Busy people tend to forget to rest or set aside time for themselves. Some days it may feel like 24 hours is not enough to accomplish everything you need to work on. What’s supposed to be an 8-hour workday extends to 10 hours. You may find yourself sacrificing sleep and eating at irregular times just to finish your tasks. This habit is terribly unhealthy and will inevitably lead to you getting sick or burnt out.
Organize your day in advance by using daily or weekly time blocking templates. Practicing time blocking helps a great deal when it comes to making sure that everything is accomplished within a specific amount of time rather than just letting fate take its course. Plus, it teaches you how to prioritize the most important tasks and be disciplined to get it done within an hour or so.
There are different approaches to time blocking methods, but to help you achieve your goals for the day, it is best paired with the Getting Things Done (GTD) method. GTD encourages you to review and organize your tasks daily to help keep you familiar and engaged with your tasks. With GTD’s concept of prioritizing tasks according to how much time and energy you have available, time blocking becomes more effective as you can set aside a specific time for you to finish all your tasks for the day.
If you’re a techy person or if using an app is more convenient for you than time blocking manually, here are a few time blocking apps you should look up:
Plan
To-do lists, calendar, and time blocking all in one
What’s more, you can use this with your co-workers and manage tasks as a team and individually. If you want to see the number of meetings or places you went to for the past month and even the amount of time you spend on your most usual tasks, they have the insights space for that. View your monthly analytics and learn what you can improve and be proud of what you’ve achieved in just a click.
Planyway
Best for Trello users
First-time users of Planyway may get confused. It has a confusingly blank default user interface, and you may get lost as to where to start. If you want to try this, it’s best paired with the online planner Trello. Tracking progress and tasks is made easy in this app thanks to the color-coding scheme. It also shows a roadmap and offers different calendar views. Easily set up recurring tasks or events, customize your time block cards, and even record the time you actually spend on a task by turning the timer on the task card.
This app is incredibly useful because it can be integrated with lots of calendars including but not limited to Trello, Apple Calendar, and Google Calendar. However, if you want two-way calendar syncing, you need to avail the Pro plan.
HourStack
Monitor the amount of time you spend on tasks
Power through your day with ease and learn which task is taking up your time with HourStack. This app’s main feature is it enables users to track the amount of time they spend on a task. If you finish the task within the given time, you may mark it as finished. If you don’t, you can mark the task as undone and reschedule it for later. Get reports on which task you can reduce time on when time blocking as well as those that you need to improve on.
Unlike most time blocking apps that automatically pull data from the integrated calendars and productivity apps, HourStack lets you choose which task to add to its calendar. Simply drag and drop events from the external calendars sidebar onto HourStack’s calendar and you’re good to go. This can be connected with many apps including Asana and Trello, but you do have to pay a monthly fee after getting a free 14-day trial.
TickTick
Has an integrated Pomodoro timer
If you want to finish your tasks, stay focused, and reward yourself with little breaks all at the same time, choose TickTick. You can use this app for time blocking and practicing the Pomodoro Technique. Set up a task with a due date then drag it to your calendar to set the time. It has a dashboard for your Pomos, calendar, to-do list, and random musings. Be most productive with this app that lets you enjoy your time while being disciplined.
The best thing about this is you can connect this with various apps including Gmail and Slack. You may use it across various platforms such as the web, your phone, your computer, and as a Gmail add-on. To give you access to more features, avail its premium version for less than $28.
Timebloc
The best mobile time blocking app
If you want to keep your data secure, Timebloc may be the best choice for you. While others may see the lack of availability in desktops and the web inconvenient, it actually helps streamline your time blocking process. Plus, you’ll get handy access to your daily schedule with a gadget that you can bring anywhere you go. This is the most basic and personal time blocking app that you can find out there.
In addition to creating time-specific tasks, it also allows you to see statistics on what you spend your time most on. Whether it’s for leisure, self-improvement, studying, or working, this app lets you personalize and give you a better understanding of your time management. Create routine tasks for repetitive events and get your day planned down to the minute. However, Timebloc is free for the first seven days then you will have to pay for the Premium version monthly or annually.
Start being more productive and get enough rest with the assistance of these awesome time blocking apps we curated for you.
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