel, and behave. An individual’s mindset is formed by a variety of factors, such as personal experiences, cultural and social influences, and education.
How does your mindset impact your digital calendar? It can be the thing that makes or break it.
For example, if you believe your digital calendar is an amazing, magical tool that can change your life, you’re most likely going to use it. The opposite is also true. If you don’t think it’ll work for you or how important it is, you’re not going to use it nor will you get the benefits.
If you’re committed to using your digital calendar in a flexible, open, and experimental way, it’s going to help you achieve the level of freedom you want. Yep, the opposite is true here too. If you’re committed to using it the same way you’ve been taught (aka rigidity and perfectionism), you’re likely to say it feels like a prison and you won’t use it.
The good news is, mindsets are not fixed and can be changed or developed over time through intentional effort and practice. By cultivating a supportive mindset you can improve how you spend your time, your well-being, your relationships, and your success.
Four digital calendar mindsets to consider healing
“It didn’t work for me in the past”
If you’ve been saying this, it’s most likely because you’ve tried to use your digital calendar before and it didn’t help you in the way you wanted it to. You still felt overwhelmed or scattered. It felt rigid and controlling. You have a completely valid point, it didn’t work for you with the skills and tools you knew at the time.
However, there are many, many different ways to use your digital calendar and settings to help customize it for your brain, life, and priorities. Maybe you didn’t know how to best use it for you at the time, but I know there is a way to make your digital calendar work and feel good to you.
An alternative mindset to integrate moving forward: “I can find a way to make my digital calendar work for me. Healing overwhelm, overworking, and exhaustion (for real) is worth it.”
“I suck at it*”
*Your digital calendar, time management, and/or organization.
My friend, no you don’t. This belief commonly stems from how we’re taught to use our digital calendar in a certain way. One that is all about hyper-optimization efficiency and is rigid and inflexible. But if you’re here at The Holistic Time Coach, it’s because traditional time management has burned you in some way in the past.
So, I want to validate you. Yes, the way you’ve been taught to use your digital calendar sucks. Not you. Time management and organization are challenging.
I wanted a slow, intentional, spontaneous, flexible, and freedom-focused life. And I’ve found a way to use my digital calendar to create that kind of life for myself. This goes for you if you’re neurodivergent, rebellious, creative, or an overwhelmed entrepreneur and/or parent too. You can find a way to make your digital calendar NOT suck.
An alternative mindset to integrate moving forward: “I have beautiful skills and talents, and can integrate them into my digital calendar.”
“I have to follow it perfectly”
Ok, this is the most common misunderstanding when it comes to digital calendars. Many people come in with huge expectations for themselves and spend hours planning their entire day, or week, in their digital calendars with said expectations as the foundation. Then, when life inevitably comes up and derails their plan, they throw the entire thing out the window.
The point of your digital calendar isn’t to follow it perfectly. To me, the point is being proactive and intentional with my time and my digital calendar helps me stay focused and flexible as I work towards my goals.
Striving to create a plan that doesn’t move or change, or not creating one at all, is what sets us up for failure. When you’re committed to using your digital calendar in an intuitive way, it’s going to help you plan more realistically and execute your plans with much more ease and peace.
An alternative mindset to integrate moving forward: “I am committed to my fluidity, imperfect humanity, and what’s most important to me.”
“It’s just a digital calendar”
Nope, it’s not just a digital calendar! Well, I guess it is but it’s so much more than what we think it is. You can do anything you want to do by being intentional with and protecting your time, energy, and focus using your digital calendar.
You can heal “never enough time" with your calendar. You can start celebrating yourself. You can make more time for yourself and your dreams. You can work less and have more time for the things you love. It can help you be more mentally and physically well. You can make more money. You can divest from hustle culture. You can rest more. For a lack of a better phrase, your digital calendar can literally change your life.
When you believe your digital calendar is a magical tool, you’re most likely going to use it which is when you’ll get all of the amazing benefits.
An alternative mindset to integrate moving forward: “My digital calendar is a supportive, loving tool to help me do the things I want to do and be the person I want to be.”
Your digital calendar CAN work for you.
I’ll prove it to you in the Digital Calendars For Humans Course.
