Block out your time to increase productivity

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When I’m seriously time crunched and asking myself how I can possibly finish everything in time, I start blocking out my time. I cram an optimistic completion time estimate for each task into a list, note what time I will start each task at, then try to follow it.

The goal is to minimise the time I spend on each task, for work tends to fill the time allocated (see Parkinson’s law).

However, humans tend to far overestimate how quickly they can finish things- even our worse estimates are optimistic.

Therefore, between each work block, I leave a buffer time. I can then pressure myself to work quickly to finish my work in the optimistically allocated time, then comfortably use my buffer time to either finish up if I hadn’t already, or take a break before the next task time block comes up.

I currently use Sorted3 (not sponsored lol) as my app to automate scheduling and time blocking:

1. Add list of tasks to complete today
2. Set a time duration for each tasks
3. Set a start time and a buffer time between each task

And it’ll schedule your day for you, avoiding items on your calendar.

Exactly what I need right now to counter ‘TooManyCommits’.