Between permanent requests and moving priorities, working days often look like a race against the watch. This is precisely what Clock-Blocking, a time management method from the United Kingdom, proposes to defuse. According to an OWL Lab survey, 63 % of British workers use it to improve their concentration. A figure revealing the quest for simple solutions to get out of professional exhaustion.
How does clock-blocking work?
The principle of clock-blocking is as simple as it is formidly effective: segmenting its days in protected work blocks, centered on one task at a time. This method requires sorting between urgent missions, important, and those that can be delegated or repelled. Once this hierarchy is done, just book time slots in advance according to its productivity peaks.
Elyssa Desai, coach in mental well-being, advises a rigorous implementation: “Put the clock-blocking in practice by providing recurring time blocks for regular responsibilities, then review your priorities at the beginning of each week or each day and attribute time blocks to specific tasks“.
Far from being a fuzziness of start-up, this daily reflex helps to strengthen the feeling of control, often undermined in fragmented work environments.
Set up clock-blocking without complicating life
Adopting this technique requires a minimum of discipline, but does not require any complex tool. A paper agenda, a digital calendar or even a simple whiteboard is enough.
Here are the essential reflexes to get into it:
- Define time blocks lined up with its maximum moments of productivity;
- Reserve your work slots in advance on a weekly basis;
- Inform your colleagues from the beaches where you will be unreachable, and those where you are available;
- Disable distractions (notifications, telephone) during blocks;
- Also integrate pause, breathing or leisure time.
Rachel Grace Elliott, specialist in professional transition, testifies to the benefits of clock-blocking on his mental health: “It had a huge impact on my mental health, because I don’t waste time worrying that something is not done – there is already a time allocated and I therefore feel more in my week“.
A routine which, without changing the workload, radically changes the way of approaching it.