Good organization is impossible without an effective planning method. One of the most popular is time blocking. Invented to simplify everyday life and boost productivity, this personal coordination tool is based on blocking time in order to complete a task or several identical assignments. In other words, you’ll need to reserve a specific time slot for the completion of each of your tasks. Of course, the creation of distraction management calendars requires certain conditions. These are: flexibility, realism and a daily balance sheet.

How can you use time blocking to get organized? Here’s how.

Time blocking: what’s it all about?

There are many personal organization tools available to help you make the best use of your time. One of them is time blocking, or distraction management. In particular, it’s a planning strategy that helps you anticipate all the tasks to be carried out in the course of a day, no matter how large or small, so that you can make the most effective use of the time at your disposal.

So far, this method is pretty much like any other time management and coordination method you’ve come across. However, time blocking differs from the others for the simple reason that the technique involves “reserving” an allotted time for a particular task. In other words, it’s like making an appointment. You set a date, a time and a duration, and you only allocate this time to the planned meeting. Except that here, you’re scheduling a one-to-one meeting with yourself to carry out a specific task.

To sum up, the principle of distraction management is as follows.

First, you draw up a complete list of the tasks to be accomplished in a day.
Then, before “time blocking”, you group together those that are similar.
Finally, you set a carefully chosen block of time for each task.

What’s in it for you?

Like other methods of personal organization, time block planning is designed to optimize your time, increase your productivity and achieve your goals. So, whether you apply this time management strategy to the tasks of daily life or to the handling of assignments at the office, in both cases you’ll reap the following benefits.

SIMPLIFIED EVERYDAY LIFE THANKS TO TIME BLOCKING
Scheduling tasks for the day in advance makes life easier for everyone. In fact, if you know exactly what you have to do throughout the day, there’s no need to waste time. All you have to do is look at the calendar for a moment and get straight down to business.

Likewise, stress disappears from your routine as everything remains under control. You know exactly :

Which task you’re going to tackle;
How long it will take you to complete it;
How you will finish it;
So there are no unforeseen circumstances to upset your plans.

THE BENEFITS OF TIME BLOCKING: INCREASED CONCENTRATION
The distraction management tool helps you to concentrate more effectively. Your vigilance is at its highest when you know you have to finish a task by a certain time. You focus solely on your work and completely forget about distractions such as the telephone.

Similarly, when your attention reaches its peak, you’re working in “Deep Work”. This is a state in which the individual is 100% focused on the task in hand, to the point where his or her cognitive capacities exceed their limit.

This is why time blocking allows you to give your best and work in depth.

GREATER SELF-CONTROL
Knowing exactly what you have planned for the day helps you to overcome procrastination. In fact, a detailed plan will make it easier for you to take action, since you’ll have no more excuses for avoiding action.

As a result, you’ll learn to make good use of your time and put priorities first, rather than focusing on trivial matters.

MORE CONTROL OVER YOUR TIME
Thanks to time blocking, you’ll finally be able to spend quality time with your loved ones without neglecting your work. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this distraction management tool is the ideal compromise for balancing your private and professional lives. With an overview of how your time is organized, you have the power to allocate it in the best possible way.

In the end, all these benefits will help you to gradually improve your efficiency. Not to mention the fact that stringing together several similar assignments in one go will help you to finish them quickly and profitably.

How to make the most of your time with time blocking?

As Theophrastus said:

“Waste of time is the most extravagant and costly of all expenses.”

That’s why you need to learn how to manage your time now, and time blocking can help you achieve this goal.

So plan your schedule by following the steps in the distraction management tool below.

DETERMINE PRIORITIES
First of all, time management is divided into two phases:

First, identify your priorities;
Secondly, setting a precise duration for each mission.

So, we start with the first stage of time blocking. This involves clearly identifying :

urgent tasks;
important activities;
and secondary tasks.

How do you distinguish between them? By first defining your goals for the day, week and month.

What do you want to achieve today, this week and this month?
What exactly do you need to do to succeed in your projects?

Once you’ve found the answers to these questions, drawing up your to-do list will become much simpler.

