“Knowing what the day ‘means’ to me allows me to get the things I need and want to accomplish without seeing undetermined ‘ought to do’ items on a to do list. Vardy explains that theming offers mental clarity that allows him to focus on his family: Here's how he themes his week:ĭedicating each day to a single theme creates a reliable work pattern and further limits the cognitive load of context switching. Mike Vardy, founder of Productivityist, uses day theming to set his overarching focus for each day. Instead of setting aside time blocks for each area of responsibility each day, day theming dedicates a full day each week to each responsibility. For example, an entrepreneur often has to pay attention to marketing, sales, product development, customer support, and HR all at the same time. Day themingĭay theming is a more extreme version of task batching for people who have a lot of areas of responsibility competing for their attention. Just block off chunks of time each day or week for when you want to complete a certain batch of activities, e.g., email, invoicing, workouts, meetings, writing, coding, deep work, errands, meal prep. Time blocking pairs well with task batching because it saves you from scheduling every individual task on your calendar. For example, scheduling two 20-minute blocks to process email during the day is more efficient than checking your inbox every 15 minutes. By tackling similar tasks in a group, you’ll limit the amount of context switching you have to do throughout your day, saving precious time and mental energy. Task batching is when you group similar (usually smaller) tasks together and schedule specific time blocks to complete all at once. "I will write 1,000 words between 9am and 11am tomorrow." Every Wednesday, I will focus on research and ideation. Every Tuesday, I will focus on content promotion. "Every Monday, I will focus on content creation. "I will write every day from 9am to 11am." If you get off-task or distracted, simply look at your schedule and get back to whichever task you blocked off time for.ĭividing the day into blocks of time with each block dedicated to accomplishing a specific task or activity and only that specific task or activity. ![]() All you need to do is follow your time blocked schedule. With days that are time blocked in advance, you won’t have to constantly make choices about what to focus on. At the end of every workday, review any tasks you didn’t finish - as well as any new tasks that have come in - and adjust your time blocks for the rest of the week accordingly. Take stock of what’s coming up for the week ahead, and make a rough sketch of your time blocks for each day. The key to this method is prioritizing your task list in advance - a dedicated weekly review is a must. Instead of keeping an open-ended to-do list of things you’ll get to as you can, you’ll start each day with a concrete schedule outlining what you’ll work on and when. Each block is dedicated to accomplishing a specific task or group of tasks, and only those specific tasks. Time blocking is a time management method that asks you to divide your day into blocks of time. Take the quiz Explore on your own What is time blocking? Get a personalized recommendation based on your workstyle and goals. This guide will give you an overview of what time blocking, task batching, and day theming are how a combination of these strategies can help you reclaim your schedule, and the best way to use your calendar and task manager to start time blocking yourself.įind out which productivity method fits you best Struggle to find the time and mental space for big-picture thinking Spend too much time in “reactive mode,” responding to emails and messagesīattle constant interruptions throughout the day Juggle many different projects/responsibilities (Jack Dorsey used day theming to run two major companies at the same time) Time blocking (and its close cousins, time boxing, task batching, and day theming) is a simple yet effective way to take back control of your time. Check out that video below, or continue reading for a deeper dive. We've made a companion video for time blocking because everyone learns differently and we know some of you prefer to watch instead of read. How do you balance the necessary evils of meetings, email, team chat, and "busy work" with focused time for the things you truly care about? Since becoming a digital hermit isn’t an option for most of us, we need concrete strategies to help us focus in a world designed to distract us. If there's one thing that can be said about the modern workplace, it's this: If you don't control your schedule, it will control you. "A 40 hour time-blocked work week, I estimate, produces the same amount of output as a 60+ hour work week pursued without structure."
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