How To Time Block Your Day In 6 Super Easy Steps
Learn how to time block your day effectively in six super easy steps that even the busiest person can do.
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“Time management is the best-kept secret of the rich,” Jim Rohn said over and over again in his books, seminars and audio.
I personally found this to be true.
Before I finally found my courage and faced this particular challenge head on, I’d literally just spend my days without taking anything good out of it.
It was like I was just waiting for it to pass so I can repeat the same process the next day.
No wonder I was practically dying of ennui.
Or, you might be right smack on the other side of the spectrum: with a jam-packed schedule, a massive to-do list that grows to infinity and beyond like Jack’s beanstalk (hint to self: stop watching cartoons with the pre-schooler lol) and tight deadlines and priorities that are all urgent and needed to be done yesterday.
Sound familiar?
I’ve had those kinds of days in my life too.
In fact, ever since I started writing and blogging full time, I always feel as if I’m all I’m doing is play catch up.
Too many things to do and not enough hours in the day to do it.
There’s a better way.
Time block.
And to make time blocking more effective, start doing it after 2 weeks of tracking your time: that way, you have a clearer idea of how long it actually takes you to complete a specific task and you can allocate your tasks accordingly.
Result: More time to do everything you want.
RESOURCES:
How To Get More Free Time – Written specifically for multitasking, creative free spirits like myself, this post will give you 3 actionable tips you need to get more free time.
Plus: A list of 4 personal time management systems that will help you accomplish your tasks in as little time as possible – resulting in more free time for all the other things you want to do. 🙂
How To Time Track – Learn how to time track effectively in four easy steps. This is a basic step of time management that most people forget.
Time tracking helps you learn where your time is going and how much time it actually takes you to get things done (no more guesswork!).
Plus: A bonus list of all the tools you need to time track effectively.
What is time blocking?
So, what exactly is time blocking?
Time blocking, according to Rescue Time, is “the practice of planning out every moment of your day in advance and dedicating specific time “blocks” for certain tasks and responsibilities.”
When most people do time management, they simply make a note of all the tasks they need doing on the day without actually planning for them.
It’s no wonder that the bulk of those tasks either take an entire day to complete or don’t get finished at all.
What I’m basically saying is simple. Instead of relying on a to-do list that can take an entire day to complete because it’s just literally a bloated list of things to do, you can use a time blocked schedule instead.
This would help you decide what tasks need doing today and when exactly you’re going to do them.
“Goals are just dreams with a deadline,” said NFL player Steve Grant.
The same could be said of a ticked to-do list.
You need to set a deadline for each task on that list. Otherwise, I guarantee you, it will either not get done or it will take you 8 hours instead of just 15 minutes.
For example, I had a 500-word piece I needed to write. It was personal so practically no research necessary.
It was on my to-do list for two days.
Why?
Because I didn’t put a deadline on it.
Finally, I set aside some time. Deliberately overestimating the time it would take me to write, I put in 5o minutes (enough for 2 Pomodoros) in my time blocking template and let Toggl run in the background.
It took me 16 minutes from start to finish.
I was blown away! I never even knew I could write that fast.
Time blocking – it really works and I highly recommend it.
So, if you want to try it yourself, you’re probably asking: how does time blocking work exactly and how do I start?
How does time blocking work?
Time blocking effectively really only has six super easy steps.
First, you need to select a template to work with. You don’t have to but if you’ve never done this before, then it’s always best if you have an example you can follow.
Second, let the fun begin. This is when you really focus on your workday – what it looks like, how long it will last, what it contains.
Allocate your time so you can increase your effectiveness and productivity.
Third, start your workday by eating that frog.
Fourth, always overestimate the time it will take you to complete a certain task. This is especially important when blocking time for labour-intensive, high priority projects.
Fifth, block your time and then put together your to-do list.
Sixth, allocate all the tasks in your to-do list to specific blocks in your schedule.
The sections below will help you go over the steps in greater detail.
How to time block your day #1:
Select a template to work with.
