What is Block Scheduling?

What is Block Scheduling?

If you’ve been making to-do lists but still feel as though you’re falling behind, you may find that using a block schedule can give your productivity a real boost. Block scheduling allocates time to tasks, and you only work a task during its assigned “block.” This means no meetings, no email breaks, no looking at your phone or responding to a notification on social media. If you have blocked off a chunk of time—from 1 p.m. until 3:30 p.m.—to work on something, that’s all you’re going to do until 3:31 p.m.

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You may be familiar with the concept of block scheduling from school. Many high schools have adopted block scheduling because it allows students and teachers to focus on fewer subjects at a time, and to delve into those subjects with greater depth. This method helps students and educators to take their time with the material, rather than trying to cram a lot of information into a limited amount of time. In junior high schools and high schools that have adopted block schedules, there are typically fewer classes each day, but each class is for a longer amount of time.

This method has shown to be tremendously effective for students to improve their focus, increase the number of courses they are able to effectively take, build interpersonal relationships, and improve their grades.¹ While working adults who apply block scheduling to their personal and professional lives may not have to worry about grades, other benefits still apply. By blocking out time to complete tasks, adults may find that they are able to focus on and achieve their goals.

How Block Scheduling Helps You Work More Effectively

If you’re the type of person who prefers to make a to-do list and feels that assigning a task to every minute of the day is a form of micromanaging, block scheduling may initially feel like a big ask. But by giving yourself parameters to work within, you’re actually making yourself more effective.

British historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson wrote in an essay that “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”² Unless you’re the type to continually have your nose to the grindstone, it can be easy for a task to get away from you. Perhaps your goal for the weekend is to organize your garage. If you’re actively working and not taking breaks, the task might take you a few hours at most. But if you let it, the task can take the entire day, and then some. This concept is known as “Parkinson’s Law.”

One way to combat Parkinson’s Law is to give your tasks some clear boundaries by blocking off time to work on them. By eliminating open-endedness and distractions, you’re forced to focus, which means you’re more likely to complete things in a timely fashion.

Creating a Block Schedule for Yourself

It may feel like a daunting task to create a schedule that accounts for so much of your time every day, but creating a block schedule can be easy, especially if you have goals in mind.

To begin, you need to think about why you need to block time in the first place. Do you have trouble focusing? Are deadlines getting away from you? Are there things you’d like to do that you can never seem to complete? Perhaps your work-life balance needs some retooling. Or maybe you’re devoting too much time to emails. Whatever the reason, understanding your goals and priorities will help you to block out time.

Before tackling your workday, think about your personal time. Block time for breakfast, for a shower, for winding down at night and for spending time with family. Make time for hobbies and activities outside work that you enjoy. Your job has its own requirements for your time but making a deliberate point to take time for yourself and the things that you enjoy can help you to maximize that time.

Set aside time in your workday for tasks that are meaningful and for tasks that are shallow (like breaks). You know when you are most motivated and most attentive, so block out the time of day when you’re at your best for work that you consider meaningful and important to your job. If you regularly experience a mid-day lull, allow yourself some time for an activity that doesn’t require a big mental commitment.

Make sure that you’re blocking some time during the day for reactive tasks as well. At some point you’ll need to respond to a phone call, take a meeting, or follow up on a few emails. These tasks are part of nearly every workday but having a dedicated amount of time to deal with them means that they won’t distract you during other blocks of time. A block schedule gives you the power to choose when to deal with these reactive tasks instead of letting them seep into other activities and disrupt your productivity.

It can take some time to adjust to block scheduling, especially if you consider yourself to be easily distracted or highly reactive. Sticking to a schedule and working on a single task for a set amount of time isn’t going to happen overnight. Thankfully, Microsoft has tips for managing your calendar to help you understand how to juggle your job and your personal obligations. You can use the calendar function within Outlook for business to customize your workday and block time accordingly—make sure to take a long lunch every now and then.