7 Magical Google Calendar Settings For Intentional Planning
Planning and living intentionally is about understanding what is most important to you and living it out. It's about making conscious, deliberate choices and taking purposeful action to create the life you want.
As a tool designed to support your daily life and help you stay organized, Google Calendar can play a significant role in helping you plan and live more intentionally.
With its advanced settings and features, you can easily create a flexible schedule, set reminders and appointments, and stay on top of your daily tasks.
By leaning into Google Calendar's many settings, you can help make this process a bit easier, giving yourself the support and structure you need to stay focused on what matters most.
If you're hoping to get things done with less stress, simplify your life, or simply live a more fulfilling existence, consider taking some time to learn the many settings that Google Calendar can offer you.
With a thoughtful and intentional approach, you can use this FREE tool to help you plan and realize the beautiful life you want.
7 magical Google Calendar settings & features
There are so many things you can do with a digital calendar. However, if not all, of my clients (yes, even my fellow Type-A organizers!!) don’t realize just how many settings and features Google Calendar has to offer.
After identifying and customizing the settings and features that would help them manage their time, they were able to dramatically simplify their planning process and witness focus-motivation-clarity-and-energy magic unfold before their eyes.
The same is available to you if you put in the upfront resources to set it up properly!
1. Time Zones
As a digital nomad, managing time zones is key. I have clients from California all the way to Singapore, and I host and attend workshops across the globe.
But you don’t have to be traveling around the world to need to manage time zones. With remote work, online classes, and more, time zones are non-negotiable to manage.
Using the time zone settings in your calendar will help you more easily manage and guarantee that your plans are accurate and consistent across different locations.
Say goodbye to confusion, missed appointments, and other scheduling errors, Google Calendar is here to help!
Note: Google Calendar has three different places to customize time zone settings, so you’ll want to make sure to enable the right ones for you, your event, and your business or workplace.
These are all my subcalendars, that change as my goals change!
2. Sub-calendars
Sub-calendars are individual calendars within your main Google Calendar account. They’re beneficial for intentional planning because they help you keep different aspects of your life organized and separate from each other.
Separate calendars for each of the hats you wear will allow you to more easily color-code events with the option to toggle them on and off, helping you get a clearer view of each area of your life and prioritize your tasks, time, and attention accordingly.
Also, sub-calendars can be shared with others, which can be particularly useful for intentional planning in a collaborative setting.
Your goals, responsibilities, and lifestyle determine how many sub-calendars are best for you. As a time coach, I help you figure out if you want to use sub-calendars and if so, how many are right for you.
3. Integrating with other tools
Google Calendar can be integrated with many apps, including Google Tasks, Google Keep, and Gmail helping you to keep track of your appointments, deadlines, and to-do lists, all in one place. If you’re tech-savvy, you can even automate certain tasks and streamline your workflow.
Don’t forget you can also sync and access your digital calendar with your phone, tablet, and computer so you can use it on the go! Personally, I have my calendar synced between my computer and phone and integrated with my Notion (where I manage my projects and tasks) and Gmail.
Reading about settings is one thing.
In Digital Calendars For Humans I show you all of these settings… and more!
Calendar-wide notifications
4. Custom notifications
Google Calendar notifications are important for intentional planning because they help keep you on track and focused.
You can use reminders lovingly remind you about upcoming important events or appointments, helping you prepare and show up ready and present.
You can also avoid getting sidetracked by less important tasks and focus your attention on what's most important to you using notification settings.
If you struggle with procrastinating or being on time, calendar-wide or event-specific notifications are here to support you. If you already know you’ll need help implementing the right calendar settings to streamline your schedule, book a free, no-commitment exploration call with me today!
5. Shared Calendars
As a business owner and coach, I’m constantly on Zoom calls with clients and collaborators. Something that always frustrated my husband was I forget to tell him I had to be on a call (aka when he needed to go away and be quiet), so I shared a digital calendar with him so he’d know when I was taking a call.
Also, I’m a digital nomad so I constantly move countries and have to manage travel. My husband and I have a collaborative travel calendar that helps you keep track of our planes, trains, BnB’s, and reservations.
