Productivity methods are all the rage, especially for people who struggle with doing things. Most methods claim to be the holy grail of improving your productivity or keeping you busy. But here's the thing - should you try them all and are they even worth it? One such method is called time blocking.
What is time blocking
The premise is simple, you block your day into different chunks on your calendar. Each block represents a task and during that period you just focus on that task.
But here's the thing, your time is finite, and you can't do everything. You'll eventually burn out.
How does time blocking work
Time blocking works by slicing your day into blocks. You esitmate how much time a task will take, and then you block that time on your calendar. Each task you plan to do should go on the calendar.
You can use any kind of calendar, there's many options out there. But if you prefer to stick to paper that works to. But ideally you'd use something that reminds you to do the task. Because we are forgetful.
The pros and cons of time blocking
Pros of Time Blocking:
- Increased Focus: Helps dedicate specific time to tasks without distractions.
- Better Time Management: Ensures tasks don’t spill over into other time slots.
- Clarity: Provides a clear plan for the day or week.
Cons of Time Blocking:
- Overwhelming: Can feel rigid and stressful to stick to.
- Time-Consuming: Requires planning and constant adjustments.
- Unrealistic: Doesn’t always account for interruptions or lost time.
How to do proper time blocking?
Even though the idea of time blocking is simple - that is you block out your days into blocks of time. Most people get it wrong by either going overboard and hyper optimising or missing the entire point of blocking time.
Time blocks are like base plates on pillers that distrbute the pressure.
First thing to remember is to think of time blocks as structures to rely on. Just as a a piller relies on a base plate to distribute the pressure, you rely on time blocks to help you be intentional and on track for the day.
Don't do this
You've probably seen a calendar like this somewhere. And when you first look at it, you probably think how does this person manage to do it all? It's cluttered, busy and overwhelming. This is time blocking and this is the only correct way....Yea no don't do this.
Here's the problem with trying to do too many things - Like multitasking, trying to finish too many things or wanting to finish too many things in a day is quite impossible.
We're bad at estimating time
Humans are very bad at estimating how long it'll take to finish something. I've done it countless times where I've add too many things on my todo list for the day or week than I could accoplish. At the start of the day, I'm pumped. Used to happen often when I was younger but I've learned from my mistakes. You have to accept that you can't do it all in a day or a week. But you can do one thing.
What you should do instead?
#1 Time block in chunks of days
Instead of time blocking by the hour, time block by whole days. The main benefit of this is, reducing cognitive overload and reduce burnout, because brains do get tired.
For example, you're a freelancer, self employed or someone who has a lot of responsiblities try doing this
- Day 1 - Admin work
- Day 2 - followups and meetings
- Day 3 - Measuring data and conversions etc
#2 Time block with context of work - weekly
Another way of doing time blocking is to do it by week. If you're someone who dislikes switcing tasks everyday, you could do it by week. For example, if your roles include doing marketing, sales, development or more especially if you run a business - you should assign each task for chunks of week.
What I like to do is
- Week 1: Marketing and writing
- Week 2: Development and improvments
- Repeat.
Sometimes I extend the week into 2 weeks. This way it's flexible and works for me. Remember, productivity is a very personal thing. What you think as productivity might not be for someone else. For me, doing atleast 2 hours of good work is better than not doing it and overthinking.
Personal Time first, then work
There's this problem with work culture, it's always work first. Which isn't a bad thing but we all know how work bleeds into life and how large corps try to extract every ounce of sweat and blood. Countless articles by other companies say that "always account for personal time". But we're thinking about it wrong.
We work because we want to survive. Work isn't the default thing we do. We learn to work.
So, should you try time blocking?
Well it depends. Time blocking has some pros and a lot of cons in my opinion. There's just a lot of friction. Calendar companies might disagree with me because well they're trying to sell you a calendar/productivity tool.
But here's why I think time blocking is not practical
- It's overcomplicated, requires planning and hyper optimisation:
- But it depends and context matters
- Time blocking but high level
But if you tried a simplified time blocking by week then it could benefit you a lot more.
Should you use a calendar for timeblocking?
Examples online say that you need to use a calendar to block off time but unless there's meetings with many people i'd say using a calendar is an overkill. You should instead use a simple todo list or a pomodoro timer to help with the todo list.
But if you still insist on doing the time blocking way, here are somethings to look out for.
- Allow for unexpected interruptions or work
- Plan for lost time
- Adjust as needed
Should people with ADHD use timeblocking?
Time blocking is about planning ahead, it's ridgid and also overwhelming. You regularly have to switch contexts to work on different things. But then again, it depends on the way you time block. If you do it weekly as opposed to opitmizing daily then it might work for you. Otherwise you might be overwhelemd with the sheer amount of things to do.
A simplified flexible solution
People want to time block for various reasons but the most important one is to remember what to do, and for some structure in their day. Here's how to do the same thing without calendars and fluff.
With Otto's workflow, you can setup triggers to help you get started with tasks and add some strucuture to your day. You can setup triggers for high level tasks or do a bit deep by setting up predefined templates for repetitive tasks.
Workflows can help you with
- Starting problem
- add a little structure
- make it less overwhelming
- it's flexible and you can skip it.
Remember, it's not about trying to do everything all at once. It's about taking little steps to do it one step at a time.
