How to Manage Side Hustle Time

We all have the same 168 hours in a week, right?

Yes, but…

We all have competing demands for our time and how much time each demand requires is different for everyone.

Competing demands for your time will have an impact on your ability to make your side hustle success, so it’s important that you know exactly why you’re side hustling to stay committed.

It’s also important that you have a focused block of time in which you focus solely on your side hustle.

Time Blocking for Your Side Hustle

Time blocking, having a focused block of time, involves committed to a specific amount of time in a day to accomplish a specific task, something that’s important to move you in the direction of your goals.

For side hustlers, having a focused block of time daily ensures you’re consistently completing work for your side hustle.

Here is a list of suggested blocks of time, each about 30 minutes, that many side hustlers use to tackle side hustle work.

1. Waking up 30 minutes early
2. Using your lunch break
3. Staying up 30 minutes later

If you have a smartphone, consider Mike Vardy’s tips for time blocking and using online scheduling tools.

Personally, I use a calendar on my iPhone to keep track of my day.  Every task I need to accomplish each day gets a focused block of time on my calendar.

When I was side hustling, my block of time was always the time between dinner and sleep.  There was never any question about what I’d be doing in that time because it was the time I blocked for my side hustle.

Other Benefits of Time Blocking

I used to be the person who said “yes” to everything that everyone else wanted me to do.  I love being a helpful person, but spending all of my time helping others left me with little time to get my own stuff done.

Since I started using time blocking, I’ve learned the importance of saying no.  Sometimes, I just have to say “no” to someone when I need to spend time on my own work.

When I started saying “no,” I had more energy and time to focus on my own goals and the things I need to do to achieve my goals.  This was HUGE for me, especially having the energy to focus on what’s most important to me.

Since I started using time blocking, I’ve learned something else: to-do lists don’t work.

I used to use a to-do list, just paper and pen (nothing fancy).  I’d start each day with a long list of things I thought I needed to accomplish.  I didn’t rank the importance of any task on my to-do list.  Every task looked equally important on my to-do list.

Time blocking helped me move my paper to-do list over to my calendar.  In this transition, I was able to do three important things…

1. Eliminate things that are unimportant, things that I really shouldn’t be doing.
2. Delay things that don’t need to be completed immediately.
3. Establish a consistent block of time to spend on certain tasks that align with my goals, like my side hustle.

Time blocking using my calendar has been a game changer.  I don’t have to think ahead about the items on my to-do list because my calendar is keeping track of everything.  My calendar just sends me a push notification when it’s time to move on to the next task.

If you have a smartphone and you’re looking to start a side hustle, I highly recommend using a calendar or some kind of other app to remind you that it’s time to work on your side hustle to help make side hustling a habit.

And remember your “why.” If you choose to wake up 30 minutes early to work on your side hustle, remember why you’re starting a side hustle when you’re tempted to hit the snooze button.

With your “why” in mind, consider this TED Talk from Laura Vanderkam about making time for our priorities…