What is time blocking?

Time blocking is planning your day by giving tasks a specific slot on the calendar, for example “write the report, 10:00–11:30”, instead of keeping them on an open-ended to-do list.

Why it helps

• It turns intentions into decisions. A task with a time is much more likely to happen than one waiting on a list.
• It shows how much really fits. When tasks have to fit between meetings, you see quickly that ten hours of work won’t fit into a four-hour afternoon.
• It reduces switching. Grouping similar work into one block (all emails, all calls) means fewer costly switches between tasks.

How to start

1. Put your fixed meetings on the calendar first.
2. Pick the two or three tasks that matter most today.
3. Give each a block in a real gap, adding extra time to your estimate.
4. Leave one empty block for whatever runs over.

If a block gets missed, move it rather than abandoning the plan. Our guide Time-blocking for people who hate time-blocking has a forgiving version.

In Thendoo: drag a task onto a free slot on Today, or use Block time for a focus block. Blocks can also appear in a separate “Thendoo” calendar in Google, so others see you as busy.