The *Huge* Problem With Timeblocking: What I Do Instead

Summary

The video script emphasizes the importance of aligning our work schedules with our natural energy cycles, rather than strictly adhering to time blocking methods that may not account for individual energy fluctuations. It introduces the concept of 'biological prime time,' the period of the day when one is most alert and energetic. The speaker suggests prioritizing tasks based on their demand and scheduling them during peak hours, while relegating lower-priority tasks to less energetic times. The script also touches on the drawbacks of time blocking, such as the potential for feeling like a failure when plans don't go as scheduled and the risk of overworking at the expense of rest and leisure. Additionally, it highlights the use of technology, like Apple's Focus modes, to minimize distractions during peak productivity periods. The speaker advocates for taking breaks that allow the brain to recharge and for a balanced approach to productivity that values quality over quantity, ultimately arguing for a more personalized and sustainable method of managing energy and time.

Takeaways

• 📅 Time blocking may not account for natural energy fluctuations throughout the day, which can lead to feelings of failure when plans don’t align with reality.
• 🧠 Understanding and leveraging your biological Prime Time, when you're most alert and focused, can help you work more effectively.
• 🌆 Recognize that your peak productivity times may not be in the morning and can vary from person to person.
• 📈 Prioritize tasks based on their demand and your energy levels, doing the most demanding tasks during your peak times and less demanding tasks outside of them.
• 🚫 Avoid multitasking and switching tasks frequently, as it can lead to a significant loss of focus and momentum.
• 📱 Utilize technology, such as Focus Modes on Apple devices, to minimize distractions and maintain concentration during peak productivity hours.
• 🧘 Take breaks that are low in cognitive stimulation to allow your brain to recharge effectively.
• 🎨 Allow creative tasks to evolve over time rather than rushing against the clock for quantity, which can compromise quality.
• 🤔 Be mindful of the quality of your work over the quantity, as the obsession with productivity can be detrimental to well-being and lead to decreased productivity in the long run.
• 🌟 Embrace a balanced life that values well-being and fulfillment over an unattainable standard of productivity.
• 🛠️ Stick with productivity tools that work for you and avoid the constant chase for new apps that claim to be game changers unless there's a significant improvement.

Q & A

What does the term 'biological Prime Time' refer to?

Biological Prime Time refers to the period of the day when a person is most alert, focused, and full of energy due to their cognitive abilities being at their peak during this time.

Why might time blocking not be effective for everyone?

Time blocking might not be effective for everyone because it doesn't account for variations in energy levels and cognitive abilities throughout the day, which can differ from person to person.

How does the speaker determine their own prime time for high energy tasks?

The speaker identifies their prime time by recognizing when they feel the most sharp and clear during the day, and schedules their high energy tasks such as creative work and important meetings during those hours.

What are some lower effort tasks that the speaker suggests doing outside of one's prime time?

The speaker suggests doing lower effort tasks like checking emails, accounting, going to the gym, and attending non-critical meetings or classes outside of their prime time.

How does the speaker prioritize tasks during their biological prime time?

The speaker assigns tasks a priority level from one to three, with one being the most important and demanding. During their biological prime time, they only work on Priority One tasks.

What is the issue with receiving notifications during a state of flow?

Receiving notifications during a state of flow can be highly disruptive, as studies show that switching tasks leads to a significant loss of focus and it takes a considerable amount of time to regain that focus.

How does the Apple ecosystem help the speaker manage notifications during their work hours?

The speaker uses Focus modes in the Apple ecosystem, which automatically switches their device to work mode during their peak hours, allowing only certain notifications through, silencing personal email, and turning off distracting apps.

What is the downside of taking a break by scrolling through social media?

The downside of taking a break by scrolling through social media is that it provides a false sense of rest, as the brain is still being stimulated with dopamine, which can leave a person more tired and less focused.

Why does the speaker advocate for longer, more relaxed time frames for creative tasks?

The speaker advocates for longer, more relaxed time frames for creative tasks because it allows for ideas to evolve and mature, often leading to higher quality work and preventing the pressure of racing against the clock.

