I’ve been working on productivity for 3 decades.
I’ve tested all kinds of tools and techniques.
One endures over time: Time Blocking.
What Is Time Blocking?
Time Blocking is a productivity technique for personal time management where a period of time, typically a day or week, is divided into smaller segments or blocks for specific tasks.
Why Time Blocking Is an Essential Technique?
You cannot forget this: you manage time, not tasks or projects.
You want to manage your life.
Your life is just “a certain amount of time”.
What Are Time Blocking’s Essential Elements?
There are just 3 main elements:
- Tasks.
- Duration.
- Calendar.
You create tasks and assign a time length for each one. That represents a block of time.
If you cannot specify a task’s duration, how the heck will you know where you can fit it into your calendar, into your life?
Last but not least, you need a calendar to see those blocks of time visually represented.
Why Do I Love Time Blocking?
Reason 1: Reality
Time Blocking brings the constraints of real-life to your PKM. That’s good.
You can make endless lists of tasks. You cannot make endless blocks in a calendar.
Lists fool you. Blocks save you.
Reason 2: Visualization
Time Blocking brings visualization to your life. That’s good because we’re visual creatures.
You literally SEE time is what it is. You cannot cope with everything. You have to accept reality.
Time blocks radically tell you the truth.
You become more humble and more realistic thanks to Time Blocking.
Reason 3: Prioritization
Time Blocking forces you to prioritize things.
When you have no room, you have to choose between the red pill or the blue one.
There’s no choice.
Takeaways
- Time Blocking is a cruel tool of sincerity that brings reality to your fantasies of productivity.
- I’ve recently found an app that has amazingly understood this game, making things even easier.
- But that’s another story I’ll tell you pretty soon.
Photo by Bryce Barker on Unsplash.