Taking things one… time block at a time?

We’ve all heard of taking things one day at a time, right? But 24 hours is quite a long time. I find when I think of a day as an entire day, rather than smaller portions of it, I end up leaving all of my tasks for around… 9pm. And it hurts. And then I get no sleep. And then I regret everything. I wouldn’t recommend.

Lately, however, I’ve been trying to split my day into time blocks, and let me tell you, its been amazing. Rather than look at my day as a huge, messy lump of time, I instead see it as little time blocks that are much easier to handle. If I can get up and get to school 3 hours before my first class (and don’t worry, my earliest class is 12:30 – I’m not a psycho), then I look at that specific time block and set my intentions. I often choose a few of the most important tasks on my to do list, and decide to get them done within the time block ahead of me. That way, my brain doesn’t continue justifying procrastination because “if I don’t rest now, I will be too tired later when I have this other task to do”. Frankly, this excuse is stupid, and even though I can make my brain believe it, it really gets me nowhere.

Each small time block ahead of me seems doable. I am never overwhelmed by one to three hours of schoolwork or cleaning or class or exercise or whatever other tasks I have to complete. I give myself a challenging, but still achievable to do list, and just start the grind. If I get everything done, depending on the day and the time that I have left before whatever is next, I either start another task on my big to do list, or take a little bit of time to rest.

Even with classes or appointments, this time blocking technique can be super helpful. For example, although I really enjoy most of my classes, there are a few that take a lot of mental strength to get through… not to be dramatic. Seeing these classes as the small time blocks that they are makes me feel more prepared and mentally ready to focus hard and get as much out of it as I can.

As I finish tasks and time blocks, I feel accomplished which often motivates me to work hard again, within the next time block or on the next task. This time blocking method is definitely not without its flaws, and I will probably never completely eradicate lazy moments of procrastination, but overall it has given me a way to be and feel much more productive on a day to day basis.

Let me know your time management methods, or if you end up trying time blocking! I’d love to chat.

Thanks for reading.

An entirely unqualified life guru,

Emma 🙂