Shared calendars have been an amazing tool for intentional planning and living and for better communication and connection with my husband.
6. Description boxes
The description box in Google Calendar is a feature I see being under-utilized all the time. If you love to plan but love flexibility and freedom, the description box is an amazing feature.
The description box is here to help you keep track of any important notes that go with an event or task.
On top of the description box being a feature that helps you to stay organized, you can add here reminders, affirmations, sub-tasks, or any other important notes to stay intentional and give yourself more freedom and choices.
A Google Calendar is one of the best planning tools I’ve found to help my creative and rebellious peeps be flexible and organized!
Check out Dr. Caroline Addigton’s story of how our work together helped her realize time management doesn’t have to be rigid.
7. Customizing your visual settings
I’m a big visual learner, my brain doesn’t process something well unless I can see it, read it, or touch it. That goes for time too, hence why my google calendar is key to living intentionally.
Personalizing the way your calendar looks makes it easier to use, more effective as a time management tool, and more motivating to stay on track with your goals
Lucky for you there are a lot of settings to help you make your calendar more visually appealing. Some favorites are:
You can choose custom colors for the events and background, making it easier to quickly identify and distinguish different types of events.
You can also choose the display options that work best for you, such as the type of view (day, week, month, or agenda) and the start time of your day.
You can tell it to start your week on a Saturday, Sunday, or Monday (my weeks start on a Monday!) If you love that feeling of checking a to-do off their list, Google Calendar has a “reduce the brightness of past events” setting for you.
Determining which settings are helpful for your brain is what I help my clients do!
Don’t let tech hold you back
from making the most of your time.
Buy Digital Calendars For Human now.
10 Best calendar apps that make time blocking a breeze
The art of time blocking has the potential to transform your life, both at work and within.
Whether you're a freelancer, entrepreneur, or work in an office, intentionally scheduling your day can make all the difference to living the life you want to live.
Fortunately (and sometimes unfortunately), technology offers us plenty of tools that can simplify time blocking.
I’ve carefully selected these tools and apps for their unique features and functionalities, each with the potential to approach time blocking holistically.
If you’re looking to streamline your workday so you have more time for the things you love, I hope you will find the perfect calendar app that meets your unique needs and is easy to integrate into your life.
10 Best calendar apps for time blocking
So you ditched the paper planner and decided you’re ready to get more organized and intentional with your time, using time blocking. Now you get to choose the best place for you to schedule your time. Or if you’re already using one that isn’t meeting your needs, here you can discover a better place for you to time block.
As a caution, there are lots of options out there but I’m here to make it the least overwhelming possible. Below you’ll find my favorite calendar management apps you can use to time block.
Free calendar apps attached to your email
If you didn’t know the email you’re currently using has a free calendar attached to it, now you do! And they’re all extremely customizable allowing you to time block with your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs in mind.
The calendar linked to your email is by far the easiest place to try out or uplevel your time-blocking skills. And because your email calendar is something you’re already familiar with, it’ll be easier to use and sustainably stick with.
Google Calendar - Free
A classic! This is what I use and recommend to all of my clients who already have a Google (Gmail) account. It’s a free and user-friendly calendar app that integrates well with Google and many other apps and tools. It offers a variety of features and settings for customization and has a clean and simple interface.
Apple Calendar - Free
The calendar app that comes pre-installed on Apple devices is a great choice if you are an Apple user. You can time block directly into your Apple calendar on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and the rest of your devices will sync up.
Microsoft Outlook Calendar - Free
If you’re a Microsoft Outlook user, you can time block using their built-in calendar app. I haven’t used an Outlook calendar since working for a company that used it. I currently work with two clients who use Outlook, but they work the same.
Task/project management apps with time blocking
As of writing this, Trello and Asana, two crowd favorites for task/project management do not have a built-in time blocking feature. You’d have to integrate some additional tech or manual labor to time block tasks into your calendar. However, there are two well-known task management apps that can seamlessly schedule your tasks.
Todoist - Free with paid option
Todoist is a task management app that includes a calendar view. With Todoist, you’d create tasks with due dates and times, then the calendar view provides you with your schedule, allowing you to see the big picture and stay on top of your deadlines.
