As a visual person, I prefer to see how I’m spending my time – it’s easier for me to keep track of my day that way. To keep track of how I spend my time, one thing I do is time block.
Time blocking is visually setting aside time on your calendar of when you plan to complete certain tasks. By scheduling your tasks, you’re better able to keep track of what you’ve done and what you plan to do. This has been especially important for me while working remotely – I have things that I need to get done, but I have a lot of flexibility over how I spend my time.
When it comes to time blocking, you can be as general or as specific as you want. I err more on the general side for time blocking – I’ll use Google Calendar to time block my day, and Asana to track my daily tasks. But I’ll share some of my tips:
Set colours for specific tasks
This helps you keep track of the things you’re working on a bit easier, and can help others understand when is and isn’t the time to meet with you (if they have access to your calendar).
For example, I keep my meetings in blue, my general daily tasks in yellow, and my deep-work (aka DON’T BOTHER ME) tasks in red.
Overestimate your time
Seriously, overestimate the time you think you’ll spend in each time block, especially when you’re just starting. This will help to ensure that you have enough time to complete your tasks, and enough time to rest in between tasks
Schedule your rests
If it’s easy for you to get carried away with work, schedule your lunch break or rest time. This goes along with a point I had about protecting your time. It’s important to take breaks at work to give your brain enough time to rest in between tasks, and scheduling out these breaks can help to ensure that you don’t forget to rest.
Enable notifications
Enable calendar notifications on your computer and/or on your mobile device. That way, you really don’t have to worry about how much time you spend on each task. When it’s over, you’ll receive an alert that it’s time to move on to the next one.
Enable calendar notifications in your internal messaging system. If your company uses messaging systems such as Slack, it may be helpful to integrate your calendar. This will help others know when you’re busy, and when you’re available to chat or answer a question.
Time blocking isn’t for everyone, but it can be helpful when planning your day.
Looking for more ways to be productive working from home? Check out this post!