%% parent:: [[Productivity]] %% # Time blocking Time blocking is a [[time management]] method that divides your day into predetermined focused sessions. It has the goal to focus on accomplishing specific tasks and to avoid open-ended task lists. This method relies on both daily and weekly reviews, as well as prioritizing your tasks in advance. By starting with a weekly review, you can plan your [[big rocks]] or priorities so that you ensure you complete what’s essential. Daily reviews at the end of every workday give you the flexibility to be able to adjust as necessary. It requires a level of awareness of how you spend your time and helps you incrementally build skills for [[time management]] estimations. It also helps you to visualize your responsibilities and encourages saying no to low-value yeses. This is a proactive approach to [[time management]]. However, life isn’t always like that… you can block in times for open-ended reactionary work as necessary, to deal with the unpredictable. This approach helps to reduce the [[cognitive load]] and [[decision fatigue]] so that you don’t need to constantly make choices on what to work on next. This corresponds nicely with the “next actions” approach from [[Getting Things Done (GTD)]]. It also means your calendar can serve as a focus tool to remind you to stay on track. Time blocking promotes the concept of [[deep work]]. Instead of focusing attention on multiple tasks or distractions, you bare down on a single task with a singular focus. It avoids shallow work ([[Eisenhower Matrix#Quadrant 3 Urgent not important|urgent but not important]]). ## Variations There are a number of variations that fit within the time-blocking theme: - **Day theming:** Deciding on the types of work you want to do on certain days of the week, like Thursdays are reserved for meetings but Fridays are reserved for personal focus. This pairs well with the [[areas of responsibility]] approach. - **Task batching:** Deciding to do one type of task in a single go, like only checking and answering emails at a certain time of the day. This reduces the cognitive load on your calendar by tackling grouped tasks, instead of listing out every single task. - **Time boxing:** Deciding the limits of time you will spend on a task, by setting measurable goals paired with time. Instead of using a two-hour block to make progress on a task, you can set specific metrics to achieve. It seems like a good tool to help deal with [[perfectionism]], by forcing you to move on. ## Tools ### Fantastical and OmniFocus - Various parts of [[OmniFocus]] can be dragged and dropped into [[Fantastical]] on [[macOS]] - Projects - Tasks - Tags - Folders - This automatically creates `omnifocus:///` links back to the relevant part of [[OmniFocus]] --- # ##### Further reading [Todoist Overview - The Complete Guide to Time Blocking](https://todoist.com/productivity-methods/time-blocking)