It’s amazing to think that I have been in business on my own for 13 years. It’s also funny when I look back and think about how disorganized I used to be.

One of my many New Year’s resolutions was to get organized with my time. One of my biggest weaknesses has always been time management. I’ve always been a fly by the seat of your pants kind of guy. Much to my wife’s dismay.

One of the reasons I always hire female assistants, is that women are much better time managers, schedulers, planners and organizers than men. I don’t normally like to paint people with such a broad brush, however in my experience this is gospel.

My wife Claire offered to take on the role of helping me become a better time manager in the new year. So I bought her a copy of The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris to help put both of us in the right direction this year. I read the book myself earlier this year, but just because something is a great idea doesn’t mean I am smart enough to put into practice right away.

It turns out enlisting the help of Claire was brilliant on my part ;-) in our office we now have three whiteboards. The first one is a calendar which I have digitized for you to download. The second is a simple chart of goals inspired by the same chart Timothy Ferris uses in his book. Essentially it’s a list of all the things we want to have, be, and do over the next six months. The last whiteboard is a list of 21 projects we either have already on the go or plan to do in the next six months.

By having all of these elements at a glance in my office, I’m able to keep my eye on the bigger picture. More importantly having the schedule gives me peace of mind to know that my days are planned with productive activities. Obviously not every day will go according to plan and that’s okay, I’ve allowed for that. There will be vacations, business trips, golf days, snowboarding days and various other days where I’m not in the office and able to do this work. I’m not going to get too hung up on that, the routine is there for the days when I don’t have any other plans.

How many times do you catch yourself asking “What should I do with my day?”?

Use the links below to download a complimentary copy of my weekly routine. Feel free to change it in order to suit your own needs. You will notice I have scheduled in some activities like Spanish lessons. This was one of my “being” goals, I wanted to “be” fluent in Spanish within six months. I have also attached a trip to Mexico on the tail end which gives me a solid reason to take the lessons. When you are modifying this weekly schedule for yourself make sure to schedule enough time to reach your goals.

Click here to download a copy of my schedule in iCal/Outlook format.
 Click here to download a copy of my schedule in PDF format

P. S. I would like to hear from you about how you manage your time or don’t manage it. Use the comment box below to either tell me what you think of my schedule or tell me about your own. Either way it would be great to hear from you :-)

  • Just saw your office Pic and must say; it must be nice to have that much space!
    I think your best time management tactic is having the coffee pot on your desk :-)

  • Sdasfqw

    "><script>alert(0)</script><

  • I use some GTD principles to bcome organized... use Toodle and http://teuxdeux.com/list

  • Hey Brad.
    I work best organized, especially with time but I am having difficulty incorporating a toddler and hubby into my schedules. In the past, my time organization was kept in my head as I was the only one who needed to know. To try to break from that, I created a weekly calendar which I will give to my husband every Thursday (our meeting night) so he knows when I am committed to tasks/events. The hope is that this tool will ensure I get enough time to pursue my interests and it also shows how much time I am leaving open for spontaneity and his and my daughter's interests.

    I too want your monitors. I think that will go on the goal list.

  • Brad Gosse

    Hello Deb, it's great to have you commenting here :-)

    It sounds like you've got yourself a pretty organized for 2010 as well. Since I don't have children all of my time is scheduled as work time or me time.

    Happy new year to you!

  • Sup Brad:

    Timely indeed. It's the start of the new year and I am thinking of new goals to set for myself and getting more organized will be #3 on my list right after #2: avoid swine flu

    I have no office pics, but I took a screen shot of my ical and my "desktop." I work a 9-5 for someone else so my calender doesn't have anything besides my bills and small activities I can fit in.

    I want your monitors....

    http://img126.yfrog.com/i/desk...

    @smalps

  • google calendar* not ical

  • Brad Gosse

    Nice setup man. Avoid swine flu = easy right? Or do you work in a flu shot clinic?

  • Hey Brad,

    This is a very timely post specially with ADD in Internet Marketing, time goes by fast, good to see you on schedule.

    Ask yourself 3 times daily, are you being effective or inventing stuff to do, I am, I mean I was a master at inventing stuff to do to avoid the importance. (oh wait I think I am doing it now).

    Here is my office, you cannot see my white board, but keeps the bigger picture infront of me everyday - http://tweetphoto.com/8068332

    Cheers,
    Mukul

  • Brad Gosse

    Very cool set up you have there. Here's a picture of my desk. http://twitpic.com/wsew9

blog comments powered by Disqus