3589: Create a Daily Routine with Calendar Time Blocking (+ 7 Pro Tips) by Kyle Kowalski of Sloww

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[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_04] This is Optimal Living Daily. Create a daily routine with calendar time blocking plus 7 pro tips. By Kyle Kowalski of slow.co and I'm Justin Malek. And we're gonna get right into today's article as we optimize your life. Create a daily routine with calendar time blocking plus 7 pro tips. By Kyle Kowalski of slow.co.

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_04] I really think I've tried just about every productivity and to-do list tip, trick, hack, and app. Trying to make a day seem more like a day and a half. In the past, I definitely fell into the societal belief that more is better. But no matter our approach to our days, the reality is that there are still only 24 hours. So instead of cramming as much as possible into any given day, I now believe that better is better.

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_04] That often means that less is better. So how do you do less but better and actually increase efficiency and effectiveness? Enter time blocking. What is calendar time blocking? Time blocking is a process of taking tasks from your to-do list and intentionally scheduling them on your calendar for a set period of time. Your to-do list is as simple as that, just a list of things. Even if your to-do list is in rank order of priority,

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_04] there is no time associated with the tasks. Time blocking takes your priorities and puts them in a calendar format. After all, as Daniel Pink says, What gets scheduled gets done, end quote. Fast Company and Forbes have both touted the benefits of time blocking. There are a couple principles that time blocking helps protect yourself against. Number one, the Zygarnik effect.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_04] People remember uncompleted or uninterrupted tasks better than completed tasks. By having everything scheduled, you don't have to use as much mental capacity to constantly think about uncompleted tasks. And number two, Parkinson's law. Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Same goes here. Scheduling tasks allows you to put a start and end time to them so they don't constantly linger forever.

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_04] Seven calendar time blocking pro tips. Number one, identify your life roles. You can only have so many life roles. So it's important to identify who you are and who you are not. Say no to as much as possible. Number two, define what is important. Once you've identified your life roles, you can identify what's important to you and those roles. Apply essentialism here. Quote,

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_04] What's important now? After a moment of reflection, I realized that until I knew what was important right now, what was important right now was to figure out what was important right now. Greg McEwen, author of Essentialism. Number three, understand your energy and when it's best to use it. Daniel Pink's new book, When, is a whole new category of self-help books. It's not a how-to book. It's a when-to book.

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_04] It's all about structuring your day around your type, your tasks, and your time. Number four, single task to get more done. There's a growing amount of research that shows that single tasking, deep work, and getting into flow states allows you to be much more productive. Number five, plan for breaks and create margin in your schedule. No one can productively go from task to task to task without taking a break

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_04] or having some downtime. Daniel Pink talks about the power of restorative breaks and creating margin was one of my biggest takeaways from the book Chasing Slow. Number six, time block on the weekend for the week ahead. I time block time to time block. My preferred time to do this is on Sunday nights before I go to bed. And number seven, try Google Calendar for your time blocking.

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_04] I have time blocked for eating breakfast, morning work, working out, lunch, afternoon work, dinner, home to-dos, calling my family, hanging out with my wife and dogs, reading, getting ready for bed, sleeping, personal appointments, home maintenance appointments, you name it. I use different colors that coordinate with the type of task, like sleeping, eating, working, exercise, and so on. Give time blocking a try

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_04] and stick with it. What you'll likely realize the first time you attempt to time block your day or week is that you run out of space on the calendar pretty quickly. Either that or you'll underestimate the amount of time it actually takes to do something. You'll get the hang of it over time and you'll become a more accurate time forecaster and build a routine based on consistency. Time blocking also allows you to see where you struggle and veer off course throughout the day. Where are the areas

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_04] or times of day where you notice yourself logging into Facebook or heading to shopping sites? Time blocking gives you a new perspective on time and how you use it so you can get your most important stuff accomplished. Quote, time blocking is one of the best ways of turning good intentions into action. Paul Miners. You just listened to the post titled Create a Daily Routine

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_04] with Calendar Time Blocking Plus 7 Pro Tips by Kyle Kowalski of slow.co and I'll be right back with my commentary. This show is sponsored by Liquid IV. Hydration isn't just chugging water, it's about absorbing it effectively. That's where Liquid IV shines. Their formula combines allulose and amino acids for efficient absorption, keeping electrolytes in your system for up to four hours. It's clinically studied, hydrating better than water alone. I love the Raspberry Lemonade Hydration Multiplier.

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[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_04] but I still do think there's value in it. We might have these endless to-do lists that just keep growing. There's definitely something powerful about actually putting tasks on a calendar instead of leaving them as this abstract collection of things to do. For me personally, I do love to set reminders that go into my calendar for things that I'd likely forget to do otherwise, like replacing filters for example. It's not quite time blocking, but the idea is similar. It does end up on my calendar and then it gets done.

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_04] So filling up the calendar a bit more to actually plan the day likely would help. And interesting that we talked about Parkinson's Law again, just talked about it yesterday. So Parkinson's Law, if you don't know, says that work will expand to fill the time available. And sometimes just lowering the amount of time we give something can help us get more done. Whether or not you actually try time blocking formally, hopefully there is something in here that you could take away and use in your own life.

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_04] It's really just about getting ourselves to take more action. So thank you to Kyle for this one. Thank you for listening and being here. I really appreciate you learning along with me. Have a great rest of your day and I'll be back tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.