Time Blocking

Many years ago a mentor taught me the value of blocking my time.  I clearly remember him drawing on a napkin a 7 day week in 21 blocks (3 blocks a day).  There was a morning block, an afternoon block and an evening block.  I have used this mentality of time management for many years now.  There have been a few questions that help me plan my time blocking:

• What time block is best for mental energy? (mornings)
• What time block is best for meetings – reactive / response energy? (afternoons)
• What time block is best for relaxing?  Evenings

I have done my best to fill this time appropriately – in other words, I try not to schedule a meeting in the morning.  I try to schedule as many of my meetings as possible in the afternoons.  Likewise, I try not to schedule a meeting in the middle of the afternoon which does not allow me to have other useful time before / after.  While this approach to time management is not for everyone, it has very much helped me.

I recently came across a blog post by Cal Newport who has some more suggestions on the use of Time Blocking.