What is ‘block time’? It’s simply a block of time you’ve scheduled for a particular purpose, like 9:30 am to 11:30 am or 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm, during which time you are not to answer the telephone, check email, or [...]]]> ‘Block time’ may be one of the most important productivity strategies you incorporate into your life.

What is ‘block time’? It’s simply a block of time you’ve scheduled for a particular purpose, like 9:30 am to 11:30 am or 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm, during which time you are not to answer the telephone, check email, or in any other way allow people to interrupt you. It’s private time for you to focus, without interruption, on getting high priority things done.

When should you schedule ‘block time’? The best time would be when you’re at your highest energy levels.

Do you experience high energy 100% of the time? Most people don’t. Most people experience different levels of energy at different times of the day, but usually it’s consistent from day to day. The trick is to find out when you experience your highest levels of energy and schedule your block time accordingly.

We all have peak energy times throughout the day when we’re most productive. Determine when time that is for you. For a lot of people it’s 9:00 am to 11:00 am. It may be late evening or early morning for you.

Musicians and artists often prefer midnight to 3:00 am. I experienced when I was playing music professionally. No one is around to bother you and it’s very quiet/peaceful (a great time for creativity).

You may want to track how you feel, in terms of energy, for week. You can use the example form below as a model and make your own form or you can download a printable PDF of it here.

Once you have an energy form, keep it with you and note on it every hour or two what level of energy you’re currently experiencing. At the end of the week you’ll see a pattern emerging.

When you know your peak energy times, block out some of this time on your calendar. During this time turn off your phones and email and close your door or escape to another location if necessary so you won’t be interrupted. Doing this will insure you have least one solid block of highly productive time to devote to completing high priority tasks every day.