Skyrocket your productivity with time blocking.

Learn how some

Some of the most effective CEO’s in the world like Bill Gates and Elon Musk are religious about using the time blocking technique. Because, when you have all the money in the world you realise the only thing that’s important is your time and how you spend it. 

Time blocking is a technique that will help you get more done in less time. Allowing you to progress with your goals without sacrificing all the other parts of your life. 

What is time blocking? 

Time blocking is simple.

You set time aside in your calendar to focus on your most important tasks, making you more effective at getting important work done. It’s a way to block out distractions and make sure that you’re actually doing things that have the most impact, rather than just being ‘busy’. 

It’s making your calendar and how your spend your time look more like this: 

Why is time blocking effective? 

Our most important work is often the most difficult, complex and is often in larger projects. Complex and difficult work is difficult to do whilst distracted, taking longer periods of dedicated focus. We can answer emails in five minute chunks but it would torture to write a book in this way. 

With the constant distractions of the modern workplace it can be very difficult to get uninterrupted time to focus on our important work. Making us less likely to do the type of meaningful work that actually moves our careers forwards. 

How to start time blocking? 

1 - Create a list of tasks and prioritize them 

70% of people already use lists to track their tasks which is a great first step towards increasing productivity. The next step is ruthlessly prioritizing these tasks. 

The Pareto Principle states that approximately 20% of our work will account for 80% of our results. In this step, it's our job to try and define what tasks will give us the most return for our efforts. 

2 - Estimate how long each task will take 

Next you’ll need to assess the tasks that you have and try to estimate how long they’ll take to complete. Most people tend to be overly ambitious, particularly when they’re not used to measuring  how long tasks will take. When starting off it’s best to give yourself at least 10% more time than you think. 

3 - Time block your calendar

Now you’ve created a list of tasks to complete, prioritized them and estimated how long each task will take, it’s time to add them into your calendar. Most people find that they’re better able to focus on their more complex work in the morning so it’s worth keeping this in mind. 

And remember, you’re not a robot so make sure you take the time to schedule breaks and time for things like responding to messages and emails. If you don’t make time for these tasks they will encroach on time you had blocked off for more important tasks. 

4 - Use automations and tools to help you 

Finally, to make things easier for you try to use as many tools as you can to stick with your new way of working. For instance, most calendars come with a repeat function which you can use for tasks that you do at the same time everyday. 

We also make a range of products to help with focus and developed the FocusTimer specifically to make time blocking easier and even more effective.

FocusTimer

It’s a product that is extremely easy to use, simply turn it to set the time and then tap it to start.

It’s most effective when you pause the timer every time you stop focusing on the task in your calendar.

This helps you keep accountable and get the most out of your new time blocking system.

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