Join | Member Login
Arlington (VA) Chamber of Commerce | Arlington, VA 22201
  • Membership
    • Membership Benefits
    • Join Now!
    • Chamber Assisted Grand Openings
    • Chamber Member Retirement Program
    • ShopChamber
    • Advertising >
      • Website Ads
      • E-Newsletter Ads
    • Arlingtonopoly
    • Century Club
    • Committees
    • LeadShare
    • Annual Corporate Sponsors
    • Member Login
  • Business Directory
  • Events
    • Chamber Calendar
    • Community Calendar >
      • Submit a Community Event
    • Signature Events >
      • Arlington Business Gala
      • Hospitality Awards
      • AWE Women in Business Summit
      • Arlington Chamber Volunteer Day
      • Best Business Awards
      • State of the County & Public Safety Awards
      • Annual Meeting
    • Advocacy Events >
      • Legislative Breakfast
      • NOVA Elected Leaders Summit
      • County Board Candidate Forum
    • Networking Events >
      • Breakfast Connection
      • Business After Business
      • Women in Business
      • Young Professionals Happy Hour
    • Educational Events >
      • Chamber 101
      • Small Business Roundtable
  • Community
    • Arlington Restaurant Week
    • Employer Resources
    • Coupons
    • Job Board
    • Job Shadow Day
    • Travel
    • Foundation
    • Scholarship Fund
    • About Arlington >
      • Business Resources
      • Map of the Area
      • Visiting Arlington
  • Business Advocacy
    • Public Policy Positions
    • Arlington Advocacy >
      • Budget & Taxes
      • Planning
      • Project Support
      • Economic Development
      • Processes
      • Retail & Signage
      • Transportation
    • Virginia Advocacy >
      • Budget & Taxes
      • Transportation
      • Economic Development
      • Other Topics
    • Recent Advocacy
  • About the Chamber
    • 100th Anniversary
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff Directory
    • Chamber In The News
    • Strategic Plan
    • FAQs
    • Publications >
      • Publications (2011 - 2024)
    • Press Releases
    • Contact Us
  • Membership
    • Membership Benefits
    • Join Now!
    • Chamber Assisted Grand Openings
    • Chamber Member Retirement Program
    • ShopChamber
    • Advertising >
      • Website Ads
      • E-Newsletter Ads
    • Arlingtonopoly
    • Century Club
    • Committees
    • LeadShare
    • Annual Corporate Sponsors
    • Member Login
  • Business Directory
  • Events
    • Chamber Calendar
    • Community Calendar >
      • Submit a Community Event
    • Signature Events >
      • Arlington Business Gala
      • Hospitality Awards
      • AWE Women in Business Summit
      • Arlington Chamber Volunteer Day
      • Best Business Awards
      • State of the County & Public Safety Awards
      • Annual Meeting
    • Advocacy Events >
      • Legislative Breakfast
      • NOVA Elected Leaders Summit
      • County Board Candidate Forum
    • Networking Events >
      • Breakfast Connection
      • Business After Business
      • Women in Business
      • Young Professionals Happy Hour
    • Educational Events >
      • Chamber 101
      • Small Business Roundtable
  • Community
    • Arlington Restaurant Week
    • Employer Resources
    • Coupons
    • Job Board
    • Job Shadow Day
    • Travel
    • Foundation
    • Scholarship Fund
    • About Arlington >
      • Business Resources
      • Map of the Area
      • Visiting Arlington
  • Business Advocacy
    • Public Policy Positions
    • Arlington Advocacy >
      • Budget & Taxes
      • Planning
      • Project Support
      • Economic Development
      • Processes
      • Retail & Signage
      • Transportation
    • Virginia Advocacy >
      • Budget & Taxes
      • Transportation
      • Economic Development
      • Other Topics
    • Recent Advocacy
  • About the Chamber
    • 100th Anniversary
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff Directory
    • Chamber In The News
    • Strategic Plan
    • FAQs
    • Publications >
      • Publications (2011 - 2024)
    • Press Releases
    • Contact Us

ChAmber Blog

How Visualizing Your Time Makes You Better at Managing It

3/31/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Alexandra Suchman, Founder and CEO, AIS Collaborations
​
“I need help managing my time.”

“No matter how hard I work, there’s always so much more to do than there is time to do it.”
​

 “I waste so much time just trying to decide what to work on next.”

I hear these sentiments from my clients all the time, and, as a small business owner, have certainly felt them myself.

In order to feel efficient and effective in managing our time, there are two separate but related components we need to understand:
​
  1. How we spend our time.
  2. How much time our tasks and commitments actually require.

In this post, I’m going to share a visualization exercise that can help you tackle the first of these questions.

Analyzing How You Actually Spend Your Time

I’m willing to bet there are certain types of tasks that always make it onto the calendar, such as meetings and appointments, but that the majority of work you actually do probably does not. If this is the case, how do you know how much time you’ll need to allocate for each task or project? And how do you track how much availability you have, so you don’t overcommit yourself?
​
My Ideal Week/Month/Year Exercise lets you answer these questions by visually mapping out all your tasks and time. All you need are Post-it notes and some wall space (or you can use a virtual brainstorming tool like miro.com).
​
Here are the basic steps for Ideal Week version:

  1. Catalogue all the various tasks, meetings, and other known upcoming demands on your time in a given week. Write each one on a separate Post-it note.
  2. For each item, note whether it’s a recurring or one-time task. Also estimate roughly how much time you need to complete that task.
  3. Create columns on your wall for each day of the week.
  4. For the tasks that are day-specific, move the Post-it notes into the column for that day. This will show you how much time in a given week is already booked up, and how much time you have available.
  5. Fill in the remaining Post-its for tasks that you need to accomplish in the week. You might need to lump certain tasks together and schedule a chunk of time for several tasks. 

​Repeat the same steps to map out your Ideal Month and Ideal Year.

The result is a blueprint for how to spend your ideal week, month, and year. The intention isn’t to follow the blueprint perfectly, it’s just a guide for how you can use your personal strengths and weaknesses to your advantage and get more done.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    The mission of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce is to strengthen businesses and the economic environment for those who work, live and do business in Arlington.
    Picture
    Contribute to the blog!
    Educate the Chamber membership and Arlington business community by writing a post for our blog! To get started download the blog guidelines and blog template. For questions and more information, contact the Communications Manager.

    Archives

    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

    RSS Feed

© Copyright 2025 Arlington Chamber of Commerce. All rights reserved.
2009 14th Street, North  | Suite 100 | Arlington, VA 22201 | Directions
Tel (703) 525-2400 | [email protected]
MemberClicks
Subscribe to our Mailing List
Home | ​Join Now | Site Map