Rethinking time blocking

[Longstreet]

Okay -- everyone here knows that I have been a champion of the use of time blocking as a way to do focused work. I still believe that one can do this, but I have found with experience issues if you go overboard with time blocking. Let me explain. There are two primary reasons why I began time blocking on my calendar. First and foremost was to provide protected time to engage. I have found over the last few years -- and it is considerably worse now as my level of responsibilities have dramatically increased -- that if I did not protect my time, meetings would mysteriously appear scheduled on the morning block of time that I thought I had available to move forward on projects. Yes, I could turn down the meeting requests, but all of the meetings are important for my large research group that I lead and I need to be there to mentor. I just wanted the meetings to occur in the afternoon. It was an easy fix to start time blocking my mornings and therefore I was unavailable for meetings. Aha -- it worked!

The second reason for time blocking was to put a stake in the ground for deep work on some of my projects. NIH-funded research, writing more NIH grants, writing multiple manuscripts, writing a book chapter (I am engaged in doing this now), etc. I needed protected time away from everything and I needed a stake in the ground in my calendar that on Wednesday from 8:00-11:00, I was going to do focused work just on that item. I found myself doing more of this. It was working -- or so I thought.

Here is an observation from my experiences. We all know David Allen is a genius and the principle he teaches and promotes are outstanding. But do we REALLY know? For example, it is 7:50 and almost time to engage in my scheduled time block. As I began, I found my mind distracted -- playing over and over again about that other project, that personnel situation, what to do regarding my elderly father's primary caregivers, etc. I found that I needed time to process these thoughts and determine the next actions to deal with them. I had neglected the necessary processing time -- and thorough weekly reviews -- to be able to get these things off of my mind.

So I backtracked and did what David teaches. Much better -- my mind was clearer and I could focus more on the intended work. But...another problem emerged. Those time blocks I had scheduled on my calendar emanating from my last weekly review -- by the time I reached many of them, my world had changed. Yes, what I had planned to do was still important, but so many new things have arrived that actually were more important. This has happened over and over again. Sound familiar?

So...here is what I have discovered all over again. We only have right now. In 2019, things change so fast and we have to be able to quickly readjust. Our "priorities" we time blocked last week are no longer what has our attention and we need to adapt. Deciding in the moment what to do next based on all of the criteria that David has spelled out really IS the best approach to work and life. Will I still time block? Of course -- but in a much more limited manner. Now when I approach a time block, I ask myself -- is this still the best use of my time based on my world RIGHT NOW. Yes, we need to plan. But one has to live in the now, because next week may be a lot different that what you thought.

Those are my insights and I would be glad to discuss further. Thank you David for GTD!

 

[persistence]

Longstreet...yes this is exactly how i see it also.
I think your rethinking on this is correct....always good when we kept an open mind on how we approach how we do our work.

Thks for sharing....

 

[frank F]

So...here is what I have discovered all over again. We only have right now. In 2019, things change so fast and we have to be able to quickly readjust. Our "priorities" we time blocked last week are no longer what has our attention and we need to adapt. Deciding in the moment what to do next based on all of the criteria that David has spelled out really IS the best approach to work and life. Will I still time block? Of course -- but in a much more limited manner. Now when I approach a time block, I ask myself -- is this still the best use of my time based on my world RIGHT NOW. Yes, we need to plan. But one has to live in the now, because next week may be a lot different that what you thought.

Those are my insights and I would be glad to discuss further. Thank you David for GTD!

To me this is the crux of it. Society evolves, technology evolves, we ourselves evolve. First, re time blocking, I have found I am not a robot and am not always able to (want to) do or concentrate on what I thought yesterday I should do in the time assigned today . I still think that time blocking works but I am starting to be more flexible with how to spend the time, as long as I get something done which has to be done. So I have started in Nirvana to use the time function and make myself a to do list for this time period. This might include an hour or so of free time to do whatever I want in that moment (googling something, or just another activity from some other list). this is how I do it right now, but I tend to move on and do things slightly differently after a while, depending on works well for me.

Regarding the above, I think it is justified to adapt to today´s situation and now that the GTD method is more or less 25 years old it is time to consider a bit of an overhaul. The availability of technology and abundance of tools makes certain details kind of obsolete (Case in point for me tags such as "computer"... rather need to think about frame of mind etc)

 

[Oogiem]

Our "priorities" we time blocked last week are no longer what has our attention and we need to adapt. Deciding in the moment what to do next based on all of the criteria that David has spelled out really IS the best approach to work and life.

