Time-blocking: The secret to winning at work?

Time is your most precious asset. Breaking it into bite-sized chunks might just be the way to make more of it.

Do you write never-ending to do lists and feel overwhelmed as they roll over from one day to the next?

Do you feel like there just isn’t enough time to do everything you need to do, let alone everything you would like to do?

Time-Blocking is the strategy of putting your day into a list rather than the other way around. The organisation system and its cousins, time-batching, day-theming and time-boxing is used by lots of highly effective and successful individuals.

The idea is that you take control of the day, breaking it down into sections. This way you lead with time rather than tasks. Each block of time is dedicated to achieving a particular task and the small tasks can be grouped together to avoid the scatter-gun effect.

Ideally you start with blocks of 25 minutes scheduled around meetings and pre-existing commitments and work up towards 50 minutes.

With an overview of your calendar for the day in front of you, it also becomes easier to slot in some movement snacks aka breaks. We all know that movement is good for you and so making the ‘doing’ part easier will mean that you do more of it.

A good starting point is slotting a 15 minute movement break into the day as recommended by this study by ASICS.

Squeezing in little bursts of movement when at your desk mean that your body and mind are being nourished while you work. Good organisation habits easily lead to good lifestyle habits because you are in control of your day.

Hemsley Fraser, the Leadership Development Experts cite a recent study on Personal Energy Management at the Draugiem Group in which a time tracking app was used to find out what set their most productive employees apart. Interestingly, the company’s highest performers did not spend more time working but for every 52 minutes spent working, they each took approximately a 15-minute break.

Since 15 minutes is recommended by both ASICS and Hemsley Fraser, here is a 15-minute movement video that you can use to try it yourself at your desk.

Why not give it a go for a week?

Diarise your tasks and your movement breaks and see if you claim back more time for yourself.