ClickUp - Free with paid option
ClickUp is a comprehensive project management platform for businesses that offers time blocking. You can enter your projects, tasks, and then attach them to your workday helping you stay focused and get the important things done. Beware, ClickUp has lots of features so I would only recommend ClickUp if you’re tech-savvy and have team members to help you manage it. Learn more about time blocking in ClickUp.
Specific time-blocking apps
There are many time-blocking apps out there, all with similar features to one another. I’ve provided a list of apps that have different and unique benefits from the digital calendar that comes with your email.
Fantastical - Paid
This is an Apple-user-specific calendar app that's designed specifically for time blocking. The unique feature? Relationships are key to our time. Fantastical comes with the ability to easily schedule meetings with your clients, teammates, or friends.
DigiCal - Free with paid option
Calling my Android users! DigiCal is a great time-blocking app that shows you a monthly view and the week/day view on the same screen. This is a helpful feature to see a macro and micro view of your time so you can be realistic and effective with your planning.
Sunsuma - Paid
Sunsama is a gorgeous app that is easy to get the hang of. You’ll create a task list, assign a date and time, and then that gets automatically put into a time block. They also have a feature called ‘contexts’ that help organize tasks based on the related area of life, for example self-care, work, home, etc. Holistic time blocking is all about looking at the interconnectedness of all the parts of our life.
Reclaimai (affiliate link) - Free with paid option
If you’re a business owner that manages a team and loves tech and AI, Reclaim is a great time-blocking tool to use. It’s a smart calendar that’s designed to help you optimize your schedule depending on what you deem is flexible or not. You’ll also be able to manage your team member’s calendars and easily find time to meet.
TimeBloc - Free
TimeBloc is an app for both Apple and Android users. Not only does it help you time block without getting overwhelmed, but this app also has a routine feature. You can use TimeBloc to learn how to integrate routines, like a morning or evening routine, into your schedule that help you list the specific tasks that you’d like to do in each routine. This will help you identify what really needs to happen to feel healthy and fulfilled.
Which one to pick?
As you can see there are many calendar apps that are great for time blocking, but the best one for you will depend on your individual needs and preferences. Pausing and figuring out what your unique needs and preferences are is so important to leveraging time blocking.
My honest preferences and recommendations for choosing:
Identify what you’re already using, grow your time-blocking skills there, then branch out to more tech-intense apps if you feel the need to.
When you pick an app, decide to make it your home base to keep track of all your appointments, tasks, and habits for work and personal. Many people use 2-3 calendars, multiple places for to-do’s, and maybe a project management software. That’s so much to juggle, and the point is to get less overwhelmed and more organized!
Choose an app that looks right and feels good to your brain. You won’t want to use an app that doesn’t, you won’t stick with it!
As a small business owner with a lean business model, I typically choose free software unless there’s a good reason for it. If you wanted detailed reports on how you spent your time or to manage a team, it makes sense to get a paid time-blocking app. Of course, know your budget first before investing the time and money into an app that you might not want to pay for later.
Personally, I don’t need a time blocking app to time block when I can just do everything I need in my google calendar. Simple is best for me!
Determine where you’ll use the app (phone, tablet, computer) and find what works best for the tech that you have – apple, android, or web.
After reviewing the top calendar apps here, which one should you choose? Let me know in the comments below!
You’ve got the app. Now what?
Start using it! Digital Calendars For Humans is here to help with that.
Is a digital calendar really right for me?
Ever experimented with time blocking and then thought it wasn’t for you?
It’s possible it isn’t for you.
It’s also very likely that you were taught traditional time blocking. A process that tries to take the beautiful parts of being human out, making it incredibly difficult to use and benefit from.
Attaching a task to when we think it “should” be done isn’t all that effective. Neither is forcing ourselves to follow unrealistic plans.
There are many different ways to implement time blocking. It all depends on who you are (mind, body, and soul) and your life circumstances.
That’s why holistic time blocking, or time blocking for humans, is much more impactful. When you are uniquely strategic with what tasks you time block, you’ll finally stop feeling dread when you look at your week ahead.
In this article, you’ll learn what makes time blocking so effective and five surprising kinds of people that it’ll help work and stress a lot less.
