As a job seeker, consultant or business owner, it is vital to your success to structure your time. Some of us are better at this than others. I fall into the “not as good as I should be” camp, I’ll admit.
What I have found is that the week’s when I’ve structured my time, I feel 100 times more productive and more satisfied! So the trick is to maintain this scheduling momentum.
First, you need a calendar!
It is amazing how many folks use a notepad. How’s that working for you? Paper or electronic, get a calendar and carry it with you at all times.
Next you’ll want to schedule activities.
If you have appointments, meetings, or events, put them on the calendar.
Now block of 1-2 hour increments of time for these activities :
- Networking Time: One on one meetings TBD
- Email time: respond to emails and send email
- Phone time: Make followup calls, return messages
- LinkedIn Time: Use LinkedIn to post updates, respond to group conversations, do research on companies or people, write recommendations
- Knowledge Update Time: Read industry newsletters, RSS feeds, local newspapers
- Online Application Time: Apply for jobs online
Some Reminders:
Start filtering all your activities within these categories before you start creating others. You don’t want to feel overwhelmed.
You want to be out of your house as much as possible, so schedule “computer related” activities early in the morning (before 8am) or late in the day (after 5pm).
Don’t give up too soon. Try this for at least 30 days. Forming new habits take time.
We’ve all managed our time in the workplace, you just need to put structure around your job search. For those of you who are visual, this is what it might look like. BTW, notice all the white space? Free time? Face to face meeting time!