The second step, however, is to classify the activities so as to ensure correct time blocking. In other words, you need to know which tasks need to be completed before the others. To facilitate this analysis, don’t hesitate to use priority management tools such as the Eisenhower matrix. They’re sure to point you in the right direction.

Once you’ve compiled the tasks and distinguished them, complete the first phase by numbering each one. At the end, your inventory should look something like the following example.

Team meeting.
Coffee break.
Interview with employees.
Lunch break.
Report on meeting with partners.
Processing emails.
Family time.

IMPOSE TIME BLOCKING ON TASKS
As mentioned earlier, this second phase involves blocking off a specific time slot for each task. By sequencing your days, you can get things done faster and more efficiently. With this in mind, always start by defining time slots for priority tasks, then for secondary ones and finally for unexpected tasks. Because, yes, despite ironclad organization, we all know that the unexpected always happens. That’s why, for successful scheduling, in any case, you need to think about incorporating them into your calendar.

So how do you time-block correctly? Have the calendar in front of you and think carefully before defining a schedule. Dedicate the most important tasks to the morning, as this is the time of day when motivation and energy are at their peak. But of course, this is a general rule, and everything depends on the individual’s ultradian rhythm. The latter is defined as an individual’s biological rhythm for optimizing performance. In other words, the ultradian rhythm explains the energy variations you experience throughout the day. So, to create an appropriate time block, you need to analyze when you become most active and stay most focused.

And when it comes to unforeseen events, I recommend that you anticipate them by setting aside one hour a day for them. That way, if everything goes according to plan, good for you. If not, you’ve already prepared for eventualities.

Tips for managing distractions

In practice, estimating the ideal time for a task remains a complex task. However, with a few pre-requisites, you’ll get very close to perfect time blocking. Here are a few tips to help you set up your schedule.

STAY FLEXIBLE
It goes without saying that rigor is essential when it comes to setting up your schedule. However, that doesn’t mean you have to be rigid in the way you draw it up. As with pre-scheduled appointments, postponements or cancellations can occur as circumstances dictate, even if you’ve set aside an hour of your time every day for unforeseen events and emergencies.

So always adapt your time blocking to the situation. After all, this approach was created to help you, so you can modify it as you wish to achieve your goal and optimize your production. All this to say that this is not an immutable method. At any time, you have the power to change the way you manage distractions.

BE REALISTIC
Being ambitious is all well and good, but you mustn’t forget to face reality. That’s why, in the beginning, it’s best to go a little at a time when setting up time blocking. Also, avoid imposing too short a timeframe on a task that you’re used to completing in two hours, for example. If you want to reduce the time dedicated to a particular task, reduce it gradually. This way, it won’t be too brutal for you, and it will be easier to adapt.

On the other hand, focusing on one task for four hours without accomplishing other activities can also be a real challenge for some people. It’s quite understandable that for the first few days, you won’t be able to keep up with your time blocking right away. In this case, be easy on yourself and start slowly. By repeating the same actions over and over again for a specific length of time, you’ll get used to the rhythm. What’s more, the key to managing distractions lies in regularity.

However, it’s not a question of slacking off and becoming lax. The aim here is to harmonize your ambitions with your schedule, step by step. If, at first, you find it hard to stick to the timetable, as time goes by, you’ll follow it to the letter.

DESIGNING TIME BLOCKING: TAKE STOCK EVERY DAY
At the end of each day, carry out a complete diagnosis of your schedule. This analysis will reveal :

tasks completed during the day;
tasks still to be completed;
new tasks for the following day.

This helps you to see how your projects are progressing, to take stock of the situation, and at the same time to adjust blocks as circumstances dictate.

But that’s not all: you can always use these reports to guide you in the future. In fact, you can refer to previous time blocking schedules to estimate the time needed to complete a similar mission.

In conclusion, like other planning techniques, time blocking invites you to sequence your days for better time optimization. Of course, it’s the way you design it that sets it apart from the others. It’s up to you to make the most of it.

Have you ever used the time blocking calendar to manage your time?