Last Updated 2 years ago by Emily Standley-Allard

Ever since I became a full-time creative consultant and content creator, it’s become an absolutely necessity to use proven time-blocking strategies. There are simply too many distractions throughout the day designed to sidetrack content creators, so effective time blocking is crucial and can really help your productivity. Here are 5 ways pro creators can use time-blocking to improve productivity and efficiency. These tips can also help in other aspects of business and life too!

hourglass of time
Image by Nile from Pixabay

How Did Time Blocking Get Started?

While the first known user of time blocking is unknown, Benjamin Franklin was known to be an early adopter. Franklin avidly detailed the activities he would undertake every hour of the day, including rest and chores. He blocked off hours at a time to engage in deep work and allocated two entire hours for lunch. – Wikipedia.com

When Microsoft founder Bill Gates shared his secret technique with the world, every solopreneur tried to emulate them to become more productive.

If you’ve heard of time blocking but aren’t exactly sure how to go about it keep reading to follow the easy steps to become more productive!

In my personal experience I was not successful at time-blocking for many reasons. But after failures I eventually got into a routine and then came success. If your current strategies are not working, it won’t hurt to give it a go!

Why Time Blocking is Harder for Creators

While other people use social media for entertainment and relaxing purposes, creators have to use it to interact with their given audience and promote their work or the work of others.

Therefore, you spend a lot more time on social networks and run the risk of getting distracted many more times. And the only way to effectively escape social media traps is to use fixed time slots when interacting with all those platforms.

Time-blocking also helps creators become more productive because of single tasks and short deadlines.

You can’t take hours or days to get things done, you must finish your job in a limited amount of time. And, if you already prepare for it, you know what to do, so it’s much easier on you knowing your plan.

Contrary to multitasking, single-task activities can increase efficiency by up to 80%. You can focus faster and increase your productivity.

However, keep in mind that if you are not specific enough, you will spend time figuring out all the nuances and get lost in the minutiae of it all.

So, which content creators should use time-blocking the most?

Everyone, of course. Especially if:

  • You have a 9–5 job and don’t have much time to invest in your side hustle.
  • You distract easily, struggle to focus, and procrastinate many times.
  • You don’t have a functioning content calendar.
  • You feel like you are always working and never find time to relax.

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How To Start Time-Blocking as a Content Creator

Efficient time-blocking respects three rules:

  • Limited and short deadlines: give each task around one hour. And, if you need more, split it into multiple time slots.
  • Specific tasks: don’t allocate time for generic tasks like writing. Be specific. What do you need to create, design or write?
  • Batched tasks: if you have many small activities of the same kind, group them in the same time slot. Once you get the main tasks completed you can jump from one to another easier and finish faster.

It’s easier to succeed when you have clearly defined objectives that are based in reality.

As a creator you may write about various topics and create many forms of content. But you can always compartmentalize your tasks into five essential blocks you can split accordingly: outline, production, review, schedule, and promotion.

Similar to S.M.A.R.T goals in writing.

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5 Blocks Creators Must Put in Their Time-Blocking Plan

pocket watch in sand
5 Blocks You Must Put in Your Time-Blocking Plan – Image by Pixabay.com

Basically start by splitting content creation into five essential blocks.

For example, say you are a part-time content creator and have ten free hours a week for content creation. How can you split them using the five essential content creation blocks?

One Block for the Outline

One hour is enough to outline the content and list the information you want to discuss.

You have plenty of time to think about the form content of your piece. But I would also focus on collecting data that might support your ideas and do some research if you have any spare time.

AI generators can help with this immensely.

Also, if you are very fast at writing outlines, you can add other activities to this block:

  • You can do your keyword research.
  • You can use it for time management purposes and redistribution of free time.
  • Or you can review your content strategy and plan your next moves.

Three Blocks for Production

Production is the fundamental part of each content creation process. So it deserves most of the blocks.

Also, you must reach deep intensity in these sessions because they are the core of your work.

Here are some tricks of the trade you can use to help.

  • Set a quiet timer in the background to give yourself a sense of urgency.
  • Give yourself a small reward for each set goal you accomplish. (A snack, a coffee break, a short chat with a friend, listen to some music, taking your dog outside, or have some limited recreational social media time if you must)
  • Set short-term goals for each session. It will help you become more specific and motivate you to work faster.
  • Find a productive and quiet space that is comfortable and distraction-free.
Working from home
Working from home – Image by Pixabay.com

Two Blocks for the Review

Once you finish creating, it’s time to review and edit what doesn’t work.

You don’t need as much time for this as for creating and developing your thoughts. But still, you might need to rewrite sections of your content.

During the review phase, I usually focus on two things:

  • Simplify ideas and sentences to clarify them – I use the Hemingway app – it’s great for this.
  • And focus on how you share your content to keep your audience interested and engaged.

One Block for Scheduling

Scheduling can take away a few hours. But it doesn’t have to. If you are smart you use scheduling and automation software tools for this.

I use CrowdFire, Tailwind and Semrush for all my social media posting and SEO work.

SEO is very important to get your content some organic reach. You’ll likely be alerted to some SEO improvements you could adopt when scheduling your content.

Be sure to use this time block for those variations too.

Three Blocks for Promoting

Creating content is nothing without promotion. You can create the most wonderful piece of work, but if you don’t promote it well, no one knows about it!

An efficient social media strategy is more important than your content.

Be sure to take time while building engaging content to also share it on social media and email newsletters to attract people to your post.

How to Promote Your Content

This post will show you the best ways to share and promote your content on multiple platforms that will surely grow your overall traffic online.

And since you have three blocks, you can use different strategies.

Conclusion

Building an efficient time-blocking strategy as a content creator is challenging, but it can bring many necessary advantages.

  • It improves your focus so you don’t get stuck
  • It can improve your time management skills and help you plan your work timelier and more efficiently.
  • And it increases your freedom and flexibility by allowing you to adjust and modify your schedule as needed.

Using time blocking for content creators is even better because you can improve your efficiency even more with specific blocks.

Use blocks like the outline, production, review, scheduling, and promotion.

Define these parameters as they pertain to your goal which helps ensure that your objectives are attainable within a certain time frame.

This approach eliminates generalities and guesswork, sets a clear timeline, and makes it easier to track progress and identify missed milestones.

Follow me for the best ways to grow your traffic, learn new creator strategies and grow your epic online business from anywhere!

Next read>>>How Introverted Entrepreneurs and Content Creators Succeed in a Loud World

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About socialbuzzhive

Emily Standley-Allard is a writer, author and digital content strategist with more than 15 years of experience creating and publishing online content. She is the founder of SocialBuzzHive, where she explores social trends, wellness, relationships, money, culture, entrepreneurship and the changing ways we live and work.