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Time Blocking

productivity · medium · 10-15 minutes planning daily, then all working hours are time-blocked

What is Time Blocking?

Assign every minute of your workday to a specific task or activity block on a written schedule. Eliminates decision fatigue and prevents 'attention residue' from task-switching.

Is there evidence for it?

EVIDENCEmoderate

How do you do Time Blocking?

  1. 1.Each morning, draw time slots on a lined sheet (or use a digital calendar) from start to end of workday
  2. 2.Assign each block to a specific task, meeting, or batch of small tasks
  3. 3.Use conservative time estimates — overestimate rather than underestimate
  4. 4.Add 'overflow blocks' after uncertain tasks with non-urgent backup tasks
  5. 5.When disruptions occur, re-draw remaining blocks rather than abandoning the schedule

How long does it take?

10-15 minutes planning daily, then all working hours are time-blocked.

Is it hard to start?

medium.

> how Shift handles procrastination

Source: Cal Newport (Deep Work, 2016; The Time-Block Planner, 2020). Based on Sophie Leroy's attention residue research. Newport reports time-blockers accomplish ~2x as much work per week.
scheduling · planning · deep-work · focus · attention-residue · decision-fatigue
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This is one entry from the library Shift matches against. It is general information, not advice about you, and nothing on this page came from anyone's conversation.