Scheduling with Time Blocking and Focus Themes

Scheduling can sometimes be as simple as adding an appointment or meeting to your calendar. Scheduling is one of the skills of time management, and an important part of Planning. Remembering to include action steps for your goals on your To Do List or schedule is the way to make progress towards their achievement. But other things like repeating tasks can be handled with time blocking and focus themes.

Time Blocking, (sometimes called time chunking) is about blocking off chunks of time in your schedule to group like tasks together and optimize your day to make the most of a daily routine. It helps you to focus more intensely on one thing at a time. First break your day into four blocks with a: Wake up routine, Morning routine, Afternoon routine, and Evening routine. Make checklists for these daily routines. Also think of things that you want to Always do today. These may include habits you want to create, like drinking 8 glasses of water daily, etc.

Focus Themes can be used to block out times during the week for various tasks. Themes can handle things like a daily focus, menus, cleaning, and adding positive shift throughout the week into your schedule. The Weekly Schedule above includes examples of Daily Themes that I use. Both Time Blocking and Focus Themes are not meant to box you in, but to free you up! They provide a flexible structure for organizing time.

Download a blank Weekly Schedule (pdf): 1. Write daily routines in the first column. 2. Fill in regular weekly meetings, appointments, etc. 3. Add themes for each day of the week for: focus, +shift, cleaning & menus, or whatever works for you.

Color coding is an option that can be helpful. Assign a color for different focus themes or activities to your calendar. This can work for an electronic calendar or with paper planners. See Color Coded Calendar from dansilvestre.com and Why You Need to Color Code Your Calendar at Asian Efficiency.

REMEMBER to SOAR:

• Start with regular meetings and routines that must be done.
• Open space to allow for the unknown – don’t schedule every minute of your day
• Add incoming tasks and update your lists and calendar as things change.
• Reserve your highest energy time for high priorities as much as possible.

Read more:

• Time Blocking at verywellmind
• Time Blocking at Productive Flourishing
• Complete Guide to Time Blocking at todoist
• What is Time Blocking? at Asana
• time blocking at mattgallant.tv and entrepreneur
• time chunking at management.about.com
• time boxing at litemind

See also Weekly Plan

About dailyplanit

I seek to create order from the chaos of complex information. Join me at the Daily PlanIt to gain insights, inspiration, and information to increase skills for a better life. I unlock the power of teaching reading with phonics in the pursuit of literacy at www.phonicspow.com. In my spare time I explore books and movies, often choosing titles available on both screen and page.