Time Blocking Doesn’t Work For My ADHD Brain – Here’s What Does

Sophie

I've been running my own online business 6:30 years, and if there is one thing that I've only recently just mastered, it is writing my to do list and managing my energy in my business in alignment with how I want to work and how I want to run my day. This has been a hot topic for me for at least the past four years, because in the first two years of my business, I burnt out really badly because I had adopted all of the habits, all of the behaviors of the ways of working from one and five.

Sophie

I'd just transitioned them over into my own thing. And honestly, that didn't work in my favor at all. It really worked against me, and I ended up building myself a job rather than building myself a business. So for the past few years, I've really had to have an honest look at how I'm running my business, how I'm operating as the founder of my business, how I am showing up every single day running my business, and only recently do I feel like I have nailed my to do list and a nailed how to manage my energy and routine on a day to day basis.

Sophie

So I want to share that with you in case it's interesting and inspirational for some of you who are still trying to navigate how to run a business when you have just left a 9 to 5 job, because it is a very different ballgame, and I don't think people talk enough about how to manage your energy and energy management in an online business, because everyone is succumbing to hustle culture and just trying to look busy and make themselves feel like they are successful, but actually their business is probably not actually working for them in the way that they would like.

Sophie

So let's talk about it in case you haven't met. My name is Sophie Bickerstaff. As I said, I've been running my own business the past six years after a 12 year career in the fashion industry, and I have made all of the mistakes in the online business class that you don't have to. I have tried every single online business model figured out what works for me, and now I'm sharing with you all of the advice, the tips, and the resources that I wish I had had six years ago that would have helped me avoid burnout with my business, and start building a business that is in alignment with my vision of success from day one.

Sophie

So in today's episode, I'm going to share with you how I write my to do list. And I've got my favorite tool here, which is my remarkable. I genuinely couldn't live without my remarkable. This is not an ad or sponsored in any way, but this has changed the game for me when it comes to do list. Now, I I've never been diagnosed of ADHD, but I definitely have neurodivergent qualities, let's say, and structuring my day is definitely not a strength that I possess.

Sophie

So since having this remarkable, it has really helped me structure my day in a way that actually, genuinely does work for me. And I want to talk about because I think the way that I structure my week and structure my days and structure my to do list within that time is quite different to how most people structure that To-Do list.

Sophie

Now, most people have been talk about time blocking and like setting set times for certain tasks. I don't work like that. My brain hates that. My brain thinks that that is a restriction and bearing mind. My biggest failure in life is freedom. So I don't want to feel restricted in my life or business when I'm running. And for years that was what I was trying to do.

Sophie

I was trying to fit into a vision of success, or a vision of running a business that I was being told to do by society, and it really didn't work. It led me to burn out. And let me stress that led me to, not really being very nice to myself because I was constantly thinking, why can't you fit into this mold?

Sophie

Why can't you fit into this box? Why are you not sticking to the calendar blocking that you have got in your diary? And there's a reason for that. Because my brain doesn't operate in that way. My brain doesn't like to work like that. So I have had to find ways. And believe me, I've tried so many different ways of working, but I've had to find ways that truly work for me, and I want to share with that today.

Sophie

In case you resonate. So time blocking doesn't work for me. I try, I put the times in my calendar and I will ignore it. I'll set the alarms, I'll ignore the alarm. I'll say I'm going to set myself a deadline and do something for a certain date. Doesn't get done unless it's like someone else is holding me accountable.

Sophie

So what I've had to do is find other ways to get shit done in my business that doesn't involve deadlines that I've set myself, that doesn't involve time blocking, that doesn't involve like a crazy to do list. I'm going to get overwhelmed by it. So what I have started to do. The first thing that I started to do was map out what do I want my day to look like, because I know personally for me that my energy peaks in the afternoon.

Sophie

I am not so much of a morning person. I really wish I was. I've tried to be, I try stop, I do not that all the time, but for some reason my brain doesn't want to work in the mornings, and I think that's because I have to set a tone for myself in the mornings for me to then be able to show up in the way that I want to show up in the afternoons.

Sophie

So what I mean by that is, if I wake up and I go straight on my laptop, straight on my phone, I personally get really overwhelmed, really anxious, and then I'm like, oh my God, I need to do x, y, z by this time. Otherwise I'm going to be failing at life. When that's not true, I go into a story loop.

Sophie

If I go down that route of trying to operate my business from the minute that I wake up. So what's more beneficial for me personally is to wake up slowly without an alarm already that at like 7:30 a.m. anyway. And I personally do meditate. I do journal, not in a performative way. It's. I did actually hear someone on a podcast recently talk about the fact that just performative, marketing tools and I'm like, that's no, I actually genuinely am a meditator.

Sophie

I genuinely I'm a channeler again with my remarkable. And I will go and sit on my balcony. I live here in Thailand. I've got a really beautiful view. I'll sit on my balcony, I will meditate, I don't set a timer, I just do it for however long I want to do it. Maybe sometimes I listen to a YouTube video and then I will channel.

