In today’s episode, I share my thoughts on Time Block planning, a method suggested by Cal Newport, among others. I discuss pros, cons, and my own approach to daily planning. I also discuss my recent decision to entirely eliminate Reddit scrolling from my life!
Do you have thoughts or feelings about Time Block Planning? Or do have another method that you love? Please share!
Resources:
Episode that inspired today’s Time Block Planning Discussion is here: Is Time Blocking Oppressive?
Past BLP ep with Cal Newport: here
Past BLP ep with Oliver Burkeman: here
Oliver Burkeman’s book: 4000 Weeks
Best Today with Shunta Grant episode mentioned: here
About Progress ep mentioned (with Catherine Price as guest): here
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8 Comments
Liked this episode!!! 🙂 🙂
I think I’d call myself a casual or lightweight time blocker. I eyeball my hard landscape and my priorities for the day and then mentally pencil in projects / tasks to open blocks. If it’s something I’m likely to procrastinate (hello, grading and report writing!), then I’ll actually write the block into my calendar. I think if I did it formally / all the time it would exhaust me!
I’m similar to Amy in that I time block out important items at work or home if they are priorities or they require dedicated time. This esp true at work when I’ve got tasks that require deep work to focus and finsh. If I don’t time block at work (ie block time on my calendar), I’ll quickly have that time booked by on-off meetings and end up with only jagged bits of time instead of a focused block. But, I also use it for home too for top priorities. I know when in the evening I’m going to fit in my workout, as an example. Having a rough timeblock for my evening time at home is sometimes also helpful in determining when I’m trying to cram too much into that time.
Interesting about the home use – and does make sense!
I love time blocking, I don’t find it stressful because like all plans I hold them lightly. I expect to have short breaks between my blocks so it’s not too flat out, I time block in lunch and a walk at lunchtime, and I’ll often leave an afternoon block as a TBC based on anything that develops during the day. BUT it does make me more productive because I’ll block off time in the morning to tackle a big task instead of getting sidetracked by smaller to-dos that don’t have the payoff. I guess, during an “Admin” block I’ll put in a to do list of admin tasks but can choose to do them in any order so not every moment is scheduled in advance.
Time blocking doesn’t really work for me due to the nature of my job. This is a gross generalization, but it would kind of feel like an ER doctor time blocking and being like – sorry, can’t attend to that head wound because I’ve blocked this time for charting, or something along those lines. I am not at all comparing my job to an ER doctor, though, and they do probably have some built in time for charting during their shifts? But I also don’t have really big/deep work to do because my role is more responsive/client-facing in nature. But I do sort of time block on the weekends. We have a very set schedule, like my husband always grocery shops on Saturday am after I’m back from my run/showered. And then I come up with a 1-5-2 hour activity for the boys during that time and now that the youngest is dropping his nap, I block off 1:30-3:30ish for another out-of-the-house activity. But that’s probably not really “time blocking” – it’s more so putting the big rocks in our weekend schedule to make the stretch of hours more pleasant for everyone.
I time block in “emergent work” into my work calendar. It’s like Laura’s concept of a backup spot. It’s not that the emergent work will happen at 2-4 on Tues/Thurs, but I have a block to move other items when the emergent work happens. I never know when that work will drop but it drops with regularity so now I just plan for it.
I really like time blocking but don’t use it to schedule every minute or hour of my day. Instead, I’ll use it to protect time for important projects or tasks. For example, I might schedule a 2-hour block of time to work on a design project. I won’t plan out exactly what I’ll do during that time, but I know that I have that time to work on that project and that I won’t take meetings or do other work during that time.