What is the speaker's view on the current societal obsession with productivity?

The speaker believes that the societal obsession with productivity, which often prioritizes quantity over quality, is counterproductive and harmful to mental health and well-being. They argue for a balanced life and working in harmony with natural energy cycles.

How does the speaker feel about frequently changing productivity apps?

The speaker sees frequent changes in productivity apps as a waste of time and prefers to stick with what works for them. They only consider changing if there is a significantly better option available.

Outlines

00:00

📅 Embracing Biological Prime Time for Productivity

The first paragraph discusses the limitations of traditional time blocking and the importance of aligning work schedules with our natural energy cycles. It introduces the concept of biological Prime Time, the period of the day when we are most alert and energetic. The speaker emphasizes that everyone has different peak times and suggests prioritizing tasks based on their demand and our energy levels. They share their personal peak hours and how they use these times for high-energy tasks, while scheduling lower-effort tasks during non-peak hours. The paragraph also touches on the negative impacts of rigid time blocking and the benefits of using tools like Apple's Focus modes to minimize distractions during peak productivity periods.

05:00

🧘‍♂️ The Power of Rest and Creative Breaks

The second paragraph focuses on the counterproductive nature of quick social media checks during breaks and advocates for low cognitive stimulation activities that allow the brain to recharge. It discusses the benefits of longer, more thoughtful work on creative tasks, as opposed to rushing against the clock. The speaker shares their approach to creative work, such as writing, by breaking it down into smaller, manageable sessions over several days. This method not only leads to higher quality output but also prevents burnout and aligns with the natural flow of ideas and inspiration. The paragraph critiques the modern obsession with productivity at the cost of quality and well-being, and it encourages finding a balance that works for the individual.

10:01

🌟 Continuous Learning with Brilliant.org

The third paragraph is a sponsorship message for Brilliant.org, an online interactive learning platform that offers courses in math and science. The speaker recommends a specific course on data visualization and analysis, highlighting the platform's ability to break down complex concepts into understandable lessons. They mention the benefits of personalized content and the flexibility to learn at one's own pace. The paragraph includes an offer for the first 200 sign-ups to receive a discount on the annual premium subscription.

Keywords

💡Time Blocking

Time blocking is a productivity technique where one schedules specific time slots for different tasks throughout the day. In the video, it is mentioned that this method does not account for the natural fluctuations in energy and focus that individuals experience, leading to feelings of failure when the plan does not go as scheduled.

💡Biological Prime Time

Biological Prime Time refers to the periods during the day when a person is most alert, focused, and energetic. It is a concept that suggests that cognitive abilities vary throughout the day, and tasks should be scheduled accordingly. The video emphasizes the importance of aligning work with these peak times to maximize productivity and efficiency.

💡Energy Management

Energy management involves understanding and leveraging one's natural energy cycles to perform tasks more effectively. The video discusses how managing energy, rather than just time, can lead to higher quality work and a more balanced lifestyle. It contrasts this with the traditional focus on productivity at all costs.

💡Flow

Flow is a state of deep immersion and focus where one's work is highly productive and enjoyable. The video script talks about the negative impact of interruptions during flow, such as notifications, and how modern features like 'Focus modes' can help maintain this state by limiting distractions.

💡Focus Modes

Focus modes are settings on devices that allow users to limit distractions and notifications during certain periods, typically when they are most productive. The video highlights how these modes can be customized to allow only essential notifications through, thus protecting one's prime time for deep work.

💡Prioritization

Prioritization is the act of ranking tasks in order of importance or urgency. The script mentions assigning tasks a priority level, with Priority One being the most important and demanding tasks reserved for biological prime time. This strategy helps in aligning tasks with one's natural energy cycles.

💡Rest and Leisure

Rest and leisure are essential for maintaining a balanced life and recharging one's mental and physical energy. The video criticizes the tendency to fill every moment with work at the expense of rest, which can lead to burnout and decreased productivity in the long run.

