Work Week: 5 Steps to Plan Your Side Hustle Time

1. Count the hours you really have each week

Work week: plan 80% of your time, and keep the rest for surprises. Number one: seven to nine hours of sleep; easiest first. Number five: count the hours you really have each week. One local course starts with a daily time log: where does the time go?

You can be employed and self-employed at once, one guide says. For example, a day job by day and a small business in the evenings. Another says you can have more than one job, unless your agreement says no. Some agreements have a clause that stops you working for someone else, it adds.

Don't use your working time and resources from one job for the other, that guide says. A similar part-time business may raise no conflict if it serves a different area, one portal tells employers. One guide's rule: combined hours from more than one job should average no more than forty-eight a week. It averages them over normally seventeen weeks, and limits differ elsewhere.

For a service, one guide says, estimate the hours you have, then how many of them you'll sell. Its example has about forty hours in the week, not all of them sellable. Books, the bank, meeting customers and chasing bills take some of them. So it finds only thirty hours of its own time to actually sell.

By our count, that's ten hours a week for everything else, a quarter of the forty. If practical guides like this help you, subscribe. Every step and rule in this video comes straight from the official guide pages linked below.

2. Set goals, and put the important tasks first

Number four: set goals, and put the important tasks first. Setting goals is an important part of running a successful business, one portal says. Clear goals help you take control of your business's direction, it adds. It suggests goals that are specific, measurable and achievable, with a time to reach them.

Another guide's goals are also realistic and time-based. Your goal should be something you can achieve with your time, money and resources. For larger goals, it says to set smaller milestones along the way. Its example: four new regular clients within two months, with four free spaces in a fortnightly schedule.

By our count, four clients in two months is two a month. Managing your time is a skill you can develop, the same portal says: prioritise, plan your time and avoid distractions. You won't get more time, another page adds, so work out what to do with the time you have. It's critical to organize your days so you do the right things at the right time, one public business bank says.

Another guide suggests three quick questions each week, so you're clear about what's important. For example: what do I need to finish this week, and what is my focus this morning? If a task helps your goals, do it, it says; if not, delay it or ask someone else. Its grid of four boxes puts important and urgent tasks first.

Important but not urgent tasks, like planning your business, are where it says to spend most of your time. Urgent but not important tasks can go to someone else, it adds. A second grid starts with high reward, low effort tasks, like calling a potential new customer. If your list is too long, one guide says, cut your to-do list in half.

A local enterprise course agrees: choose by importance, not by urgency. Prioritising leaves you less anxious, one guide says, so you think better and make better decisions.

3. Block your time in a weekly plan

Number three: block your time in a weekly plan, and leave room for surprises. Before you finish each evening, one public business bank suggests a detailed to-do list for the next day. Assign blocks of time to specific tasks on that list, it says. It reserves one hour in the morning and one in the afternoon for putting out fires.

Another guide says not to plan more than 80% of your time, so unexpected tasks fit. In an eight-hour day, it says to prioritise no more than six and a half hours. By our count, 80% of eight hours is 6.4, and the page rounds it to six and a half. Prioritising gives your day structure and clarity when you most need it, that guide says.

You could answer its weekly questions as you get ready for work on Monday morning, it adds. Decide how many hours you'll work, a third guide says, and do your best to stick to them. Have set hours you work each weekday, another portal says. One more guide suggests one day for all your monthly tasks; after a few months, it takes less time.

Increasing productivity doesn't mean working longer hours, that portal says, but cutting wasted time and effort. Doing tasks the same way every time speeds them up and cuts mistakes, it adds. It suggests templates for quotes, invoices and emails, and fixed times for sending invoices and reminders. Its tips include thirty minutes this week on your website or social media.

And fifteen minutes on your business details and records, noting any tax deadlines coming up. The public business bank also books five kinds of planning sessions: weekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and yearly. A local enterprise course adds calendars and planners, and planning the order of your tasks. One safety agency's tips add to-do lists and downtime built into your schedule.