With all the many discussions here about the value of time blocking and my almost pathological distrust of it in my world, I have to admit I am moving more your direction.

Perhaps we can meet in the middle?

What I'm finding is that when I do my weekly review I think ahead about what areas of focus I want to be sure I do some work in during the week. As part of my review I make sure that I have one or more projects in that AOF that are important to me. Then I look at the calendar, right now I can actually plan things in advance because I pretty much know when we have to put more hay out, or fill water tanks and there isn't much else to do for the sheep flock. So I will put a generic time block for the AOF in my calendar. Only 1 or 2 time blocks per week and not by project but by AOF. This is helping me to make sure that some rather neglected AOFs get some attention. All my time scheduling is in the morning, when I am at my best, because the AOFs that have been neglected need a lot of mental energy and agility to do their projects.

As we move into the spring work of shearing and then lambing I will not have any ability to plan or block out time because the sheep don't pay attention to calendars but for right now it is helping me get through and work on AOFs that have been ignored for far too long.

 

[Cpu_Modern]

First of all, the way you described your particular situation, those circumstances sound to me less a "time blocking as a technique" issue, but a more general one of negotiating for discretionary time with your environment.

Will I still time block? Of course -- but in a much more limited manner. Now when I approach a time block, I ask myself -- is this still the best use of my time based on my world RIGHT NOW.

I think you are right on target with having time blocks but having them in a limited manner. I would say, the prerequisite for such a time block is this:

• Is the sole (or main) reason why I don't advance with this project the continuous lack of interruption-free "high end" time to do that deeper work? If yes, the NA should probably be a time block in the calendar.
• I also see a factor of inflation with the use of time blocks. The more you have active, the less important they seem.

But if you start to re-negotiate every time block once it arrives, I see a danger here:

• One upside of time blocking is mental clarity: "ok, I know this is going to be dealt with 100% and I know when that will be." I fear this would be lost if a time block suddenly is just a "suggestion".
• Maybe you will undermine trust in yourself, if you repeatedly have those "appointments with self" which you then do not "attend".

 

[AFG]

I have long wanted a calendar program to allow anyone (in my group) to schedule meetings with me at any time (during reasonable working hours) - so long as there are 1 or 2 contiguous 4 hour blocks left in the week for me to have focused time.

I.e. time blocking - limited - but not necessarily at fixed times.

 

[Longstreet]

With all the many discussions here about the value of time blocking and my almost pathological distrust of it in my world, I have to admit I am moving more your direction.

Perhaps we can meet in the middle?

What I'm finding is that when I do my weekly review I think ahead about what areas of focus I want to be sure I do some work in during the week. As part of my review I make sure that I have one or more projects in that AOF that are important to me. Then I look at the calendar, right now I can actually plan things in advance because I pretty much know when we have to put more hay out, or fill water tanks and there isn't much else to do for the sheep flock. So I will put a generic time block for the AOF in my calendar. Only 1 or 2 time blocks per week and not by project but by AOF. This is helping me to make sure that some rather neglected AOFs get some attention. All my time scheduling is in the morning, when I am at my best, because the AOFs that have been neglected need a lot of mental energy and agility to do their projects.

As we move into the spring work of shearing and then lambing I will not have any ability to plan or block out time because the sheep don't pay attention to calendars but for right now it is helping me get through and work on AOFs that have been ignored for far too long.

Yes -- meeting somewhere in the middle is what I foresee! I will still timeblock but will rethink a block when it comes based on where I am in my world at that time.

 

[Longstreet]

To me this is the crux of it. Society evolves, technology evolves, we ourselves evolve. First, re time blocking, I have found I am not a robot and am not always able to (want to) do or concentrate on what I thought yesterday I should do in the time assigned today . I still think that time blocking works but I am starting to be more flexible with how to spend the time, as long as I get something done which has to be done. So I have started in Nirvana to use the time function and make myself a to do list for this time period. This might include an hour or so of free time to do whatever I want in that moment (googling something, or just another activity from some other list). this is how I do it right now, but I tend to move on and do things slightly differently after a while, depending on works well for me.