Why is time blocking so effective?
Time blocking, also known as calendar blocking, is a planning strategy where you proactively dedicate certain tasks to a certain time frame. It’s also an execution and accountability strategy.
When turned into a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule template, it can decrease time spent planning by more than 50%, freeing you up to do the things you want to do.
Attaching a task to a specific time frame helps you be more realistic with your time and more likely to do it. Unlike operating from a to-do list, your mind will stop worrying about all the other things you “should” be doing. This clears up tons of mental space and energy to get focused, deep work done.
Not only that, time blocking helps you externalize time, meaning you can actually see it visually. Time is a slippery concept that is hard for many to truly grasp. Externalizing time decreases time anxiety, urgency, and overwhelm among many other benefits.
What kinds of people will benefit from time blocking?
Time blocking for neurodivergent
Agustina at @theautisticlife shares, “as Neurodivergent people, our differences in executive functioning skills such as focus and attention, emotional and impulse control, working memory, planning, and organization can all be linked to our distinct perception of time.”
Working with many neurodivergent folks over the last few years, I’ve seen holistic time blocking be particularly helpful in creating a way to manage their time, prioritize tasks, and prevent burnout in a way that works for their brain. If you want a time strategy that works, it’s essential to account for your unique brain.
Time blocking for parents
Parents not only have their own tasks, goals, and lives to care for, but their household and children too. Time management can feel really challenging to many parents because plans are constantly changing. That’s why time blocking is such an impactful time management strategy. The key is being uber-realistic with your plans and extremely flexible.
Holistic time blocking has really helped parents with the most unpredictable schedules to reduce stress and chaos, prioritize time for themselves, and create more balance between work and family.
Time blocking for entrepreneurs
Along with parents, entrepreneurs are often juggling 5 things at once, all day long. Also, depending on the business you have, you have to delegate and manage a team of people. Making time for focused work to move the business forward, and taking guilt-free time away from the business, are challenges I regularly hear from my entrepreneur clients.
Holistic time blocking supports business owners in getting ahead of the fires they’re constantly putting out and taking much-needed time and space for themselves. It helps them prioritize the projects and tasks that will excite and motivate them.
Holistic Time Blocking made simple.
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Time blocking for creatives + rebellious folks
When I say creatives and rebellious folks, I’m talking about writers, artists, photographers, and people who live against the grain. Think of anyone who doesn’t want to live in a cubicle for 40+ hours a week in a soul-sucking job, and has a passion for creating things–whatever the thing may be.
The most common time management challenge for us is: You can’t predict when inspiration will strike. You also get lost in your art and completely forget about time. You can’t live on a schedule, nor would you want to! However, most creatives feel like they’re not accomplishing the work they really want to do. They’re constantly doing everything else but their art.
When used in a certain way, time blocking helps creatives take care of everything else in their life so they can free up their mind, space, and energy to create their art. Holistic time blocking helps rebellious folks actually create more freedom and autonomy in their lives, allowing them to create the impact they want.
Time blocking for spiritual beings
Many spiritual people are often experienced by others as flaky. Think Frankie, in Grace & Frankie. She’s all over the place, late to things, and loses everything. However, from working with spiritual people, they just haven’t found a way to plan effectively while going with the flow.
How can we find time to meditate while also making sure we get our work done and pay our bills? Deeply connect with nature without thinking about all the things we have to do after?
Holistic time management – specifically redefining what time means to you and collaborating with time as the spiritual being you are. This is one of the things I help folks do in my 1:1 coaching.
Our connection to spirit/God/the universe deeply depends on our groundedness and peace. Holistic time blocking helps bring spiritual people to live their purpose in the 3D world more effectively, while staying in tune with spirit. Once you find the perfect balance between intuition and structure, you’ll be unstoppable.
It all comes back to how you time block.
There is hope for you to feel in control of your time, work less, make more money, experience more peace and joy, and make the impact you want to make. Time blocking is here to help you live the life you want.
Don’t spend months, or years, figuring out time blocking.
Time blocking like a human being: Why it's so important
If you keep finding yourself wondering where your time went, I deeply know how frustrating that feeling is.
