Time blocking: The World’s Best Productivity Trend Explained in 2 minutes
You may or may not have heard of Time blocking before, but chances are if you’re a student or professional working today, you will benefit from it. I first came across the concept of Time blocking in the book ‘15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management’ by Kevin Kruse. If you don’t have time to read the full 202 pages then I have summarised my favorite section titled “Stop Making To-do Lists, Do This Instead”
WHY TIME BLOCKING IS BETTER THAN TO DO LISTS
I used to write down my to-do lists every morning with a cup of coffee and a dose of inspiration. I would write a list of things I would hope to get done during the day, usually in the order of most interesting to least interesting activities. By the end of the day, I would struggle to complete my tasks and feel deflated because I hadn’t achieved what I set out to. In other instances, I would spend far too long on certain tasks and leave little time for others. It also goes without saying that I have often succumbed to the temptation of adding tasks retrospectively to my to-do list in order to seem more productive and mask the fact that my day was not the most efficient nor did I complete what I set out to do in reality.
This method is also for those people who have tasks on their to-do list that are lingering with no hope of being achieved in the foreseeable future. Those tasks just seem too big, energy-draining, or time-consuming.
Bill Gates uses the Time Blocking method to plan his day down to 5-minute increments. Now I will never argue that this is the secret to his success, but since adopting a similar method with 30-minute increments I have been able to set realistic goals for my day, and easily reschedule them if I don’t manage to achieve all that I set out to. The ability to reschedule is crucial here, as it offers a proactive approach to managing projects, and helps you stay on track rather than succumbing to the feeling of failure if all those to-dos aren’t crossed out by the end of the day.
COLOUR CODE
Colour coding by the type of task you have to complete, helps to visually map how much of your time is spent on certain tasks. This way, you can align the breakdown of activity with your personal and/or professional goals. (For more info on how I use this method in setting my goals for this month, check out my article here)
STICK TO YOUR APPOINTMENTS
Now I know I just mentioned how time blocking is great because you can easily reschedule without feeling like a failure, but that’s not the point of this exercise. Kevin Kruse said:
“treat your time-block calendar entries as if they were appointments with your doctor; they’re that important”
I found this comment most useful when I began to include my daily workouts in my calendar. I saw this as a time in the day where I would commit to my physical and mental wellbeing, respect my own space, and release tensions accumulated throughout my working week. It was almost like I was giving myself the gift of ‘me time’ whilst also creating a firm boundary that communicates to my subconscious that this time is equally as important as any other meeting throughout the day.
Let me know in the comments if you found this post useful, or if you have any experiences of time blocking, I would love to hear more success stories!