I started with Cassie Findlay’s time block template.
I liked it because it wasn’t overly complicated and gave me a good visual of what’s going to happen every single day.
I didn’t print it off though because my schedule actually changes a lot and because I consistently overestimate tasks, I usually end up with more time and am able to add more tasks to the list.
And this is a pretty nice shift from before when I would schedule all of my most important (urgent, labour-intensive and high priority) tasks together, not be able to complete them all and feel miserable and inadequate for days afterwards.
That said, I think in a few weeks, I’m going to have to adapt this template to add some extra functionality that I feel is missing and that would make my task easier.
Excel is my special rabbit hole though so I’m deliberately staying away from exciting stuff like creating macros.
For now.
After all, I’m also deep-diving into the whole process of time blocking and am now experimenting with using Google Calendar integrated with RescueTime and Todoist.
Once I figure out which ones work better, I’m updating this post so watch this space. 🙂
Okay, so after trialling this out, Todoist wins hands down. In fact, I don’t know how I managed to stay organised and on top of all the things I need to do before I used Todoist.
I can now prioritise which tasks need to be done on any given day, set alarms for them, allocate them to certain blocks, add notes for each task, etc etc.
It’s an amazingly powerful little app that syncs across devices.
I highly recommend. If you’d like to give it a try, sign up here to get the Premium version for free for two months – far more powerful and useful than the free version of the app.
How to time block your day #2:
Create your workday.
You can’t work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And even if you could, why would you want to?
Even if your work is your passion, even if you’ve found your bliss, you still need time to rest and relax or you’ll burn yourself out.
You need time to rev things up and time to wind down.
You need to spend time with your family and time with yourself.
Jack Canfield says that work-life balance isn’t just balancing time at work and time with family. A proper work-life balance actually involves three key areas: work, family and self.
And many people tend to forget the last one in their bid for balance.
Don’t forget that “self love is the root of all love”.
So, create your day.
Choose the time you’ll be starting your actual workday and the time you’ll be ending it. And then, make sure you follow through.
A schedule is worthless if you don’t actually do what you’ve written down.
You also need to place 10-15 minute buffers in between tasks to account for attention residue.
Finally, make sure you schedule your breaks – coffee, food and toilet breaks being the most common.
Believe it or not, they also often take up more time than we expect.
How to time block #3:
Start by eating that frog.
The frog is that one task that requires the bulk of your energy or the one that absolutely needs to be done today.
It’s the one task that, once completed, will make you feel as if you’ve accomplished much today (because you have). Know what I mean?
For maximum productivity, you need to eat that frog before you do anything else.
Also, if you start at the bottom of the barrel (ie. the worst, the icky, the hateful etc), your day can only go up.
Side Note: I’m not telling you to be miserable at the start of your day and if the frog makes you miserable, then that’s not gonna work.
I’m saying you should eat that frog at the start of your workday. But before you actually start your day, you need to begin with something that makes you unstoppable (more on that in a later post).
RESOURCES:
Eat That Frog! – A book that will help you organise each day so you can focus on your critical tasks and accomplish them. A must have for anyone needing help with discovering which tasks are priority (and with getting these tasks done).
How to time block #4:
Overestimate the time you need to complete your tasks.
Most of us pile so much on our to-do lists every day and then experience complete overwhelm when we fail to complete them.
Why do we do this?
Simple: we always assume that we have more work time than we actually do.
Even when you’re working in an office and you’re there for eight hours a day, five days a week, you don’t actually work those full hours.
At best, you have about 3 hours of productivity time and the rest of the time, you’re engaged in sometimes necessary but not really important tasks (like answering emails or attending meetings).
Of course, if you’ve done the time-tracking exercise I referenced to above, you should have a better grasp of where your time goes, what tasks you do in a day and how long those tasks take.
But for the most part, it’s best to overestimate rather than underestimate the time you have.
RESOURCES:
How To Time Track – Learn how to time track effectively in four easy steps. This is a basic step of time management that most people forget.
