In the past, I’ve used bullet journals, regular planners, and Notion to try to plan and schedule all my events. Despite my efforts, I’ve never been able to stick to any of those methods. That was until one day during maths, when my friend opened Google Calendar to note down a homework assignment. She explained her method to me, and I later went home to set up my calendar in a similar fashion. Finally, I have found a planning system that works for me – timeblocking.
What is timeblocking?
While most people use to-do lists to ensure they get everything done, timeblocking schedules time for your tasks. For example, if you have a 5 page essay to write by next week, you can schedule 1 hour every day to focus on researching, writing, and proofreading. It might sound complicated, so take a look at my schedule for the past week. Each task has been set a specific time for me to work on it.
Why use timeblocking?
There are many reasons why I prefer digital timeblocking to any other planning method, but the main one is the fact that it is online – I don’t have to carry around an extra notebook, spend time drawing bullet journal spreads, and it’s easily accessible from almost anywhere. As well as this, instead of needing to use tippex and white-out when your plans change, you can just delete the event. Finally, it’s much easier to schedule recurring events than to draw them in each time they happen.
Is timeblocking effective?
Yes! Timeblocking is incredibly effective. Not only does it allow you to plan your day in incredible detail, but it can also prevent procrastination. This is because you have set times to do each task, meaning you’ve created mini-timelines for yourself, counteracting procrastination. You’ll also be more focused on important tasks, since you’ve scheduled the most time on those, instead of being sidetracked by unimportant tasks.
Setting up your calendar
Now that you’ve decided to try timeblocking, you’ll need to download a calendar app – I personally like Google Calendar, but it really depends on you. Then, identify a few key areas of your life that define most of your events, and create calendars based off of that. If you’re not sure about your key areas, you can take a look at mine to help you. After you’ve created the calendars, you can change their colours – I personally dislike the default Google Calendar colour scheme, so I’ve used some nicer-looking pastel colours instead.
Scheduling your day
Now that you’ve created your calendar, you’ll want to try to plan a day. First, make a list of all the tasks you need to finish that day. Then, decide what area of your life they are in – this decides what calendar to schedule them in. Once you’ve created your list, you can schedule the tasks by estimating how long they’ll take you – remember that it’s better to overestimate and have time left over, rather than to underestimate and become overwhelmed. Finally, don’t forget to schedule breaks!
