Goal: reclaim control of your time in a realistic way

Myth: If I don’t do it right now, it won’t happen.

Time blocking allows you to breathe, have time with loved ones at home and lighten your mental load.

The Bright Method – Get clarity and peace of mind in your day to day

1. Simplify – scattered action items in one place
2. Visualize – a realistic game plan without mental management
3. Plan – intentional, reacting to whatever comes through the door

1. SIMPLIFYING
● Aim for one place to keep all the things.
● Choose a tool that is managing time… a digital calendar.
● Managing Your Tasks with a To-Do List:

• • To-do lists are exasperating your stress. Your to-do list can actually make you feel like you are bad at time management.
  • To do list also makes you feel defeated because you see all things you didn’t get done. 
  • Using a calendar reduces your decision fatigue.

Notes for Implementing The Bright Method

2. VISUALIZE
● Using a calendar.

• • Your calendar doesn’t have to rigid
  • You can be just as spontaneous, your calendar can flex with your day to day.
  • Curve balls – unpredictable BUT you can work around the curveballs. Block the last 3 hours of your day for expected curveballs.
  • “I like having a master to-do list”… Take your to do’s and calendar them first.

● The Benefits of using a Calendar:

• • You are realistic about what you can get done
  • You feel like you won at the end of the day
  • Create a game plan to get things done over time
  • Keeps you focused on what’s in front of you
  • Helps your relationship with your partner. Helps communication.

● The Magical Strategy: Avoid cluttered mess

• • Use Sub calendars that you can color code and turn on and off
  • Examples of sub-calendars
    •  Home
    • Work
    • Events
    • Kids
    • Meetings
      • • You can share certain calendars with different people so that there is a level of privacy.
        • You can integrate Calendly and other calendar scheduling apps to certain calendars
  • You do NEED to put 95% of your to do list in the calendar for this system to work so you can assess your priorities.

3. PLAN

• • You need a planning session 1x a week to sustain this system
  • Schedule prep and follow up time after each meeting
  • For large projects – pull out all the tasks that are going to be required to accomplish this project.
  • For a 6 month project – calendar 2 hours to work on the project so that you have buffer time and have more clarity about your actual workload.
  • Always refer to your calendar to know what you can/cannot take on from week to week.
  • Listen to Episode 4 on Kelly’s podcast about prioritizing

Keeping track of long term tasks and plans:

• • Once you calendar out the invisible to-do, repetitive work, and your one off tasks… your calendar gets pretty full.
  • Work on one big goal at a time.
  • Sit down and think about what you have to do each month or each week to accomplish the big goal.

What about when I go rogue when I don’t feel like doing the tasks….

• • Think about your energy patterns and matchmake.
  • Calendar your high energy tasks for when you have the most energy.
  • If you keep skipping a task on your calendar, maybe you need to own that you just don’t want to do it.
  • Important to build in flex time so that you have margin to move things around.

Ask yourself weekly: How do I want my life to feel?