Time blocking
it makes you twice as productive as those suckers who rely on lists.
—Cal Newport
A time management and task management method that assigns periods of time to work on tasks.
The method
- Open your planner. A calendar app can work, but paper is preferable so that you are not exposed to notifications or other distractions such as your email and Slack.
- Draw blocks for pre-existing commitments. A block has a start time, end time, and what it's for.
- Draw blocks for the things you want to work on
- Commit to the blocks you have drawn. Consider using a Tomato Timer or Time timer.
- If interruptions or delays occur, redraw your blocks. Another reason why paper is advantageous is that you can see these corrections. A digital calendar will not.
- At the end of the day, review tasks you didn't finish, and new tasks that came in.[1] Consider doing this as part of a larger end of work day ritual.
Why?
Scheduling can be a prison, but can also be a defensive wall against external thieves of your time.
Protect your time or it will be taken from you
- Humans are notoriously bad at guarding their time
- PPAI study shows only 33% of americans use a schedule
- If you do not master your own time, others will
- https://www.nirandfar.com/schedule-maker/
- Distractions are only distractions if there was something else you had traction on
https://www.wired.com/story/block-scheduling-calendar-workflow-productivity/
- Block in personal time
- 32% of knowledge workers in 2020 survey cited being unable to tune out of work
- Neil Pasricha recommends no-email policy between 10am-4pm
- Ask yourself honest questions
- can you work with vague day themes?
- do you work better with detailed directives?
- do you have time of day you are more productive?
- 4 common methods
- time blocking
- plan a specific goal/task around a time slot
- e.g. write for four hours each morning
- if task finishes early, move other blocks earlier
- plan a specific goal/task around a time slot
- task batching
- set time frame to handle specific tasks
- e.g. one hour for emails, 30 minutes for bill processing
- set time frame to handle specific tasks
- day theming
- dedicate day to one project
- Friday inspiration day
- Monday newsletter writing day
- Wednesday podcast day
- author leaves only monday to thursday open for calls
- similarly, Neil Pasricha recommends Untouchable Days, or Untouchable Hours
- Pasricha says day themeing and untouchable days results in increased creativity, better leading, spousing, parenting
- time boxing
- time blocking
- getting coworkers to respect your blocks is easy with Harmonizely or Calendly
- author and wife use joint block scheduling to share household chores, relieves stress on marriage
- apps
- tomato timer
Other's thoughts
Cal Newport made an unlisted 10m video
Todoist article, with no ads!
- differentiates time blocking, time boxing, task batching
- Differentiates shallow work like scrums, Slack messaging, email checking
Time blocking with Obsidian
https://www.reddit.com/r/ObsidianMD/comments/ofwcc3/timeblocking_a_personal_productivity_system_in/
"At the end of every workday, review any tasks you didn’t finish — as well as any new tasks that have come in — and adjust your time blocks for the rest of the week accordingly." The Complete Guide to Time Blocking ↩︎