That takes discipline, the bank says, but the payoff is less stress and a better managed business. Our earlier seven-step guide to starting a business is linked on screen. Halfway there: the hours you have, clear priorities, and a plan in blocks.

4. Protect the time you planned

Number two: protect the time you planned. A room with a door you can close is ideal for work, one portal says. Boundaries matter for your health and wellbeing, it adds, so don't check emails before or after work. Don't overcommit, another portal says: learn to say no.

If saying no is hard, a third guide suggests delaying your yes, to think about your time and energy first. Email and the phone are a constant distraction, one public business bank says. It reserves ten to fifteen minutes an hour for email and phone calls. By our count, that's a sixth to a quarter of each hour.

Resist dropping everything for emergencies, it says, and wait for the time you set aside. A local enterprise course adds managing interruptions and avoiding multitasking. Digital tools can help you prioritise and even automate some tasks, one portal says. Another asks if you still spend hours on admin that could be done automatically.

Letting customers book appointments online cuts the time you spend on calls and calendars, the first portal adds. Answer emails promptly, it says; a general rule is a twenty-four hour turnaround. If you usually take longer, it suggests publishing your expected reply time. A request-to-call option lets customers pick a time and day for your call, it adds.

Live chat can switch on and off during certain hours, that portal says. Another guide names three options when you're busy: delay, delegate or outsource. Paying someone else for repetitive tasks can free up time for productive work, it says. One outsourcing guide says to focus on your core work, not tasks an outside provider could do better.

If you can't deliver on time, tell the customer as soon as you know, so they can change their plans. And unplug from technology once in a while, one safety agency suggests. So far: the hours you have, priorities, a plan in blocks, and protected time.

5. Rest well, and review your week

Number one: rest well, and review your week. Seven to nine hours of sleep a night helps you perform at your best, one guide says. Two safety agencies give the same seven to nine hours. By our count, that's forty-nine to sixty-three hours of sleep a week.

One guide asks if a new business fits your family, since most need longer hours than a job. You might need to work long hours or on weekends, another portal says, so think about the free time you'll give up. Breaks are an investment in your business and yourself, one portal says, so stress doesn't lead to mistakes. Regular breaks and days off matter more than one long holiday a year, it adds; even small moments help.

Schedule regular breaks, plan time off ahead, and put the laptop away on days off, another portal says. Having multiple jobs is one of the work factors behind fatigue, one safety agency says. Another lists child care, voluntary work and more than one job among the lifestyle factors. Fatigue can come from work and from outside it, a third agency adds.

Your hours shouldn't make you so tired that you or others are put in danger, one employment guide says. Rest rules for workers differ where you live. Two guides use the same example: finish work at eight in the evening, and start again no earlier than seven the next morning. That's their rule of eleven hours of rest between working days.

One of them also gives a twenty-minute break when you work more than six hours. And either twenty-four hours without work each week, or forty-eight each fortnight. Another guide gives an eight-hour day two ten-minute rest breaks and one thirty-minute meal break. A third caps an employee's week at thirty-eight hours, unless extra hours are reasonable.

One more guide says its law doesn't require lunch or coffee breaks, so check yours. Balance isn't about splitting time equally, a safety agency says, but feeling content with both parts of life. One portal suggests setting time aside to review how you're tracking toward your goal. Then review your week: at the end of it, look at what you've done, another portal says.

Reviewing shows where your time went, it says, so you prioritise better next time. Friday afternoon is a good time to look back and plan the next week, one public business bank says. It doesn't have to take long: a few moments with your emails or diary will do, another guide adds. Too ambitious?

Plan fewer tasks next week, or allow more time for surprises. To recap the five steps: count your hours, set priorities, plan in blocks, protect the time, and rest and review. Number five was the easiest step, and number one is sleep and a weekly look back. A small first step: list this week's three most important tasks, and block time for them.

Each guide's numbers are its own, and rules differ where you live. Which step will you try this week? Tell us in the comments. Subscribe to see the next official guides we check.

Your next step is in the video on screen now: six steps to set your rates. Information only; results vary. This is Extra Income Explained.