Blocks No. 01, one chapter at a time
Our long guide to time blocking, published here as separate pieces. Every number in it is traced to the study it came from, and the famous ones that do not hold up are named and left out. Read them in order or take the one that matches the week you are having.
Twenty six pages, the four chapters that never became articles included. Free, and no address required. Get the whole guide as a PDF
Chapter 2. Eleven minutes: what a working day actually looks like
Eleven minutes: what a working day actually looks like
In 2005 three researchers followed twenty four office workers with stopwatches. The numbers they came back with explain more about your week than any productivity advice you have ever been given.
Chapter 3. The task you just left is still running
The task you just left is still running
The cost of switching is not paid at the moment you switch. It is paid afterwards, quietly, in the work you thought you had moved on to.
Chapter 4. Planning it, not finishing it, is what quiets your head
Planning it, not finishing it, is what quiets your head
Almost everyone believes the weight of an unfinished task is lifted by finishing it. There is good evidence it is lifted by deciding when you will do it, which is a far cheaper operation.
Chapter 5. Time blocking is four techniques wearing one name
Time blocking is four techniques wearing one name
Task batching, day theming, timeboxing and deep work solve four different problems. Most people who bounced off time blocking were using the right one for a week they were not having.
Chapter 6. How long a block should be, and the 60 percent rule
How long a block should be, and the 60 percent rule
Two sizes cause most of the failures: the block that is too short to be a block, and the day that is too full to be a day. The second is why people quit in week two.
Chapter 8. What to do when the day is ruined by ten in the morning
What to do when the day is ruined by ten in the morning
Something broke, someone needed you, and last night's careful plan now describes a day that is not happening. What you do in the next four minutes decides whether the habit survives the month.
Chapter 9. Why your blocks are too short, every single time
Why your blocks are too short, every single time
Not sometimes. Systematically, in one direction. And knowing about the bias does not fix it, which is exactly why the correction has to be mechanical.
Chapter 12. What a thirty minute meeting actually costs six people
What a thirty minute meeting actually costs six people
It does not cost thirty minutes, and it does not cost three hours either. The real number is larger, it is almost never counted, and the biggest part of it does not add up neatly at all.