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Deep Work / Time Blocking

productivity · medium · 15-20 min/day for planning

What is Deep Work / Time Blocking?

Planning every minute of your workday into blocks dedicated to specific tasks, with extended periods (90-120 min) reserved for cognitively demanding work without any interruption. Cal Newport estimates a 40-hour time-blocked week produces the output of a 60+ hour unstructured week.

Is there evidence for it?

EVIDENCEmoderate

How do you do Deep Work / Time Blocking?

  1. 1.At the start of each day (or the night before), block out every hour on your calendar with specific tasks
  2. 2.Schedule 1-3 'deep work blocks' of 90-120 minutes for your most important cognitive tasks
  3. 3.During deep work: phone on airplane mode, notifications off, door closed, no email
  4. 4.Batch shallow work (email, admin, messages) into designated blocks — don't scatter throughout the day
  5. 5.Review and adjust blocks throughout the day as reality diverges from plan — replanning is part of the system

How long does it take?

15-20 min/day for planning.

Is it hard to start?

medium.

> how Shift handles procrastination

Source: Cal Newport (Deep Work, 2016); research on attention residue (Sophie Leroy); productivity psychology
focus · productivity · planning · deep-work · time-management · cal-newport
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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.