💡Cognitive Stimulation

Cognitive stimulation refers to activities that engage and challenge the brain. The video suggests that breaks should be low in cognitive stimulation to effectively allow the brain to rest and recharge, as opposed to activities like scrolling through social media which can be mentally exhausting.

💡Creative Work

Creative work involves tasks that require original thought, imagination, and innovation. The script discusses how rushing creative tasks can reduce their quality and that allowing more time for ideas to evolve can lead to better results. It also touches on the importance of enjoying the process of creative work.

💡Productivity

Productivity is the efficiency of an individual's work or the amount of work done in a given period. The video challenges the common obsession with productivity, arguing that it often leads to a decrease in the quality of work and can negatively impact health and well-being.

💡Brilliant.org

Brilliant.org is an online interactive learning platform that offers courses in math and science. The video mentions it as a sponsor and highlights its approach to breaking down complex STEM topics into understandable, engaging lessons, which aligns with the theme of the video about the importance of understanding and working with one's natural abilities and cycles.

Highlights

The concept of time blocking can lead to feelings of failure if tasks take longer than expected or if energy levels fluctuate throughout the day.

Biological Prime Time is the period when individuals are most alert, focused, and energetic, varying for each person.

Cognitive abilities fluctuate throughout the day, suggesting that certain tasks are better suited to specific times.

Identifying personal peak hours can help align work with natural energy cycles, increasing productivity.

Using lower-energy hours for less demanding tasks, such as emails and maintenance, can optimize workflow.

The speaker is not a morning person and has identified two peak periods for high-energy tasks.

Scheduling non-urgent tasks outside of peak hours can prevent disruptions during high-energy periods.

Assigning tasks priorities can help focus on the most important and demanding tasks during peak times.

Time blocking can be inflexible and may not account for daily variations in energy and inspiration.

The use of Apple's Focus modes can help automate device settings to minimize distractions during peak work hours.

Focus modes can be customized for different activities, such as workouts or meditation, to optimize device notifications.

Taking breaks that are low in cognitive stimulation can help the brain recharge and lead to subconscious problem-solving.

Parkinson's Law suggests that work expands to fill the time given, but quality work may require more flexible time management.

The speaker prefers to work on creative tasks over multiple days, improving the quality of the final product.

The obsession with productivity can lead to decreased quality and long-term productivity, as well as harm mental health.

Productivity advice often lacks customization for individual needs and circumstances.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of using tools and apps that work for the individual and not frequently changing them.

A balanced life is more fulfilling than constantly chasing an impossible standard of productivity.

Brilliant.org is an online interactive learning platform that offers customized content for math and science learners.

