Time Blocking Made Easier

Holi Dear Reader,

I’ve been thinking a lot about time lately. Friends and clients come to me frequently with questions about time and how to build systems around it, and I’ve yet to meet a single neurodivergent person who doesn’t struggle with time, whether it’s the estimation of it or an accurate reflection of how it’s been spent. Time blocking is often touted as the best solution to either of these problems, but I’m willing to bet your heart sank when you read that (because same, Imao)

Setting aside dedicated time to focus on your priorities is not an inherently difficult concept, so why does time blocking get such a bad rep? Estimating how much time a specific task will take is incredibly difficult when your body does not inherently mark and remember the passage of time. Time is an abstract concept; 15 minutes feels the same as 3 and also feels no different to when 5 hours have passed. It’s no wonder then that even familiar and oft repeated tasks are still an amorphous blob in my mind instead of a clearly defined block of time.

And yet, being able to review how the spent my time in the past is directly relevant to how I plan my future, and so, with great reluctance, I have spent a lot of time experimenting with how to make keeping track of time easier. In an effort to share my knowledge and the results of my experiments, I’ve listed the tip tips I’ve collected here for you to peruse and perhaps use if you think they might be helpful to you!

COLOR CODING

Being able to see at a glance how much time I’ve spent on my different priorities and areas of life is really valuable to me, and helps remind me why I’m choosing to track and review my time. Most calendars allow you to select a color scheme for your tasks and events. I also use emojis to categorize my tasks in Notion.

COMBINING TASKS + CALENDARS

Not having to manually add my to-do list to multiple apps is key for my time-blocking success–if you’re already using google calendar, utilizing the task management system within google keep will probably be most helpful in this endeavor. I use Notion’s calendar app synced with my google calendar and my task’s database, so I can drag and drop my tasks into the correct time slots.

TIME TRACKING – NOTION CAL

Keeping track of how long tasks take is the truly difficult part of time blocking, for me. I’ve found that I cannot plan a day out on my calendar app, but if I keep it open next to my to-do list and drag a task on to the calendar when I begin working, I can then adjust the length of time once the task is complete.

TIME TRACKING WITH POMODOROS

I’ve always struggled with breaking down complex projects that can’t be completed in a single day. Dedicating a pomodoro timer to those projects helps me keep the momentum going even when the end date feels like it doesn’t exist. Setting a specific time to a task can also help me feel less daunted by the act of beginning, plus most pomodoro videos on youtube have visual clocks to make the passing of time more tangible. Giving myself permission to stop when the times ends means I don’t have to break up the tasks myself, and instead I pick it back up where I left off in the next timer.

TIME TRACKING FOR REVIEW

One of the ways I can be kind to myself and acknowledge that this is a difficult task is by allowing myself to adjust my calendar after events have taken place. Planning and review are different processes that happen at different times, and if my plan for how I’ll use my time ends up being unrealistic, as it often does, I simply adjust the calendar to show what actually happened or where the plan changed.

PLANNING MY TIME

As part of keeping my processes separate, I typically plan my daily time blocks by hand and use my calendar to record the reality of how my time is spent at the end of the day or week. I use a digital version of the daily passion planner on my tablet for the physical planning, but I also have loved and used a dry erase board in the past.

EVERYTHING IS AN EXPERIMENT

And as always, I look to every action and tool I try with curiosity and compassion and don’t allow myself to see failure as a reflection on who I am as a person. Having multiple ways that I can track and review my time and allowing myself to come back to these tools whenever it’s helpful and ignore them when it’s not helps me accommodate myself and the ways that my needs differ from day to day.

I think that’s everything, but I’m always open to new ideas and I’d love to know what experiments you’ve tried when it comes to tracking and reviewing your time! Hit me up in the replies and share if you’ve done something different, or just let me know how you feel about the ideas I’ve shared here and if you’re going to try any.

Wishing you as much rest as time spent working, and an easeful time of transition <3

Ela