At this point, you’re questioning if there’s really a solution out there that will help you accomplish what you want in the time you want, without sacrificing your health, freedom, and joy.
There is, it’s called holistic time blocking!
Many people agree on how powerful it is. Time blocking is the most common time management system used (via timewatch).
However, one of the main critiques for time blocking is it’s inflexible and doesn’t capture the reality of being a human with ever-changing energy and responsibilities.
Holistic time blocking is here to help you finally feel in control of your day, get a better sense of where your time is actually going, and follow through with the things you need and want to do while being human.
In this article, you’ll learn why it’s so important to approach time blocking as a whole, human being and the immense benefits you can experience too.
What’s time blocking?
Time blocking, also known as calendar blocking, is a planning strategy where you proactively dedicate certain tasks to a certain time frame.
I personally call the time frames that contain my tasks: Time containers, rather than time blocks.
What most people don’t talk about is time blocking can also be used as an execution strategy. You can use time blocking to stay accountable, live with integrity, and be flexible.
How? Here’s a time-blocking process laid out in simple terms.
Choose what you want to work on.
Decide when you want to work on it.
Add it to your digital calendar or planner.
Follow your time containers as best you can.
As the day goes on, update your calendar in real-time with what you actually do.
Of course, we’re human beings. Nothing is as simple as that. If life was as easy as “just doing it” the world would be a totally different place.
This is where a holistic approach to time blocking works wonders.
What does holistic time blocking look like?
A holistic approach means looking at time blocking as a whole human being with physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs.
Holistic time blocking drastically improves your chances of following through with your tasks while also staying flexible.
Traditional and holistic time blocking are different from both a planning standpoint and an execution standpoint.
One big difference? Holistic time blocking builds out your time containers in a way that honors your unique cycles and life circumstances.
Not some magically different “fixed” version of yourself.
For example, let’s say you are currently waking up around 7 am but you want to be a 5 am-er. If you put 5 am as a wake-up time in your calendar, it’ll be really challenging to actually do, and many people blame time blocking.
However, when you acknowledge where you are today, it’s much easier to come up with a more realistic solution making it easier to create momentum and progress.
Next, holistic time blocking makes sure to include time containers that help you be and stay healthy–not just to do’s and work.
Finally, from an implementation standpoint, your execution strategies must work, make sense to you, and feel good to your mind, body, and soul.
For the example above, if you tell yourself you’ll “just force yourself to wake up at 5 am” when you have a history of not doing the things you need, or want, to do isn’t going to work. Maybe 6:30 am is a better step, or maybe you just need sleep and that’s ok!
If you are someone who keeps telling yourself you’ll “just do it”, it would greatly benefit you to find what’s preventing you from doing the things you want to do, and heal it at the root. That’s what I help my clients do in 1:1 holistic time coaching.
What are the benefits of holistic time blocking?
The most important benefit of holistic time blocking is that it protects your health and well-being. As we know, health and performance are directly related. A 2017 study confirmed people are 25% more likely to perform better at work when they eat healthier.
When you’re healthier, the regular benefits of time blocking increase. Some of which are:
Feel in control of your time, day, and destiny which just so happens to decrease our anxiety too.
Distraction-free deep work on meaningful goals, because you’ve preemptively prioritized and decided what to work on.
Experience greater levels of follow-through, flow, focus, self-accountability, and time awareness.
Decrease decision fatigue, saying yes to things we actually don’t want to do, and negative impacts of urgency.
Replace your never-ending to-do list and learn how to plan ahead while focusing on the now.
All of this to say, when you’re healthy and following through with everything you want to do… abundance! Fulfillment! Satisfaction!
Personally, I’m not sure what’s better than that.
Want to make sense of your rhythms and patterns and build a schedule that feels good to your whole self?
Meet Digital Calendars For Humans.
40+ different and surprising ways you can use your digital calendar
Almost every client I’ve ever worked with are shocked to learn just how much they can do with their digital calendar.
For this reason, a blog entirely dedicated to all the ways you can use your google calendar. (Plus, I’m sure that I am missing some, hence the + sign in the title, so I’ll be adding more as time goes on.)