Transcripts

picture this you plan your day by

filling all these different time blocks

in your calendar and you're ready to

crush it tomorrow but then reality hits

those quick tasks not so quick and that

big project after lunch yeah turns out

your brain isn't really on board with

that one and just when you're finally

pushing through some emergency comes up

and you have to leave you then start to

feel like a failure not because you

didn't work hard but because time

blocking doesn't account for our energy

variations throughout the day maybe it's

not about cramming every hour but

realizing every hour is not the same we

go through highs and lows every day so

why not use this to our advantage and

work with our brain and not against it

there's this thing called the biological

Prime Time and this is the time of the

day when we're most alert focused and

full of energy because our cognitive

abilities don't just stay static

throughout the day we're more alert and

creative as well as slower and foggier

at different times so certain tasks are

best performed at certain times everyone

always says do the hard things first but

that assumes we're all the same and our

Peak is in the morning but depending on

who you are it could also be late at

night or somewhere in between and you

probably already know what part of the

day you feel the most sharp and clear as

well as when you feel the most fatigued

and prone to distractions and while you

can get stuff done outside your prime

time it'll be like taking the stairs

when you could be taking the elevator so

why not stack the deck in our favor for

free by using that time to do lower

effort tasks like maintenance and email

and save your prime time for the more

demanding tasks for instance I'm not a

morning person I wake up at around 9:30

and I have two peaks between 11: and 1

and then from 3: to 5: and it's during

these hours that I focus on high energy

tasks like creative work important

meetings video editing and so on and as

for the other hours that's when I go

over the lower effort tasks like emails

accounting going to the gym Etc and it's

also during these hours that I schedule

all the tasks that don't benefit from me

being the most alert that I can be like

my French Classes non-important meetings

as well as you know doctor's

appointments so instead of assigning a

time for each task I assigned them

priorities one two or three with one

being the most important and demanding

and during my biological prime time when

I'm most alert I'll only do Priority One

tasks and outside of those peak hours

that's when I do priorities two and

three and this aligns my work with my

Natural Energy Cycles because nowadays

everyone wants to have a full calendar

with all these different things to do

and while time blocking looks good in

theory it has a lot of disadvantages

picture this you're working hard you

then get this wave of inspiration you in

flow everything's doing great and then

bam time's up you got to move on to

another task are you really going to

stop that great momentum you have over

some arbitrary time block that you gave

yourself sometimes weeks before and of

course this doesn't apply to meetings

and other non-negotiable tasks but you

know you probably don't just get to sit

down and flick a switch and immediately

get in flow and start doing great work

because our energy fluctuates not only

on an hour by hour basis but on a

day-by-day basis as well some days we

sleep bad or we're just not feeling our

best or maybe something came up and

that's okay but time blocking doesn't

account for this you set your blocks day

sometimes weeks ahead of time and you're

just supposed to stick to them and when

you inevitably don't do what you set out

to do it's easy to feel like a failure

and spend even more time deciding when

you're going to take on that extra work

and rearranging sometimes entire weeks

because of it and not to mention there's

a huge temptation to fill every slot

with productive work often at the

expense of rest and Leisure and this is

even worse for creatives which I'll get

to in the later parts of the video and

there's a lot of things I do to build on

this for instance you know when you're

in flow and you're hyperfocused on what

you're doing and you then receive a

slack or a WhatsApp notification and it

pulls you out of it this isn't a minor

Interruption because plenty of studies

show that every time we switch tasks we

lose a significant amount of our focus

and it takes a long time to then get

back into it now to get around this in

the past we would have to either use

airplane mode do not disturb or a third

party app blocker but these were very

limited you had to set them up in each

of your devices and they were very much

an All or Nothing approach you couldn't

just select which notifications you

still wanted to receive but nowadays if

you're in the Apple ecosystem you can

use Focus modes which is a massively

underrated feature in one that I see

very few people talking about I use

these all the time and they're fully

automated when I'm in my peak hours my

devic is automatically switch to my work

mode and in this mode only notifications

from certain people come through my

personal email gets silenced and apps

like Twitter get Switched Off and this

all happens automatically on weekdays

since my peak hours are always the same

and I also have Focus modes for

activities if I open up heavy which is

my workout app it triggers my workout

mode and when I open inside timer to

meditate it triggers my meditating mode

and this also goes for downtime when I'm

done for the day I don't want to get

notifications from work so I have my

downtime mode which silences all work

rated notifications like my work email

and slack and I always try to protect my

prime time because you know when you're

making a lot of progress on something

but then you have to leave because you

have something else scheduled is

frustrating right and that's why I

always schedule things that are flexible

like non-important meetings doctor's

appointments gym sessions all of that

outside this time period and of course

this is assuming that there's no

availability issues and there's one more

thing that's massively overlooked and

