126: Creating Time Buffer—7 Strategies for Spacious Scheduling

“If you’re on time you're late.” That’s one of my favortie mantras that I picked up from my dad, second to, “These are the grrrreat times!” (no matter what is going on in his life or the world). 

My dad was always early for our meet-ups, something I experienced as a sign of respect and ease. This relationship to punctuality has stayed with me as an adult, and I’m not the only one. I once bumped into a first date who was killing time at the same west village park as me around the corner from the restaurant where we were set to meet fifteen minutes later, since we were both sticklers for showing up early!

The bigger point—especially once you have time autonomy when running your own business—is recreating that early ease by building in spacious time buffers. This means you’re not skidding in or out of calls or meetings feeling crunched for time, the heavy clamp of time scarcity pressing down, adding pressure and resulting in scattered, frantic energy. 

Today I’m sharing seven of my strategies for building in time buffer. I’d love to hear yours, too! Send me an email at hi@itsfreetime.com or leave me a voice memo at http://itsfreetime.com/ask.

🌟 7 Types of Time Buffer to Build into Your Calendar:

1. Before your first call of the day

2. Between calls (ideally 30 minutes, if not a full hour)

3. Before and after weekends (either making sure Monday and Friday are unscheduled, or you could even consider a DNS block on Wednesdays!)

4. Before and after holidays (federal days off and/or full holiday weeks)

5. Before, during, and after work travel

6. One night hotel before seeing family

7. After a big launch

📝Permission: Block off way more Do Not Schedule (DNS) time on your calendar than seems reasonable or typical, and only make exceptions for what’s joyful once that date gets closer.

✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Look out three months from now: What holidays can you create buffer around? What days of the week can you make off limits starting now? Bonus: update your scheduling software to incorporate these changes, and to include buffer time before and after meetings if you don’t already. 

📘Books Mentioned:

• Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business 

• Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One

• Life After College

🔗Resources Mentioned: 

• Scheduling Software: Calendly, Clara Labs

• Private BFF Community

• Article by Jonah Lehrer: Why We Travel

🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 

• 018: Workcation in the City

• 027: Time Management for Mortals with Oliver Burkeman

• 040: It's Not Free Time If You're Exhausted

• Pivot 045: Post-Launch Pivot Point + Visit From the Furry Rest Monster

• Pivot 077: 21+ Travel Tips, Tools and Apps — with Jenny Blake

• Pivot 077: 21+ Travel Tips, Tools and Apps — with Jenny Blake

• Pivot 097: Conscious Business, Superconscious Capitalism, and The Meaning Revolution with Fred Kofman: a Teacher Who Changed My Life Without Knowing It

• Pivot 250: Staycation in the City

💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 

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