The Long and The Short Of It

Episode 151 - Time Blocking

Transcript:

Jen: Hello, listeners. Before we get to this week's episode, Pete and I are so excited to let you know that we are co-facilitating Akimbo's upcoming Real Skills Conference. It's August 19th, from 3-5pm Eastern. If you are inclined to meet amazing changemakers from all across the globe, I hope you'll join us. Head on over to thelongandtheshortpodcast.com/realskills for all the juicy details.

Pete: We would love, love, love to see you there. Also, while we've got you, we would love it if you took a moment to take a screenshot of the podcast and share it with a friend or post it on social media, or jump on to Apple podcasts and leave us a review. It helps us find more amazing listeners, just like you. For now, please enjoy this week's episode.

Jen: Hello, Peter.

Pete: Hello, Jen.

Jen: You know how sometimes during an episode, we'll be unpacking something and it will feel so big that we'll say something like, "We should really do an episode on that point," and then we almost never do?

Pete: You mean the thing that happens every single time we record an episode?

Jen: Well, I'm actually going to open up one of those points. I'm double clicking on something we talked about a couple of weeks ago: Time Blocking.

Pete: I have thoughts. I have curiosities. I want to hear more. This is The Long and The Short Of It.

Jen: Okay. So we mentioned this in the episode called Distraction, and I wanted to dig a little bit deeper. So for those of you who missed that episode, here's what time blocking is...but also like, why did you miss the episode? Go back and listen, friends. Okay...

Pete: And share it with a friend while you're at it.

Jen: Time blocking is putting chunks of time on your calendar that are labeled based on the kind of work you will be doing during that time, but not necessarily the specific tasks. And this is a method I've been using for almost a decade. And I've just found it so, so helpful. So, I have different blocks of time on my calendar for different kinds of work. And just to take this like to the advanced level,-

Pete: Please.

Jen: -these times in my calendar are based on the science behind when I am at my most creative, my most productive, and my most burnt out. So...

Pete: Woah.

Jen: I know. I know it. So, I keep my highly creative time for highly creative projects. So I have things on my calendar called "To-Do Time", which is when I will go in and just do tasks that are on my to-do list. I have "Business/Admin Time" where I'm working on things within my business, which right now I'm having to spend a lot of Business/Admin Time as we are making the transition back to in-person world. I have "Magic Time" on my calendar. I have "Family Time" on my calendar. And when I am in a serious creative project phase, I will also put time on my calendar called "White Space".

Pete: Mmm. Wow.

Jen: And basically, I will only do tasks that would fall under that umbrella during those times.

Pete: So can I ask, do you have clarity in your mind (obviously) of what are the types of tasks that fall within those categories?

Jen: Indeed, I do.

Pete: Which feels like an obvious thing to clarify, but I think so important.

Jen: No, no, no, it's really, really important. So like, answering emails does not happen during Magic Time.

Pete: Right.

Jen: No, no, no. Just as writing blog posts doesn't happen during To-Do Time. Because To-Do Time is in the afternoon for me, typically starts around like three o'clock, when I'm just not at my sharpest around that time. So it's a great hour for me to just do the laundry, take out the trash, call a friend, things like that.

Pete: Mmm. Okay, you preempted a couple of my questions. I'm just going to ask you a bunch of questions to start. One was: Is there science to the when, in terms of what times during the day?

Jen: Yes.

Pete: I knew you would have an answer that would be in the affirmative, because of Dan Pink's book, When.

Jen: That's right. That's the easiest resource to point people to because not everyone is the same, and the kind of work everyone is trying to excel at is not the same. So there are some certain times of the day, for example, when you are more biased than others.

Pete: Yeah. I know. Isn't that wild?

Jen: So like, I can't be doing my highest creative priority work during my times of day when I would have the tendency to lean on bias to short circuit some shortcuts. I've got to put the stuff that really requires high creativity early in the day when I'm my sharpest, I'm flowing, I'm available for heavier thinking.

Pete: Mmm. Mmm. Okay, I like that. I like that. I guess my other question on this is: Is there a science to doing each of these at least once a week, or once a day? Or is that kind of fluid in terms of when they appear on your calendar?

