Time-blocking is one of those terms organization experts throw around a lot, but many people find it extremely hard to implement. Perhaps you’ve tried time-blocking for a little while and then became overwhelmed by how time-consuming it can be. Ironically, the thing that’s supposed to help save you time can actually end up taking up more of it than necessary if you let it. But I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way! With a little practice, you can implement time-blocking to your weekly routine and, if you stick with it, you will see definite results in in your productivity.
The basics
In case you’re not familiar with time-blocking, here are the basics (what, who, when, where, and why; we’ll get to the how in a moment).
What is time-blocking?
Time-blocking is very much what it sounds like. It’s blocking out a set period of time in your schedule to work on a particular task or project.
Who does time-blocking work for?
I believe every person can benefit from time-blocking. It works great for people who work outside the home, students, stay-at-home moms, entrepreneurs, leaders, and basically anyone who wants to be productive and organized.
When is the best time to time-block?
I find time-blocking works best for me if I block my entire week at one time, either Sunday evening or Monday morning. Some people do it every day, but getting the whole week done at once helps me get prepared for what’s coming.
Why time-block?
It helps with scheduling
Time-blocking is an incredible help with scheduling. If you use a paper planner like I do, you can see what you have going on for almost every moment of the day with just a quick glance. If, for example, you want to schedule time to have coffee with a friend, all you have to do is look for the blank spaces to figure out when you’re available.
It helps with goal-setting and productivity
You probably have goals in several areas of your life: work goals, work-out goals, goals with house and yard work, educational goals, etc. Time (or lack thereof) is one of the biggest obstacles keeping us from achieving our goals. When you learn to manage your time through time-blocking, you will be better equipped to reach your goals. Time-blocking helps you be more productive, thus helping you reach your goals quicker.
It helps with organization
I love to be organized. When I started time-blocking, I found it much easier to organize my husband’s, Little Man’s, and my schedule, and all the things we have going on. I am able to keep track of our budget better, pay the bills on time, and make the most of the time we have together as a family.
How to time-block
Now that you know a little more about time-blocking, let me share a little about how to do it effectively.
My process
As I stated above, I like to block my entire week at one time, either on Sunday afternoon or evening or Monday morning. I use a paper planner from Plum Paper (non-affiliate link; you can find out why I love using a paper planner here). As you can see, it has a vertical daily layout with hourly boxes. One week covers a two-page spread.
Since Little Man is still a baby, I use my planner to keep track of his schedule. On the left side of the daily view, I write when he needs to be fed and when he needs to nap. When he was smaller and needed to eat and nap more often, I actually blocked out his schedule, but we’re on a pretty good routine right now so it’s not necessary.
On the right side of the column, you can see where I block everything else. I get the most work done when Little Man is napping, so I make sure to block that time for blogging and anything else I need to do that’s not baby-friendly. If I’m not quite sure what I’m going to work on during the week, I still block the time and then fill it in each day.
Color-coding
I am a huge fan of color-coding my time blocks. In last-year’s planner, I created a key on the last page so I would remember what each color represented. Since I’ve been doing this for a while, I automatically know which color means what, so I don’t need a key any more. Here is what each color means:
- Light blue: Anything having to do with Little Man
- Green: Church-related activities
- Purple: Personal items
- Dark blue: Living Kairos business/blog items
- Pink: Items related to the magazine for which I serve as Editor-in-Chief
This system works really well because I can take a quick glance at my week and know what things are coming up based on the color I used to time-block.
Setting realistic productivity expectations
As I said earlier, time-blocking is great to boost productivity. But it only works if you set realistic expectations.
Productivity time
You are the most productive if you spend sixty to ninety minutes at one time on a particular task. Any more than that and it’s easy to get burnt out and distracted. The great thing for me right now is that Little Man takes around two-hour naps. So when I need to work, I use the first thirty minutes to do maintenance stuff like checking emails, etc. Then, I set the timer for ninety minutes and work my tail off for that period of time on writing.
This works for other things as well. When I need to do the budget and pay the bills, I usually block about sixty minutes. This helps me stay focused because I know I only have this set amount of time to get it done.
Eliminate distractions
This is key to achieving success with time-blocking and it’s honestly something I still struggle with. I realize it’s hard to do when you have kiddos, but it’s important if you want to be productive.
As I said, I try to work when Little Man is napping, but my baby isn’t the only distraction. The biggest culprit? Facebook. I rarely have time to check my phone when Little Man is awake, so when he goes down, it’s nice to take a moment to see what my friends are up to on Facebook. But if I’m not careful, I can get so sucked in that I waste all the time I’ve blocked to do things that need to get done on social media. Not good!
Eliminate those distractions by putting your phone on silent, turning off notifications on your computer, turning off the TV, etc. If you have a project that needs to get done, you have eliminate anything that will keep you from being productive.
Stick with it!
Time-blocking is great tool to boost your productivity and help you meet your goals. By implementing the tips you learned here, you can effectively manage your schedule and stay organized. Remember to set realistic expectations and just stick with it!
