Building Blocks of Time
By: Paul Gillen
Tags: Time Blocking, Time Management, Work Life Balance, Working From Home, Remote Working

For those of us fortunate to be able to continue working from home during the current pandemic, one challenge we are adjusting to the increasing amount of video calls we attend daily. Whether it’s Zooming in and out of meetings, or going to Meet someone to Hangout virtually, the Skype’s the limit when it comes to the amount of calls that have been added to daily schedules (I’m sorry but those puns were totally intended ;). Not only are we on video calls during work but the practice has also been extended to virtually connect with family and friends outside of work.

It’s important that we remain connected. On the bright side, we are fortunate that technology is enabling us to connect in these socially distant times. On the flip side, technology also enables others to virtually ‘steal’ our time through the simple act of adding an invite to our calendar.

Is the expectation that we should always say yes? If we say yes to all meetings, when do we get our actual work done? Do we need to spend all that time on video calls or do we have more of a choice in the matter?

I’d like to share how I am approaching this challenge to create more structure for my week with the aim to balance work and life under the same roof. I must add that I realise everyones’ circumstances are different at this time. I am grateful for the support of my wife who is on maternity leave looking after our two sons while I continue to work. We are also fortunate that our sons are young enough to be oblivious to what’s happening in the outside world. For us this provides a certain level of normality within the four walls of our home. So this is based on my experience, but hopefully there may be some ideas that may help some in any small way either now or when all this has passed.

How we Choose to Spend Our Time

I once had a boss who never accepted the excuse — ‘I didn’t have time’. His view was that everyone has the same amount of time so it’s how you choose to spend it that matters. That always resonated with me. But, as someone who can procrastinate and overthink, I can be easily distracted and can feel like time slips away from me.

So I have come to believe we have more of a choice in how we choose to spend our time. But we need a system to help us. Over the years I have consumed various resources to help me better manage my time. Three in particular stood out and provided me with the tools to help me improve:

The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin

This book helped me better understand things such as how the brain works; that we all have a daily processing limit and that multitasking does not work. My biggest learning from this book was the power of lists. I used to take pride in my ability to listen and retain information. I never saw the true value of a list. This book made me realise how unreliable memory can be and the impact of a distracted mind. Making a list of everything on our minds can help us feel more relaxed and better able to focus on our work.

As Daniel says in the book:

“when we have something on our minds that is important — especially a To-Do item — we’re afraid we will forget it, so our brain rehearses it, tossing it around in circles in something that cognitive psychologists actually refer to as the rehearsal loop … keeping items in rehearsal until we attend to them. Writing them down gives both implicit and explicit permission to the rehearsal loop to let them go, to relax its neural circuits so that we can focus on something else”

The Bullet Journal by Ryder Carrol

In my search to find a medium to create lists thereby offloading items from my mind and relaxing the rehearsal loop, I discovered the Bullet Journal (BuJo). This brought order and structure to how I captured notes and to-do lists which had previously been random and sometimes chaotic. It looks like just a regular dotted notebook but it’s actually an analog system that helps track the things I need to do, the things I have done and schedule them. The act of physically writing things down is quite mindful and helps me be more intentional about what I need to do. I also use the BuJo to write my daily gratitude log. When I am in the flow of using the BuJo, I feel in control of things. When I fall out of the flow, I don’t feel as in control.

Make Time by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky

Last year I discovered the book Make Time, a perfect compliment to the Organised Mind and Bullet Journal. It’s not about being superhuman or super productive. Instead it provides a simple but, in my opinion, great framework to help minimise distractions and ensure I block out time to focus on the things that are most important on any given day or week.

Jake and John provide a high level overview of the framework on the Make Time Website:

1. Highlight: Start each day by choosing a priority

Asking yourself “What’s going to be the highlight of my day?” ensures that you spend time on what matters most to you and don’t lose the entire day reacting to other people’s priorities. 2. Laser: Beat distraction to make time

Distractions like email, social media, and breaking news are everywhere. We’ll show you how to adjust your devices and apps so you can find Laser mode. 3. Energize: Use the body to recharge the brain

The lifestyle defaults of the 21st Century ignore our evolutionary history and rob us of energy, but with a few small changes, you can reset those defaults and power up. 4. Reflect: Adjust and improve your system

Finally, before going to bed, you’ll take a few notes. It’s super simple: You’ll decide which tactics you want to continue and which ones you want to refine or drop.

Building Blocks of Time & Structure

In a recent post I suggested setting a structure and routine for the day. This was as much a primer for me as it was a resource for anyone else adapting to the new working environment. Over the past few weeks I’ve realised I would need to rethink how my days were structured in order to adjust to going from working from home 1 day a week to doing so full time while balancing it with family life.

I focused in on creating that structure by using Google Calendar as a template to map out blocks of categorised time. I adapted the idea from John Zeratsky, co-author of Make Time.

I mapped out my day from the moment I get up until about 8pm by adding blocks of personal vs work time. I broke work time down further into two categories: Laser Focus and Open. While at home I want to make sure that work doesn’t become all consuming. I also want to ensure I set time aside for what’s most important in my life, particularly at this time. Things such as:

Exercise (personal time)

Writing my gratitude log (personal time)

Spending time with my wife & kids (personal time)

Connecting with friends & family (personal time)

Breaks to refuel (personal time)

Focused Work (laser focus time)

Collaboration & connecting with colleagues (open work time)

I then assigned a colour code system for Personal (grey) vs Laser Focus (orange) vs Open (green) time preferences.