Jen: That is such a great question, Pete. So the answer, for me, is that it flows with certain seasons. So it's hard to say the word "typically" when we're in the middle of a global pandemic, but in a pre-pandemic world, my summer months had so much Magic Time. And I would really have to carve out the Magic Time during the fall and the spring. I had to be so intentional about it. But it was easy for me to find the time in the summer for things like that. But I always have Magic Time on the calendar every week, even if it's a shorter time than I would enjoy. I have to carve that out, because I do think that our calendars represent our priorities and our values.

Pete: Excuse me, I think I need you to say that again.

Jen: Our calendars represent our priorities and our values. So if on my calendar, I have made space for only things that require no creative output from me, I have basically committed that week to not using my creativity to its fullest potential. So, I have such strong opinions about calendars. I could really go on for hours about it. But I didn't schedule that in my calendar, so you get twenty minutes.

Pete: Well, I guess that's another question. Is: What does this time count as, The Long and The Short Of It? Is this Creative Time? Is this Magic Time? Is this...?

Jen: No, this is Recording Time. That's what it's labeled as in our shared calendar. This is called Recording. And we never know how many we're going to record. And we never know what we're going to talk about. But we know that we're going to record during this time.

Pete: Yeah. So I'm asking all these questions because I'm so obsessed with this. And I share this in that episode you referenced at the start, we started to open the door to this topic. Because I recognized, I don't do categories. And in fact, it seems hilarious to me (but so worth stealing) that you put something in your calendar that says "White Space". Because the way I've thought about that, honestly, is if there's nothing in my calendar, that's white space. Like, it's literally white space in my calendar. However, I was sharing with you recently that some days like I have a, you know, an executive workshop with a senior leadership team that I have to run, but they're in America so it's like 5am. So I'm like 5-7am, I am in the zone. I'm doing the work. It goes really well. And then I go and have my coffee and my toast, and I look at my calendar and I'm like, "Oh, look at that. A whole day of white space." And I get lost in the ambiguity of white space. This happens all the time. All the time. I get completely lost in the ambiguity of white space. So, I'm so obsessed with the categorization. And then within those categories, having clear definitions for yourself on what tasks make up those categories.

Jen: Oh my gosh. I'm so glad you mentioned this, because you are not alone in assuming that having literal white space between the events on your calendar means you have white space on your calendar. My take on this is that the blank space on your calendar is an invitation for someone to come and take that time. So when you put white space on your calendar, you have to protect it with your life. You must put the boundary around that space. White space means, "I'm not available, because I am spending these hours looking at the world through project-colored glasses. That's all I'm doing. I'm going for a walk and I'm asking myself, 'How does this relate to the book? How does this relate to the blog? How does this relate to the show?'"

Pete: Goddamn, this is good Waldman. This is good. Okay. My other question, which I think you sort of alluded to this, but is: Does this extend beyond just the projects that you're doing? Like you've got time with the family, exercise...those sorts of things are making up a category in your calendar as well?

Jen: What's really interesting is my morning routine is so baked in that I don't have it on my calendar, because it's an every day thing. So that includes coffee, reading, exercise, and water. That's the every day thing. I don't even need it in my calendar. But the reason I had to start booking Family Time is because my assumption was, "I live with my family. Therefore, they have time." But it occurred to me several years ago that if I did not protect fiercely the family time, that a text would come in and someone would say, "Hey, can you jump on the phone with me for thirty minutes, or even five minutes," and I'd be like, "Yeah. Sure. I'm not doing anything." But instead, I could say, "I'm sorry, I'm in family time right now."

Pete: Yeah. "I'm not doing anything," is...it's like a little slap to the people that you're in the room with. Right?

Jen: Exactly. Exactly.

Pete: Huh.

Jen: So, I've just found it to be such a useful way of thinking. And I could conceptualize it and theorize it in my mind, but another one of my beliefs about calendars is that if it doesn't exist in the calendar, it doesn't actually exist. And so, I might say to myself, "Well, I'm going to spend family time every night from 8-10pm." But if I don't see it staring back at me in my calendar, it's not real. Because everything else has been granted its space on the calendar. And so there's sort of like a, I want the things I'm committed to to have the weight of that commitment in writing.

