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

  1. 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.
  2. Draw blocks for pre-existing commitments. A block has a start time, end time, and what it's for.
  3. Draw blocks for the things you want to work on
  4. Commit to the blocks you have drawn. Consider using a Tomato Timer or Time timer.
  5. 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.
  6. 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

https://www.wired.com/story/block-scheduling-calendar-workflow-productivity/

Other's thoughts

Cal Newport made an unlisted 10m video

Todoist article, with no ads!

Time blocking with Obsidian
https://www.reddit.com/r/ObsidianMD/comments/ofwcc3/timeblocking_a_personal_productivity_system_in/


  1. "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 ↩︎