Regarding the above, I think it is justified to adapt to today´s situation and now that the GTD method is more or less 25 years old it is time to consider a bit of an overhaul. The availability of technology and abundance of tools makes certain details kind of obsolete (Case in point for me tags such as "computer"... rather need to think about frame of mind etc)

I like your comments and feel they have merit. I still think having contexts based on our tools and where we physically are can be useful. But frame of mind IS important. I have this within the criterion of "energy". Not only our state of energy, but what our frame of mind is at the moment.

 

[Cpu_Modern]

… to schedule meetings with me … so long as there are 1 or 2 contiguous 4 hour blocks left in the week for me to have focused time.

Wouldn't it be better then to have those two 4 hour blocks penciled in at the beginning of the week? This would increase the probability of them being actualized.

If you have them scheduled on Monday and Tuesday and something happens, you still have the rest of the week to re-schedule them. If the second block is on a Friday and it blows up, you are out of luck.

 

[Longstreet]

Wouldn't it be better then to have those two 4 hour blocks penciled in at the beginning of the week? This would increase the probability of them being actualized.

If you have them scheduled on Monday and Tuesday and something happens, you still have the rest of the week to re-schedule them. If the second block is on a Friday and it blows up, you are out of luck.

And that is exactly what I was thinking -- front-loading the week so to speak. If things change, then I can reconsider and/or reschedule accordingly. Thanks!

 

[Gardener]

Will I still time block? Of course -- but in a much more limited manner. Now when I approach a time block, I ask myself -- is this still the best use of my time based on my world RIGHT NOW. Yes, we need to plan. But one has to live in the now, because next week may be a lot different that what you thought.

I usually think of a time block as merely a time that's kept, well, in a block. That is, unsplintered time defended from meetings and random emails and other distracting demands, to be used for whatever project, ideally whatever single project, seems most appropriate when the block is reached.

(I said "most important", then changed to "most appropriate" because "important" seems too specific.)

 

[John Ismyname]

it is 7:50 and almost time to engage in my scheduled time block. As I began, I found my mind distracted -- playing over and over again about that other project, that personnel situation,

The same thing happens to me as I prepare for "deep work" - my mind goes into a scramble mode and tempts me with other things I could do that are more urgent and/or fun. While I love the GTD premise of it being a tool to facilitate the decision of the best thing to do, that subjectivity of the best thing gets tested a lot with me! Once I get going on the time blocked tasks, I am okay.

Those time blocks I had scheduled on my calendar emanating from my last weekly review -- by the time I reached many of them, my world had changed. Yes, what I had planned to do was still important, but so many new things have arrived that actually were more important. This has happened over and over again. Sound familiar?,

Very familar! My thought is to guard the time block. If something significant changes and I need that time block for another important activity or task, so be it.

 

[frank F]

I like your comments and feel they have merit. I still think having contexts based on our tools and where we physically are can be useful. But frame of mind IS important. I have this within the criterion of "energy". Not only our state of energy, but what our frame of mind is at the moment.

Sorry I might have been too general with this. By no means would I say that contexts based on places or tools are obsolete, on the contrary. In particular in the digital context the across the board tagging is very powerful - in the sense of I am making the effort of taking out this tool - what else I could do while I am at it - even if it is unrelated to the project or topic for which you took out the tool, or went to a specific mall place for that matter. You can even include this in your daily planning, and plan ahead for timeblocking etc. I believe this is the power of the whole concept actually, to enable a kind of three dimensional view of your life´s tasks, and thereby decreasing the threshold of doing things you would otherwise postpone/forget.

The point I am wanting to make is to not take the proposals by DA too literally (but within the concept of GTD of course) but make sure to think about how to best implement them for yourself (not you personally @Longstreet , your situation, your character, the way you tick , to get the most out of the system and decrease the threshold of doing thing you don't like..

Hope this makes sense

 

[Kevin James]

I usually think of a time block as merely a time that's kept, well, in a block. That is, unsplintered time defended from meetings and random emails and other distracting demands, to be used for whatever project, ideally whatever single project, seems most appropriate when the block is reached.

(I said "most important", then changed to "most appropriate" because "important" seems too specific.)

I tend to think of timeblocks as serving three purposes: 1) Creating focused blocks of time (projects/planning that require deep work); 2) Batching unrelated tasks together (think administrative stuff); 3) Establishing Routines (putting that stake in the ground for personal growth and taking care of one's self). I think the first two purposes need to be somewhat fluid or generic such that I can put whatever deep work or batched work in it that's needed, but the third purpose, Establishing Routines, those I see as unmovable commitments otherwise the routines you aspire to be come habits will never form. Great discussion!!