Better than brushing your teeth? Great marketing habits are the secret to explosive growth.
Small business owners have a hard time building consistency when implementing a new marketing routine.
This is because, for small business owners, marketing can feel a bit like an unaffordable luxury. Sure we'd all like to have great marketing for our business, but who has the time to sit down and focus on marketing when you have vendors, employees, and clients all vying for your time?
Those time-expensive marketing tasks end up being backburned more often than not, and after a few weeks, the business owner will give up on their new routine and return to their old ways.
The practice of Time Blocking,
inspired by Benjamin Franklin's daily schedule,
is an elegant solution to this problem.
Time blocking is a practice of carefully structuring your day to ensure specific tasks receive the dedicated attention they need to be completed efficiently.
Specificity is key here. Don't just block out an hour of the day for marketing. That's far too general and will result in you being easily distracted from the more specific tasks you're hoping to cross off your list.
Instead, be as specific as possible. If the task that needs your attention is researching potential blog topics. Block off an hour on your calendar and label it as such. Doing so also sets a clear goal for each session. This can be especially important when working on complicated or multipart projects, as it's easy to get lost in the multitude of tasks you might be facing at a given time.
When that hour arrives, focus all of your attention solely only on that research. Because the task is very specific, it will be easy to notice when you are distracted or off task. That insight will then help you improve the focus you bring to your work, allowing you to get more done in the time allotted.
Out of all the productivity hacks I've tried over the years, this one has proved to be the most transformational for not only myself but for dozens of clients who've applied this method of task management.
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