I truly believe if more people used their calendars in a holistic, human-centric way the world would change.
We’d be healthier, happier, and wealthier humans! We’d make the money we want to make! We’d be a force in our communities!
The biggest thing keeping that from happening?
People NOT using their calendars.
Or worse… using it to overwork, overcommit, shame, and guilt themselves. 😣
In this article, you’ll learn 40+ different ways you can use your calendar for a healthy mind, body, soul, relationships, and business.
From your mind and body to your relationships and business…you can do so much with your digital calendar!
Ways you can use your google calendar for a healthier mind
According to The American Institute of Stress: 73 percent of people have stress that impacts their mental health. Just by using your digital calendar, your stress level will decrease.
In 2019, a study from North Carolina State University found that people who manage to balance living in the moment with planning for the future are best able to weather daily stress without succumbing to negative moods.
You can use your calendar to…
Schedule therapy, meditation, journaling, and other meetings.
Create daily affirmation reminders throughout the day.
Realistically plan your days and weeks to heal the tendency to overcommit, time scarcity, toxic productivity, and feelings of uncertainty.
Practice keeping time boundaries with yourself and others by saying no.
Set reminders to keep yourself on track throughout the day and build greater time awareness.
Move events around to live in the moment while also healing procrastination, shame, perfectionism, or other forms of self-sabotage.
Add time for focus work helps you to feel good about how you spent your time at the end of the day.
Habit track by adding your habits and deleting the habits you didn’t get to that day.
Spread out predictable events that tend to be more stressful.
Ways you can use your digital calendar for a healthier body
One in four adults worldwide don’t get enough exercise (source). The heart foundation says, “ I don’t have enough time” is the third most common reason why people don’t exercise.
Of course, exercise isn’t the only way to have a healthy body, so here are many different ways to have a healthy body using your google calendar.
You can use your calendar bestie to…
Set time aside for movement and attach tailored workout plans to the events.
Plan time to meal prep.
Make sure you don’t work through meal times. Looking at you lunchtime!
Track seasons, astrology, and hormonal cycles for more aligned planning.
Schedule conscious time off + rest.
Reminders to take vitamins or medicines.
Add and manage appointments with doctors.
Ok, you got me. I’m ready to feel healthier and balanced.
Dive into Digital Calendars For Humans today.
Ways calendar management allows you to have a healthier soul
Stark contrast, but it’s true! Everyone has different definitions of the word soul. I think of it as my heart, my joy, my essence, my truest self. I am a deeply spiritual being, and connecting to that part of me in my calendar is essential.
You can use your digital calendar to…
Keep your purpose at the forefront as you move through the day.
Set aside time for your passion projects and hobbies that bring you joy.
Acknowledge and celebrate yourself for all that you do get done.
Travel feeds my soul, so you can use your google calendar to schedule vacations, flights, and important travel dates.
Schedule time for a spiritual connection with the natural world, your higher power, source, or God (whichever word you prefer).
Build self-trust by experimenting with whitespace in your calendar.
Add time to learn new things you’re passionate about.
Learn to trust your intuition and gut instinct.
Ways you can use your calendar for healthier relationships & community
The Mental Health Foundation gets right to the point, “Relationships are one of the most important aspects of our lives.
People who are more socially connected to family, friends, or their community are happier, physically healthier, and live longer, with fewer mental health problems than people who are less well connected.”
You can use calendar management to…
Share a calendar or specific events with your partner, team, children, and/or friends to facilitate better communication and have time to be present with them.
Schedule your house care for your home or with your housemates.
Make a difference in your community by scheduling volunteering opportunities, calling your representatives, and voting dates ahead of time.
Set reminders to call friends and/or family members you care about.
Add and manage events you want to be a part of, with the people you care about.
Ways you can use your digital calendar for a healthier business (or work-life).
We all know using our time wisely helps us be productive and achieve our goals at work. Google calendars are known to substantially increase your ability to accomplish the things you want.
You can use your google calendar to…
Plan more effectively (I saved over 37 hours and $2500 every quarter by planning more effectively using my google calendar).
Establish a work schedule that feels good to you and integrate it with apps like Calendly so other folks can make appointments with you while respecting your boundaries.