Time tracking helps you learn where your time is going and how much time it actually takes you to get things done (no more guesswork!).
Plus: A bonus list of all the tools you need to time track effectively.
How to time block #5:
Allocate your tasks in specific time blocks.
When I first started time blocking, all I did was put in big tasks.
For example, I’d block 4.30 AM to 7.30 AM as blogging time but I didn’t actually write down what I needed to do for my blog.
End result: I wasted at least an hour of that time trying to figure out what I should be focusing on first, second and third.
I knew it was blogging time but blogging includes writing, promoting, creating products or promotional materials, training etc.
There are so many things that fall under that one big task.
Which one to do first?
Precious time ticked away as I got hit by analysis paralysis followed closely by decision fatigue.
In other words, I was engaged in the task of prioritising my tasks when I should’ve been already working.
Not a good idea.
Now, I block my schedule in categories (Blog, Home Management, Family, Self etc) first and then I add the nitty-gritty details.
For example, I might block 4.30AM to 7.30AM as blogging time. And then under blogging, allocate the specific tasks I need to accomplish in that block of time.
Today, I have it set to:
- Edit time-blocking post.
- Create 5 new pins.
- Publish post.
- Run new post through Google Search Console.
- Promote: Pinterest, Quora, Facebook and Quora (my main traffic drivers).
See, what I mean?
I know exactly what to do (blog work and the 5 tasks that I really need) and when to do it (from 4.30 AM to 7.30 AM).
I now have greater control of my time and feel more confident that I am going in the right direction.
And my results reflect that.
How to time block #6:
Choose when to do the time blocking process.
Most people recommend engaging in this activity the night before, usually after writing in your journal.
Some would even go so far as to create a time blocked schedule for the week!
I personally have not enjoyed it when I tried creating my schedule the night before.
And trying to set a routine for the week? Nope.
I get the hives just thinking of setting a weekly routine. I’ve made my peace with the fact that I just don’t do routines very well.
It doesn’t help that I’m so tired by the end of the day and so sleepy (thanks to Gabe’s bedtime routine) that I’m not particularly effective or accurate when I plan my next day anyway.
So, if you also don’t do routines well or if your schedule changes too much to let you create a weekly time blocked schedule, then it’s best to design your workday either the night before or first thing in the morning.
What I do is wake up extra early in the morning and whilst I’m enjoying my first cup of coffee, I start checking my schedule for the day.
If you’re just starting out or you’re a night owl, then you might prefer doing it before you go to bed at night.
RESOURCES:
Time Blocking 101 – A step-by-step guide that will help you effectively time block and get the most from your daily schedule.
Day Theming – A more advanced way to time block your schedule.
This is why you should write a list before bedtime – Two important reasons why you might want to do this process before you go to sleep.
Final thoughts on how to time block your day effectively
Imagine being in full control of your day instead of letting your day control you.
Doesn’t that sound fantastic?
If you follow the six steps I’ve listed above, you’d soon find yourself getting more things done in less time.
In other words, learning how to time block your day effectively is a great way to become more productive. And greater productivity usually results in more time for you to do other things.
Have you tried time blocking? How did you get on with it? Do let me know in the comments below.
And if you love this post, then please share. 🙂
I always write down what I have to do for the day, and then I set out to do my tasks, but I have never set up a time block before. It’s a good idea, because there have been days when I could not finish or even begin a certain task (just some days), and then they were postponed for the next day. I did get them done though.
I like working with excel, I find it organized and I’m used to working with it, but the templates could also be worth a try.
I actually like setting a weekly routine, although I am not a routine person, but setting my goals and tasks for the week gives me guidance and helps me achieve them. it feels nice ticking them off one by one, and also looking forward to the next ones for the coming day.
I have not tracked my time yet, but that would also be interesting. I should try that out, but it might be difficult, because I do not have much routine, except for my work hours. But I’ll do it and see how I do 🙂
Thanks for sharing your experience, Christine. Do let me know how you get on with it. Promise – it’s not as hard as it seems. 🙂