Start time blocking in six simple steps
Part Two of my simple and practical guide to making time for the things that matter most.
[If you missed Part One of this guide — in which I introduce time blocking as a practice, not a tool, and shared a visualisation exercise — you can catch up with it here: How can I find time for what matters?]
What is time blocking?
Quite simply, time blocking is a productivity technique in which you schedule specific blocks of time for different tasks or activities throughout your day. Rather than having a to-do list without a clear timeline, time blocking helps you allocate your time intentionally.
But as I explained last week, the act of practicing time blocking makes it So. Much. More. I’ve been practicing time blocking for many years now, and the benefits have increased as my practice has evolved over time.
Here’s what a time blocked day might look like:
Let’s get started
(This first time it will take a while — probably between 30 minutes to an hour depending on how organised you are already. This time investment will pay you back MANY times over, I promise you. And once you’ve got this set up, adjustments and maintenance don’t take long).
Ok, it’s time to get time blocking. Open your calendar or diary.
(Don’t have a calendar or diary? Well, I’ve got a pretty good idea why you don’t have time for the things that are truly important to you :) Please get one, I promise it will help.
Inwardly rebelling against the idea of losing your freedom to scheduling? I’ll try and change your mind in Part Three! For now, just go with it. If it doesn’t work for you, you can stop. (Although it will. Just saying.)
I use Google Calendar, which is free and easy to use. And it plays well with other online tools, so you should be able to sync it with other calendars e.g. at work or with family members).
It’s easier to time block with an online calendar, because you can move blocks around easily. If you’re working in a paper diary, work in pencil and have an eraser to hand :)
Step 1 — Define your parameters
Decide if you want to start with your work time, your personal time, or both. Ultimately we’re aiming to look at both, because that’s how you get more balance in your life. But if you’re new to this, it can be overwhelming to do everything all at once. So feel free to pick one for now (and block only the relevant things from the suggestions below).
We’ll focus on one week — the week ahead.
(although by all means, set up recurring events for those things that happen every week if you’re working in an online calendar).
Step 2 — Fixed and regular commitments
You’ve probably already got time blocked out for things like meetings, appointments, social engagements, your kiddo’s parent/teacher meeting…
But these aren’t your only regular commitments. Let’s get every regular commitment in.
Here are some ideas:
your desired wake-up and bed time (remembering that most adults need 7–9 hours sleep)
your commute
the start and end of your workday
regular meetings
school drop offs and pick ups
childcare responsibilities
regular appointments
volunteering commitments
the weekly gym class with your friend
the monthly meetup with your friend-who-prefers-cocktails-to-the-gym…
Please also block 5 minutes at the end of every day to review how your time blocking went. This is essential.
Step 3 — Er, aren’t you forgetting something?
Are you planning on eating? 🤣
It’s time to get real about the time needed to satisfy our basic functions (don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you to schedule your poops).
Block in time for your morning and evening routines, breakfast, lunch, tea AND the time it takes to shop and cook for them.
And now, block in time for rest.
Rest is a requirement, not a reward.
In their brilliant book, Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, Drs Emily and Amelia Nagoski state that we need ten hours of rest per day. If you’re sleeping for eight hours, you need another two hours of non-sleep, no-screens relaxation. Eating, exercising, spending time with loved ones, reading — it all counts.
Rest is a requirement, not a reward.
You’ve already blocked in 7–9 hours sleep, and time to eat meals. Let’s make it up to 10 hours. If it feels impossible to do this with no screen time (for example, if you usually relax by watching an hour of Netflix with your partner at the end of the night), that’s cool, go with it for now. Non-screen rest is something you can work towards as time blocking works it’s magic on your schedule over time :)
Step 4 — Time for your ‘to-do’ list
Take a deep breath — this might hurt.
Grab your ‘to-do’ list. If you don’t have one, do a brain dump onto a piece of paper right now. Don’t overthink it — yes, you’ll probably forget some things, that’s normal. No drama — you can add them in later as they come up.
Quickly run down your list and identify your priorities. Do this in whatever way works for your brain. You can mark them with stars, numbers, letters. You can note which things have hard deadlines, soft deadlines, or no deadlines. You can put them in an urgent/important matrix.
Now, in priority order, start adding time blocks for each task on your ‘to-do’ list into your calendar. (I’ll wait…)
….
….
….