Create marketing and content plans and schedules.
Manage project deadlines or launches with ease.
Plan ahead for admin time, which I find most folks usually don’t account for.
Collaboratively schedule meetings with your team, clients, and other collaborators.
Create a reference calendar for networking events, programs, masterminds, and more groups you’re apart of so you can pop in when they fit into your week.
Use themed days to juggle the many responsibilities you have.
Block time to work on a workflow in your project/task management software.
Invoicing (if you aren’t using auto invoicing).
Reminders to help keep you on time for your meetings and appointments.
Keep track of payments. This one can work for your home life too!
Yeah, mind-blowing is right!
Info is just that. Without integration, your digital calendar won’t be as magical as it can be.
Let me help you organize and simplify every area of your life.
Digital Calendar 101: Everything you need to know to get started today
A life on my terms is what I’m after.
What does that look like for me?
Right now it looks like growing my business, traveling the world with my husband, taking really good care of myself, and enjoying every moment I can.
Of course, living life on your terms will look different from mine.
I expect that!
No matter what your vision for a "good life" is, how you organize and structure your days and weeks is the foundation for making that vision a reality.
The problem? We haven't yet learned how to use tools like our digital calendars in a supportive, nourishing, healing, and human way.
If you've been looking for a flexible tool to help you stay organized and feel in control of your time, your digital calendar is the answer.
Throughout this post and the Digital Calendars for Humans series, you’ll learn how to use your digital calendar to reclaim your power and agency and create the life you want.
The magical powers of your digital calendar
A digital calendar, in my opinion, is one of the most powerful tools that anyone can use in their lives.
On the surface, your digital calendar is a time management, planning, and execution tool for work and your life. Deeper, it’s a tool that supports you in being flexible, adaptable, and intentional with your time, energy, attention, and life force.
Most use their digital calendar to keep track of work events and appointments only, but there are so many more ways you can use it.
It breaks my heart that many people use their digital calendars to shame and guilt-trip themselves. It’s possible to use it in a gentle and nourishing way making it much more effective and successful.
I want the world to know how supportive and life-changing a digital calendar can be.
By becoming more aware of the potential and capabilities of your digital calendar and taking the time to learn how to use it in a way that feels good to you, you can unlock the full potential of your digital calendar and radically change your life.
Want to explore a new way of working with your digital calendar. Click here.
What did approaching my digital calendar in a human way do for me?
My digital calendar is now my home base. No matter what I have going on in my life, everything goes in it. And it’s created a massive positive ripple effect in my life.
My digital calendar helped me…
Prevent loads of mental overwhelm, stress, and anxiety.
More easily recognize and meet my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs.
Plan so much more flexibly and realistically allowing me to stop overcommitting and saying yes to everything.
Find more self-acceptance and compassion for myself. Huge for my self-critical self.
Stay focused on what’s most important to me and my priorities that I would tend to put last (aka my health and rest).
Take my power back and start following through with what I said I wanted to do.
Acknowledge and celebrate me for what I did get done, creating more feelings of satisfaction and purpose.
What did all of those things give me? Who I am and the life I live today.
Not only that, but I’ve helped dozens of busy business owners and professionals do the same. Even for folks who really struggle with managing their time in a traditional sense.
The key is making your digital calendar feel good, and work for you.
How to make a digital calendar work for you
The Digital Calendar for Humans blog series! After reading through this series, you’ll have everything you need to get started on the right foot.
Or if you’re already using your digital calendar, the series will help it become a more supportive tool and work better for you.
Committing to your digital calendar
Paper planner vs digital planner vs digital calendar: Which one is best?
40+ different and surprising ways you can use your digital calendar
10 Best calendar apps that make time blocking a breeze
Time blocking 101
Time blocking like a human being: Why it's so important
The 5 Surprising kinds of people that time blocking will help
5 Common time blocking mistakes that you can start fixing today
Making your digital calendar feel good
7 Magical Google Calendar settings that allow for intentional planning
4 Mindsets to heal for a more supportive digital calendar experience
Calendar Management: Why your intuition is more important than you think
How a weekly schedule template saved me 37 hours every quarter