tell me if this sounds like you you're

working hard and when it's time to take

a break you instinctively grab your

phone and go on social media and I get

it this was me as well but here's the

thing this is the opposite of a break we

think we're resting but pumping our

brain with dopamine just leaves us more

tired and less focused it makes us want

to keep scrolling instead of returning

to our tasks the ideal break is low in

cognitive stimulation and is more boring

than our actual work it should still be

something that we enjoy but not enough

that it takes away the appeal of getting

back to work instead I try to take less

stimulating breaks meditation walking

listening to music working out reading

these are all real breaks that let our

brain recharge so that we can get back

to what we were doing there's also an

added benefit that when we're in

complete relaxation our brain is still

subconsciously working on a task at hand

and in fact my best ideas usually come

to me when I'm not doing anything at all

and this is especially true for

creatives I do my best to take longer

than I need to finish a creative task

and this sounds counterintuitive because

everyone always talks about Parkinson's

law which says that work will expand to

fill the time you give it but here's the

thing if you're all about doing more and

more then sure giving yourself a title

deadline will probably push you to

produce more but if you want to do

highquality creative work then racing

against the clock at least for me does

more harm than good I benefit a lot from

from taking my time and letting my ideas

evolve I'm going to give my creative

tasks as an example which is writing

these videos take multiple days to write

but that's because I work on them bit by

bit for multiple days so instead of

spending a full eight hours in a single

day writing them I'll break it down to

say two hours each day for 4 days and in

this example I'm still spending a total

of eight hours on it but the end result

is one of a much higher quality and this

is all going back to energy management

sure I could finish a video in the day

but not only would it be a struggle as

I'd have to force myself to work work

outside of my peak hours but it simply

wouldn't be as good because every day

that I go back to it I find myself

making changes and adding new things

that I couldn't see the day before this

is because we often come up with some of

our best ideas and developments while

doing just about anything other than

actively sitting down and brainstorming

and not to mention I really enjoy

writing these videos and part of the

reason why is because I take my time

with them and I'm not rushing just to

get more content out and I do my best to

enjoy myself I know I'll never get as

much done as I'd like and that's fine

but it feels like nowadays productivity

has become the way we measure our self

worth people go through all kinds of

honestly ridiculous lengths just to get

a little bit more done they push through

14-hour work days they eat meal

replacement drinks like soilin every day

and they even cut down on sleep and

every time I'm in a conversation the

person who says I don't have time for

that always seems to have some smug

sense of superiority because in the

world we live in busy people are seen as

hardworking and valuable while those

with time are seen as lazy and worthless

it's why there's a sea of videos

articles and paid courses on how to get

more done the emphasis is always on more

doing more achieving more but this

obsession with quantity over quality is

so crushing and ironically leads to

decrease productivity in the long run

it's the opposite of working with our

natural levels they force us into a mold

that doesn't fit often at the expense of

our health and well-being and those

types of videos always provide Universal

advice for individual audien

not all of us are morning people that

would benefit from waking up at 4:00

a.m. not all of us can afford to have

four side hustles while maintaining our

full-time job and sustaining our

families and that's not to mention the

infinite other problems that the

audience may have but all of these

videos on how to get more done don't

account for any of this and it puts us

at competition with ourselves which is

really harmful for our mental health and

while I'm on this little rant here every

other day I get a comment that says are

you still using todoist or obsidian or

Arc and I'm always so surprised at the

amount of times this gets asked because

I don't really change apps frequently

that's a massive waste of time once

something works for me I'll only even

consider changing it if there's

something significantly better and yeah

sure there'll always be new flashy apps

claiming to be game changers but I

honestly feel no need to change what I

already use anyway I guess that turned

into quite a rant but it's a topic I'm

really passionate about because at the

end of the day I think a balanced life

is so much more fulfilling than one

constantly chasing an impossible

standard of productivity

this video was very kindly sponsored by

brilliant.org brilliant is an online

Interactive Learning platform geared

towards maths and Sciences that is

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Concepts into easy to understand

bite-sized lessons brilliant approach is

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stem topics actually stick it doesn't

matter whether you're starting out or if

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level brilliant customizes content to

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through it at your own pace if you want

to get started in data analysis I highly

recommend you check out billian new

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there's always something new to learn to

try everything brilliant has to offer

free for a full 30 days visit

brilliant.org Sergio and the first 200

people that sign up will get 20% off

brilliant's annual premium subscription

and a big thank you to brilliant for

sponsoring today's video and like I said

before I make a lot of progress in my

work through meditating and I went

through all of that in this video right

here so I'll see you

there