Sophie

And in that journaling session, what I do is I will think about how do I fill that day? What's a task that is going to help me move the needle in my business or my life, depending on what goal it is that I'm walking towards? And then I'm going to look at like, what energy do I actually have today to show up?

Sophie

Because I think it's really important for us to recognize, particularly if you are a woman running a business, that we do not have the same level of energy every single day to operate in our business. So I check in with myself every single morning and say, how much capacity, how much energy do I actually have to get today?

Sophie

And what is my most important thing that I should get done today in order to actually move the needle in my business and not just feel like I'm failing at life at the end of the day, because I haven't had the energy to show off. So I will check in with myself early on in the morning and I will do that sentence chat.

Sophie

Once I've done those two activities and I've like, regulated my nervous system, that's my number one priority. In the morning, I will then take myself out for a walk. I will take myself to the gym. I'll go to the yoga class and essentially get some movement in the morning. So that then ticks off one big task of the day, which is be active.

Sophie

And for me that's really important. It really helps my mental health. It really helps my physical health. I know if I've checked in with my energy in the morning, how much energy I've got to show up, so I'm not going to force myself to go to like a high road class or CrossFit class or motor class if I've only done like 10% battery, outgoing or beach walk.

Sophie

Instead, I might go to a yoga yoga class, whatever that looks like for you. But I feel like that's really important for me to set myself and set the tone of the day. When I come back, I know that I have to eat breakfast. Like breakfast is super important for me and it's not always been that way. I for years have resisted eating breakfast.

Sophie

I hated breakfast, actually, but I have a condition called muscle activation syndrome and my energy levels are kind of dependent on the food that I've put in my body, which is true for everybody, but my body is extra sensitive, so I don't get protein early on in the morning. My energy is going to crash within a couple of hours of going to the gym, so I have to eat as soon as I come back from the gym.

Sophie

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So then I will sit down and work in the afternoon. Now every Sunday I write a to do list. I'm going to show you how I write that to do this, because like I said, I think it's a little bit different to how most people write that to do this. And when I then sit down in the afternoon, I look at that To-Do list, and then I will work on the first task on that state, and then I'll generally be working in the afternoon for like a 4 or 5 hour block.

Sophie

I might go out to a coffee shop, I might do that at home. Possibly. I work better when I'm outside of my house and I'm surrounded by other people that are also working. I find that really helpful because I know something to be true about me is that I kind of made a little bit of extra accountability to hold me to doing what I say I'm going to do, and if I've got that accountability, I'm 100% going to do it.

Sophie

So if I commit to showing up with someone's going co-work with them in a coffee shop, I'm there, I'm going to I'm going to make that happen. But if I commit to myself to go and shop in the coffee shop and work for four hours, maybe that's not going to happen. If I don't feel like to be bothered to go.

Sophie

So I really value having somebody to hold me accountable in the afternoon, and they don't need to consciously hold me accountable. They just need to show up. And if I am meeting someone at the time I work with them, or I need to be at a certain place at a certain time to record a podcast or a video or meeting a client, whatever it looks like, that is a sure set way to get me to do the thing that I said I'm going to do, and I know that about myself.

Sophie

So I've incorporated more of that into my afternoon routine to make sure that I get the work done. I want to work now. I spend that 4 or 5 hours. I try and focus on tasks that actually can move the needle. And the way that I look at that is I will on a Sunday. I will sit down and I will structure my to do list.

Sophie

Now, my to do list, as I said, is a little bit different to a typical to do list. I don't break tasks down by day. I don't say I want to get XYZ that done on this day. What I do personally is write a whole list of tasks that I need to get done that are currently pending in my life, in my business, all of the things that I need to do.

Sophie

And then I will look at the urgency of those things and I will say, is this a want or is this a need to do? Because if it is a want to do, it is not urgent. And that I want to do is something that could be done today, it could be done tomorrow, but it could also be done next week.

Sophie

And it doesn't really matter. The timeline doesn't really matter. It's not crucial. It is not going to be something that's going to move the needle. Then I'm going to look at the things that I need to do, and they are the things that are going to move the needle. They are the things that are going to get me one step closer to the goals that I have in my life or my business.

Sophie

So I am looking at that list, and I'm separating that list out into what's to do and then needs to do. Then I'm going to look, I'm going to kind of disregard the wants to do for a second, and I'm going to look at the needs to do, and I'm going to say, okay, all of these needs to do what what's the priority order?

Sophie

Like, what am I focusing on fast. And in that I'm going to put all of those needs to do or like the ones that are urgent on that list for the week on my to do list for the week. I'm not going to assign them a day, I'm just going to list and say, these are the things that I need to do this week.

Sophie

Then I'm going to look back at my wants list. I'm going to say, what were the things that would be nice to have in addition to these needs on my to do list, and I'm going to transfer a few of those things over onto my to do list for the week. And maybe I'll have like ten things on my to do list for the week.

