BLOCK TIME IN YOUR CALENDAR! Oh boy, have I heard that one a lot in management meetings.  Pick-up just about any time management book and you'll read the same thing.  Sometimes an entire chapter is devoted to it.  But does it work?

The standard approach to blocking time...

Most generic time management will promote the idea of blocking time in three ways.

1. For certain moods. "Block two hours on Thursday to work on Marketing".  "Block three hours on Monday mornings to plan your sales strategy".
2. For certain repetitive tasks. "Block an hour a day to clear your email".  "Block two hours on Wednesday to do all the finances".
3. For specific large tasks. "I need to block two hours to get that proposal done".

It then seems so simple.  When that time comes in your Calendar, you stop switch to the actions designated for the blocked time.  In my own personal experience and in observations as a coach with my clients, I rarely see it work that well however.

...the standard approach to ignoring your calendar

A few problems get in the way.

First, blocking time for certain moods is tricky.  Working on strategy, sales, marketing or similarly creative tasks requires you to have a certain level of energy.  To be "in the mood".  This wont always co-incide with blocked time.  You need to be very careful about how often and when you block such time.

In addition, when presented with "two hours to do strategic planning" many freeze in the face of this big, blank block of time.  30 minutes can pass before you get in the mood and figure out how to make best use of this time.  Or worse, 30 minutes can pass and you find yourself going back to your email or something "easier".  Later you complain that you never get time for strategy...

Second, blocking time for repetitive tasks is a great idea but it requires discipline.  If you want to do your finances once a week, you need to stick with that.  You can't pop out an invoice here or there, pay a quick bill or anything else.  If you do, you will find you get to your blocked time and there is little or nothing to do.

Third, blocking time for specific large tasks should be straight-forward...and is a great idea.  But too often, people under-allocate the time involved and fail to finish the task.  This is typically because the task was WAY to large for the allocated time AND/OR the task was a generic lump rather than a really specific action.

Getting the most from blocked time

Don't get me wrong - blocking time is a critical time management strategy. But the single biggest problem with blocking time is that the act of blocking the time is often considered the one and only step.  "I have blocked three hours - all done!".  But its just a partial step.  To get the most from any blocked time, some degree of preparation is required.

So let's revisit our three time blocking strategies and improve them.

• Blocking time for certain moods. Pick your time carefully - choose high energy periods that suit your own body clock.  Then prepare.  Whenever you have an idea or receive information that would be suitable to work on in one of those moods, transfer it to a list and store it.  Then, when the time comes, you can go to that list for instant inspiration.  Blocking two hours for sales?  Create a "Sales ideas" list and every email, idea, newsletter, meeting note or other that is sales related gets added to that list...for actioning at that the designated time.  The more preparation the better - you want to use that time for action, not thinking about which action.
• Blocking time for repetitive tasks. Create a folder (or list) to store every action associated with that task.  This gives you a place to put the tasks, out of sight/out of mind, until the blocked time.  It reduces your temptation to do something now, by giving you an alternative location to store the action (rather than just leaving that email in your inbox, you can move it to a folder or a list).
• Blocking time for specific large tasks. Think "single actions".  Break down large tasks into a series of single actions and block time for each large action - not for the overall task itself.  That full day proposal probably has 2-3 one hour actions in it.  Block time for each of those 2-3 one hour actions only.  Get the rest of the actions associated with that proposal done in between.  This makes it much easier to block an appropriate amount of time to finish each action and makes it extremely clear exactly what you should do with that time.

Blocking time in your Calendar is a critical time management function.  But any blocked time needs a clear list of actions associated with it.  It's the combination of Calendars AND Lists that make blocked time extremely effective.  It's your time - if you are putting it aside, then make sure you are prepared to use it.