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Scheduling Every Minute of The Day (April Focus Digest)

April 3, 2024
by Shawn Blanc

Welcome to April!

This monthly digest is for folks who want to create a more ideal schedule, get organized, and stay in control of the things that matter.

If you are new to the digest…here’s what to look forward to the first week of every month:

  • A short article on a single concept around focus
  • Links to interesting or related articles from our corner of the internet
  • Upcoming events and resource spotlights for our Focus Club Members

If this sparks any ideas I’d love to hear from you!


On Scheduling Every Minute of The Day

After breakfast, I sit down and schedule out my day. I literally schedule every single minute.

(As you can see from the stack of notebooks up above, I’ve been doing this for quite a while.)

It’s an activity that takes me about 5 minutes at the start of my day.

When I’ve got that plan for how I’m going to spend my time then I get more done during the day, and my day is significantly less stressful.

I used to think a schedule meant I’d never get to have fun.

Because if you’re scheduling your time then you should only put Super Duper Important things on your schedule.

Well, I do only schedule Super Duper Important things. I just have a smarter definition of Super Duper Important.

Did you know I schedule time to watch Netflix? I schedule time for a mid-day nap if I want. Time to read for an hour and a half in the middle of the afternoon. Time to take my wife out for dinner once a week. Time to do my workout. Time to play games with my boys. Time to have lunch with a friend. Time to make dinner. Time to write for as long as I can handle in the morning.

By scheduling every minute of my day, it helps me to make sure I do all the things I want to do — for work and for play.

How do I schedule every minute?

  1. List my most-important tasks for the day, and the amount of time they’re going to need
  2. Map them out onto a schedule
  3. Schedule in break time and buffers
  4. Keep tabs on if I did what I set out to do

Why do I schedule every minute?

  1. Keeps me on pace to accomplish my day’s tasks.
  2. Let’s me know when I’m procrastinating.
  3. Keeps me from dual focus: I know what I should be doing at any given time.
  4. Gives me insight into my day-to-day capacity.
  5. Relieves stress because I don’t have to think about what’s next; I just follow the day’s plan that I set out earlier.

The Value of Time Ownership

One of the challenges I have faced off and on over the years is always the struggle to do more great work on a daily basis while also growing my business without becoming the bottleneck.

In short, it looks like this:

  • I need to focus on the critical actions of business growth and development
  • I also need to stay focused the critical actions that happen inside my business

And that’s not even addressing the other little administrative tasks and responsibilities I have, working with my team, etc.

I’m sure that many of you can relate. It’s a challenge to balance all the spinning plates and to feel that you’re able to move things forward while also not dropping the ball on anything today.

Ultimately, the solution to this comes down my ability to manage my time AND manage my focus. (Something I teach members of my business program, Focus Like a Boss.)

Therefore, having insight into my daily schedule helps immensely. Instead of feeling like I’m not productive enough, I can focus on increasing my capacity for deep work and creative output and making sure I’m setting aside time on a regular basis for all the areas that are important.

Time Blocking + Tracking (Half-Priced for April)

I can speak from experience when I say that a healthy schedule creates MORE freedom.

Contrary to popular belief, having boundaries and “blocks” around your time will create a more liberating and enjoyable schedule for you.

I’m not a “naturally organized” person, but I’ve been able to remove the mess from organizing my schedule, and get back hours of my life each week, by using the same, simplified and straight-forward time management approach that we teach you right here.

And, for the month of April, you can get it for half-price. Sweet!

👉 Get the Time Blocking + Time Tracking course for half-price.

P.S. Noteworthy Reading

Here are some additional articles for you along the theme of time management and time blocking:

“Dost thou love live? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life’s made of.” — Benjamin Franklin