Sooooooo, I’m guessing by now you’ve received time blocking’s first lesson.
Check in with your body right now. How is this process making you feel?
…Yup. Here it is. That familiar feeling that you’ve got too many things to do and not enough time to do them. And while you always knew this, now you can see it starkly, in black and white, on the page or screen in front of you.
While it feels bloody uncomfortable, this is a good thing. Because this is reality, and when we’re in reality, we can make choices, decisions and take action which will change reality.
Usually, we spend a lot of our time in an alternate, fantasy dimension, in which we say things like ‘I’ll do that in the evening after the kids are in bed’, and ‘I’ll do this next week’, and ‘I’ll catch up at the weekend’…with no care for the fact that after little Suzie has f*cked about for an hour and a half at bedtime and then insisted that you lie down with her until she goes to sleep, you’re too exhausted to do anything except slump on the sofa watching Netflix and eating an entire packet of chocolate digestives. Or that next week is already full to the brim with things you’ve forgotten about and which have now become emergencies, so not only will you not be ‘doing it next week’, you won’t do it ‘the week after’ either, and the week after that, the new thing will have become an emergency in itself and you’ll find yourself staying up til 3am on Wednesday morning because the only way you could actually complete that task is by borrowing from your sleep. Or that ‘this weekend’ will never, ever come…and neither will that dream you have.
So yes. Reality may feel uncomfortable. But the fantasy dimension is far more uncomfortable.
In fact, it’s ruining your bloody life.
My invitation for you now is to be courageous. Be courageous for yourself. Be courageous for your dreams. Sit with this discomfort, because really, it’s not discomfort.
It’s motivation.
Ok, stay with me, there’s a bit more uncomfortable reality motivation to come.
Step 5 — Time for the stuff that makes life worth living
You’ve added your ’to-do list’ to your calendar — think of this as your ’to-be’ list. If there’s any space left, start adding time blocks for the things that nourish you, give you energy, fill you with JOY.
In your personal life: Time with your partner, kids, family, friends. Time to yourself. Time in nature. Learning. Creativity. Exercise. Hobbies. Rest…
At work: Strategic activities. New projects. Activities that will make a change, an impact. Things that excite you. Learning. Professional development…
It may well be that you can’t find much/any space for this stuff. How does that make you feel?
I’m going to be bold here and say…if you can’t find time for this stuff…
really…
…what’s the point?
This is the stuff that makes life worth living. And if you’ve discovered you don’t have time for any of it, then….GREAT! You’ve just learned something really bloody important. And you can start to do something about it.
If you can’t find time for things that bring you joy…really…what’s the point?
One last bit of uncomfortable reality motivation…
Step 6 — Moving closer to your dream
Remember your dream from last week? Grab it now and compare it to the schedule in front of you.
BE GENTLE!
The schedule in front of you represents your current reality. Your dream represents possibility.
Right now, they might seem very far apart.
AND, they’re about to get closer. Tiny step by tiny step, you’re going to transform the way you choose to spend your time.
Starting in this very moment (which is the only one that ever matters).
What is the very first, smallest step you can take to move towards your dream?
Email me at mia@changefoundry.org.uk and let me know — there’s power in writing and sharing.
This week’s practice
Do your best to follow your schedule.
Hold it lightly — don’t worry when it starts to go awry. Which it totally will. Probably almost immediately. This is the beauty of the practice of time blocking. You’re going to discover, in real time, what’s not working about how you spend (and think about) your time. This knowledge is incredibly important and it’s going to help you change things so you can get closer to your dream. See this week as a joyful experiment. When things go wrong, say to yourself, ‘How interesting!’
Complete a five minute review at the end of each day
With no judgment, only curiosity — make a quick note of what worked and what didn’t. Did one task overflow and knock all the others out? Did something unplanned crop up? What was it? Did you forget to time block for something? Did you find you had no energy for what you planned? Did something take less time than you thought? Did you need more breaks?
Add new tasks directly into your calendar
Don’t add anything to your ‘to-do’ list — add it straight into your calendar. If there’s no room in your calendar, either say no to the new task, or remove something to make room for it. Your ‘to-do’ list lives in the fantasy dimension. Your calendar lives in reality.
Questions?
Email me at mia@changefoundry.org.uk and I’ll either answer directly or in next week’s installment of the guide.
Next week: In Part Three of this series, I’ll help you overcome common time blocking challenges.