Pete: This is reminding me of that punch-in-the-gut, slap-across-the-face idea from a guy called Hamish Blake, who is a household name in Australia, famous comedian, and incredibly intelligent. And there's this podcast interview that he did, and he shared this aha moment that he had. So he was doing breakfast radio a lot of the time when he was starting out, and would get home from his day completely exhausted because you've been doing breakfast radio, you've been up since 4am, whatever. And he started to sort of ask himself this question of, "Who's getting the best version of Hamish?" And the reason it's a slap in the face, a kick in the guts is, I think for so many of us, some days our clients get the best version of us, or our listeners get the best version of us, or our customers get the best version of us. Which is fine, maybe in any given day. But if that starts to become a pattern, to your point, where's the same weighting that we're putting on our family, or our friends, or on our loved ones? Like, that idea just feels very relevant to this whole conversation.

Jen: Completely agree. And I remember the first time you told me about that Hamish Blake question/quote, and it still haunts me. It still continues to haunt me. Who gets the best version of you? Because not everyone can have it. It takes effort and energy and care to be at your best, which means you can't be at it all the time.

Pete: Yeah. I feel like I want to run towards my calendar right now and start coming up with categories. Because I just, I have such task-based things in my calendar. And then (like I mentioned) a bunch of white space. Which, I have worked so hard at trying to prioritize and create white space. And it's like, I didn't realize I was missing it, but I knew I was missing something. Which is, how do you not drown, or get lost in that white space? And just, "I'll check this email. Oh, actually, I'll write Jen a message. Oh wait, actually, I'm going to like quickly finish this proposal. Actually, well, I might go read that book. Oh, maybe I'll go for a walk?" It's like, what are you doing? What are you doing?

Jen: You know, there's another method that I've had to sort of discover because I am in the fortunate position (as you are, too), I have complete control over my calendar. I make my own hours. I don't have a boss. I work for myself. So I have a lot more agency to say like, "I am deciding that I don't work on anything other than Magic projects from 12-2." There are a lot of people who do not have that kind of control over their calendar. And they deserve Magic Time, too. So another method that I've used with people is we grab a bunch of different colored sticky notes, and each different color would represent a different kind of time. So let's say that your yellow sticky notes are your To-Do Time and your green sticky notes are your Magic Time, for example. And you would decide at the beginning of a week, how many hours of To-Do Time you wanted to commit to and how many hours of Magic Time you wanted to commit to. And then you put those little sticky notes somewhere that you can see them, and then you spend them during the week. So you did two hours of To-Do Time today, and you had committed to four. So you take two of them away, and you say, "Oh, you only have two more hours To-Do Time for this week. But look, you haven't spent any of your Magic tokens yet. Got to find the time for, you know, those four hours of magic time that you've committed to." If you aren't able to say that far in advance, "These are the hours it's happening," you can at least commit to, "This is how many hours I'm going to be spending on these things."

Pete: I just feel like, what a fascinating exercise or audit to do on where one prioritizes that extra time. Because I would wager that many people listening to this podcast who are very very smart, very much doers, changemakers getting really great work done...how often do we prioritize Magic Time versus getting more stuff done? And I just feel like that audit exercise on its own could be quite powerful, and quite confronting, quite confronting.

Jen: Oh my gosh. And what if you rationed out at the beginning of the week, how much time you are giving yourself to spend on your scroll?

Pete: Oh, dear. Oh my gosh.

Jen: And then you see how quickly you spend it. You know, if you made your little sticky notes in fifteen-minute increments, how quickly would you spend your scrolling hours? That's scary.

Pete: Wow. That is scary. That is scary. I also feel inclined to shout out one of our listeners, Arthur Patton-Hock, who actually reached out to us (it was a month or two ago now) and promoted and provoked a few thoughts in me, certainly, and I think in both of us around time management, around prioritization. And so, I feel like there's been a few episodes in recent times that have been indirectly related to said provocations and nudges. So just wanted to say thank you, Arthur, for the email and for the shout out and for the very juicy questions.

Jen: Yeah. Arthur, any time you want to talk about time management, I am so here for it. One of my favorite topics. Because I really believe...okay, maybe this is going to sound like hyperbole, but like I really, really believe this. That the difference between when I have felt successful in my life and when I haven't felt successful in my life, all comes down to time management, how I choose to spend my time. Because once we spend it, we can't get it back. No refunds. So how we spend our time is a direct reflection of how we are living, the values we are living out. So, when I feel most successful is when I know where my time is going and how I'm spending it.

Pete: And that is The Long and The Short Of It.