What is time blocking?
Definition: Time blocking is a time management technique that involves dividing a day into time blocks and assigning tasks and activities to them.
By using time blocking, each task and activity is represented by a block of time in a person's day, letting them organize and reschedule tasks much easier.
It is used in personal and professional life by letting a person visualize the time in their day, which helps them be more productive and mindful of where they spend their time.
Benefits of time blocking
- Increased productivity by setting aside time to work on one specific task at a time without any distractions.
- It lets you spot what you are using your time on, making it easy to eliminate activities that aren’t important but are taking up your time.
- It’s easy to schedule meetings and new tasks because your day is planned out, and you can spot available time slots (this is crucial for asynchronous teams).
- It eliminates the chance of accidentally scheduling multiple tasks at once.
- It improves concentration and lowers anxiety by spending more time working and less time worrying about what other tasks await you.
How to block time effectively?
Start by listing your tasks and how long you will need to work on them. It’s best to include your personal activities besides your work for time blocking to have a better effect.
Identify which tasks will be your priority by sorting them from the most important to the least important, keeping in mind how much time they will take. You should also consider if one task impacts the other and work on them in the correct order.
Check your calendar for open time slots where you can work on your tasks, but keep in mind when you are most productive and schedule the most important tasks at that time.
Click the three dots on the task you want to block time for, click “Block time in calendar,” and select the open spaces to make time for the task.
Once you find the best times to do certain tasks or have tasks that repeat daily/weekly, you can create recurring tasks by clicking the three dots and selecting “Maker recurring.”
The most important thing to keep in mind is to be realistic with time blocking and not block out the whole day by making time for breaks and allowing for unexpected time or productivity loss or interruptions.
