Time-blocking has become a popular productivity technique, and it’s not hard to see why. When done well, organizing your calendar can help you get more done in less time by reducing procrastination.
However, time-blocking doesn’t work for everyone. For some, planning every single minute can lead to higher levels of stress. A lack of flexibility can also cause problems when reactive jobs need completing or if something unexpected happens—like the internet going down.
If you feel like time-blocking doesn’t work for you, here are eight productivity techniques you can try to using instead.
1. Use the Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro technique is a relatively new concept that was created in the 1980s by Francisco Cirillo.
In its simplest form, the Pomodoro Technique involves 25 minutes of work followed by a short break. To make sure you stick to this method, you’re supposed to use a timer. Once you’ve got the basics down, you can go even further with advanced Pomodoro techniques.
By taking regular breaks, you’ll give your brain time to process information and avoid getting overwhelmed. Over the whole day, you may find that you can get more done by taking time out for breaks than if you were to work for the same period straight through.
If 25 minutes doesn’t seem long enough for you, try working in 60- to 90-minute bursts and then taking breaks.
A good Pomodoro Technique app that can help with this is Focus Booster.
2. Focus Intensely on Your Top 20 Percent of Tasks
The 80/20 rule exists in numerous practices, and productivity is no different. This rule is known as the Pareto Principle. The theory behind it is that 20 percent of your work is responsible for 80 percent of your output.
When working or studying, you can use the Pareto Principle to find and focus on the 20 percent of your most important workflows. As long as you get these tasks done each day, you will continue moving toward your goals.
3. Have a Relaxing Evening Routine
You don’t have to go far on social media to find a famous entrepreneur or CEO talking about their morning routine. And if you can’t find one of those, you’ll likely discover an article talking about what they do when they wake up.
While starting your day the right way is important, ending the evening on a good note is equally essential.
Don’t worry, your evening routine doesn’t need to involve cooking a gourmet meal or getting ready for bed at 5pm. Keep things simple; watch your favorite TV show, read a book, or go for a walk. Whatever relaxes you is okay.
It’s also a good idea to limit your screen time before going to sleep. Your screen produces blue lights, which trick your brain into thinking that it’s still daytime.
Try not to look at your phone at least 30 minutes before bedtime, and charge your device on the other side of your room to help avoid distractions.
4. Batch Smaller Tasks Together
If you feel like you don’t have enough hours in the day, spending too much time on menial tasks might be why. Checking your phone and spending half your day in your email inbox will cause you to lose hours.
For smaller and reactive tasks, it’s a good idea to batch these together. For example, you can set aside 20 minutes to reply to emails and return missed calls in the middle of the day and before you finish in the evening.
By batching smaller tasks together, you’ll save time and feel a greater sense of accomplishment, ticking off more items from your to-do list in the process.
To batch tasks together, you can use an app like Todoist to create subtasks and categories.
5. Maximize Your Downtime
Even on your busiest days, chances are you still have small patches of free time here and there. You can use these moments to perform less critical tasks and don’t need much brainpower.
Tasks that fall into this category include answering texts, checking your social media, and replying to non-critical emails.
Small pockets of time where you can usually perform these actions include when you’re in the shopping queue, waiting for your bus or train home, or while you’re waiting for your dinner to cook.
Maximizing your downtime will ensure that you do all the small tasks you need to do and that they won’t distract you from the more important jobs.
6. Start Single-Tasking
For all the talk of multitasking that exists, not as many people mention that your brain can only really focus on one task at a time.
Various studies have shown that multitasking often results in the opposite of the desired effect; it can decrease your productivity instead of increasing it.
The simple solution to the problem of multitasking is to focus on one task at a time. Each day, make a list of what you need to do. When completing tasks, ignore everything else that either needs attention later or suddenly arises.
By putting more energy into a single task at a time, you’ll find that you get more done in a shorter time frame.
To help you with single-tasking, you might want to block out all distractions manually. You can use apps like RescueTime and Cold Turkey to block access to websites for a specific time period to do this.
7. Remember the Five-Minute Rule
If you’re facing a task you don’t want to complete, try using the five-minute rule. To put it simply, the five-minute rule states that you only need to focus on a task for five minutes.
The idea behind this technique is that once you’ve started, you usually feel that you might as well finish it.
The rule is useful when you’re having an unmotivated day and need to do something like visiting the gym.
When five minutes have passed, you can stop doing the task if it’s still unbearable. You still technically achieved your objective, so you don’t need to feel bad about being unproductive.
8. Enjoy Themed Days
Themed days is one of the most fun productivity techniques on this list. All you need to do is dedicate each day of the week to a different focus. For example, Mondays could be for accounting and Fridays could be for marketing.
If you’re studying, you can use this technique to dedicate each day to a different subject or assignment type.
When you theme your days like this, you guarantee that you’ll cover at least a little bit of everything you need to get done. And since you keep things interesting with the variety, creating themes for your days can also help you avoid burnout.
If you’re looking for an app to help you theme your days, you can use either Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar to set a placeholder.
Time-Blocking Isn’t the Only Productivity Technique That Works
While time-blocking works for many people, plenty of others haven’t found success with it. If you’re one of those, you don’t need to worry; there are plenty of other options out there, many of which we just told you about.
Experiment with some of the techniques on this list. Some will work for you; others won’t. But eventually, you’ll be sure to find your perfect fit.