The Time-Block Planner (Second Edition)

Informationen zum Autor Cal Newport is a professor of computer science at Georgetown University, and the New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including A World Without Email , Digital Minimalism, and Deep Work , which have been published in over forty foreign markets. He's also a contributing writer at The New Yorker and the host of the popular podcast Deep Questions with Cal Newport . He lives with his wife and three sons in Takoma Park, Maryland. Leseprobe Instructions for Using the Time-Block Planner The time-block planner dedicates a two-page spread to each workday. I call these the daily pages. It also dedicates a two-page spread for each weekend that can be used to structure your Saturday and Sunday, and plan for the week ahead. I call these the weekend pages. We'll return to the weekend pages later in these instructions. For now, let's focus on the daily pages, as they're the key to this system's scheduling discipline. As shown in figure 1, the daily pages contain several elements. On the right-hand side is the time-block grid. This is where you'll maintain your time-block schedule for the given day. On the left-hand side is a pair of columns for collecting obligations or ideas that come up while you're in the middle of executing a time block. By writing these intrusions down in the moment to deal with later, you'll avoid the need to divert your attention. The left-hand side of the daily pages spread also includes a box dedicated to tracking metrics designed to measure behaviors that you identify as crucial to succeeding in your professional life. Inside this box is the "shutdown complete" checkbox that indicates that you've completed a shutdown ritual for the day. As you'll learn, this ritual has become a favorite of this system's devotees. Let's walk through the use of these daily page elements one by one, starting with the most important, the time-block grid. Using the Time-Block Grid At the beginning of each workday, flip to the next empty daily pages spread and record the date in the box at the top of the right-hand page. You're now ready to create a time-block schedule for the day. To do so, you'll use the time-block grid, also on the right-hand page. Each solid horizontal line represents one hour, and each dotted line represents a half hour. Moving from the top to the bottom, label the solid lines on the left side of the page with the hours during which you plan to work during the day. For example, if you're working from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., you'd label the first solid line 9:00, the second 10:00, and so on, down to 5:00. You can now create a time-block schedule for these hours. When you build your first schedule for the day, use the first column of the grid. The other columns will be used later if you end up needing to fix your schedule as the day unfolds. To build the schedule, partition your working hours into blocks of time and assign to each block the specific work you plan to accomplish during this time. You record this schedule on the time-block grid by actually drawing boxes around the time captured by each block and then labeling each with the work assigned to it. If you need more room for a block's description-for example, if you want to list out multiple tasks you plan to accomplish during a short block-put a number in the block, and then use that same number to label a list of the extra information in the upper right corner of the block grid, where it's unlikely to get in the way of future schedule fixes. To make these instructions concrete, see figure 2, which shows a sample time-block schedule. When building your time-block schedule, you should first reference whatever calendar you use to make sure that you're adding time blocks for any meetings or appointments you already have scheduled. The real decision then becomes what to do with the free time...

Auteur

Cal Newport is a professor of computer science at Georgetown University, and the New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including A World Without Email, Digital Minimalism, and Deep Work, which have been published in over forty foreign markets. He's also a contributing writer at The New Yorker and the host of the popular podcast Deep Questions with Cal Newport. He lives with his wife and three sons in Takoma Park, Maryland.

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NEW AND IMPROVED with a spiral binding, four months of planning pages, enhanced interior design, and an updated introduction – this daily planner deploys the power of time blocking to help you focus on what's important.

Since bestselling author Cal Newport introduced The Time-Block Planner in 2020, time-blocking has taken the world by storm. From Tik-Tok to The Today Show, time-blocking has been touted as “near miraculous,” helping people get significantly more done with their limited time. Now, Cal Newport has redesigned his renowned planner based on your feedback.

New features include:

• A spiral binding so the planner lays flat
• Five daily spreads and a newly condensed weekend/weekly-planning spread per week
• An increase from three to four months’ worth of planning pages
• A firmer cover with rounded edges to help prevent bending and warping
• A revised introduction with Newport’s latest insights about the power of time-blocking.
  The core idea of time-blocking is to move beyond a simple task list and instead partition your working hours into blocks assigned to specific activities. This allows you the take better advantage of what time you actually have available—more effectively protecting hours for deep work and finding more opportunities to batch shallower efforts into efficient sprints. Newport's new and improved The Time-Block Planner is designed to help you seamlessly integrate this strategy into your daily life, instantly upgrading your ability to avoid distractions and consistently accomplish things that matter.