Sophie

Something that doesn't feel overwhelming to you, but I'm not going to break them down by day. I am not going to say that I have to do this. One needs to do task by Monday, unless obviously it's got an urgent deadline that it's going to just regulate your working flow within that to do list. What I'm then going to do is number all of these tasks.

Sophie

I'm going to number them from 1 to 10. If my to do list has got ten things on in priority order of the things that are going to move the needle the most in my business, to make sure that I'm following that list in a way that makes sense for me to get done all of the urgent tasks now, because I'm not doing this by day, I'm doing this by week.

Sophie

I might have ten things and then I've got them labeled once ten, but in random orders. So I am going to focus when I sit down and do that work in the afternoon. Like I go out to the coffee shop and say, I'm with a friend, I'm doing my work and author of a nice little catch up with how I'm going to sit down and do deep work on my laptop.

Sophie

The task that I am going to do is the most recent task that I've added that says number one, the one that is on that week labeled as number one, because I've already analyzed that that is a task that I need to do, and it is something that I want to get done this week. And I've labeled it as number one priority for my week.

Sophie

So that is the task that I need to do that day. And then I'm not going to try and do anything else until I have at least ticked off 80% of that task. Unless there's something that can't be moved forward because you're waiting for someone else to to chip in or whatever, that is the task that I'm focusing on in that current block far enough.

Sophie

If my energy starts to dip and I don't want to carry on, maybe that then gets carried over and maybe I'll look at my to do list to see if there's something else that takes a little bit lower energy, and I would stop that. But in general, I'm working through that list on a priority order from 1 to 10, and I'm ticking off the tasks as I go.

Sophie

Now, if I've started working on something, I will put work in progress next to that item on my to do list. I always write my list on my remarkable, remarkable can actually be transformed. I have my laptop. I don't even tend to do that, to be honest, because I quite like the remarkable. I quite like the fact that I can physically take it off of this pen, but I can keep all of my to do list in one place and I will write next to it.

Sophie

Work in progress. If I haven't completed a task and then I will work through that list every single afternoon, or whatever it is that I'm sitting down to do a deep focus workbook and I'm like, hey, task number one is done. Now tick off. Let's move on to task number two. Now, you might be also dabbling in some tasks down here in 9 or 10 because like I say, if your energy doesn't have the capacity to work on task one and two, by the end of the day, you could go and do some lower energy required tasks down here, and that would be okay because thing is still taking things off.

Sophie

Now, I don't set myself pressure to work every single day and tick off to do list tasks every single day, because that is not how I structure my life. Like my life, I want it to be a spot sports possible. So unless I've got a deadline where I'm being held accountable by somebody else, there is a chance that I might not work every day.

Sophie

I might not show up in my business every single day of the week. I might only work three days a week because I've structured my to do list in this way. As long as I get through 75% of that to do this, I'm pretty happy with that because I have been argued for hours a day. I've gone about my life, I'm managing my energy.

Sophie

Let's say I wake up one day and I've had a flare up of my health condition, and I can't work that day. I know there's nothing urgent up my to do list that day. I know if there is, I could go back and check in to see is it actually that day or can I move something else? And I will show up to what my capacity allows me to show up to that structure, my to do list in a weekly format, but once news and then move on to order has really eliminated a lot of overwhelm and a lot of pressure that I used to feel around like time blocking and getting stuff done.

Sophie

Because my brain doesn't work like somebody that can just sit there and focus all day long. Not me trying to force myself to work is actually stopping my productivity flow, because I'm trying to force something to work that doesn't actually work for me. And like I said at the beginning, I'm all about building a business that truly does work for me and in alignment with my energy in alignment with the way that I want to show up for my business.

Sophie

And this is the way that I personally have found to work for me. And I'm very productive when I'm using my remarkable and the to do list system that I have created for myself, because that is how my brain operates, and it helps me get more done with a minimal amount of overwhelm. So that's how I would structure my to do list.

Sophie

If I was an entrepreneur that was feeling a little bit overwhelmed by all of the mammoth tasks that are going on in your business, because it can be really overwhelming. There's always gonna be something to do when we have our own online business, but we don't have to do all of it right now. Now, I actually teach you how to incorporate this structure when you come and work with me in my group coaching programs, foundations.

Sophie

And I actually teach this from day one how to build a to do list that works with your energy and has for a business that works with your energy and really does work for you, particularly if you're just starting out. My signature program, foundations, is all about taking your idea and turn it into reality again in a way that works for you, in alignment with the life that you want to live.

Sophie

So if you come and start your online business with me in my program, you're going to get this method from day one. I also teach it and share it with all of my clients that I work one on one with as well. If you're interested in any of the services that I've mentioned, stay or learning about this method further, you can check out the links in the show notes.

Sophie

And if you love this episode and want more tips on how to build a business that works for you and an alignment for the life that you want to leave, make sure you like and subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and I will see you in the next one.