Time blocking at work has been an indispensable productivity and focus technique for me in the past months. I learned it from Cal Newport and Charlie Gilkey.

At the start of each workday I write what I plan to do on a time schedule. I use my weekly passion planner to do that and I use erasable pens as I edit it when needed.

Time block your day by splitting your schedule into:

• Focus mode of sessions no less than 30 minutes with single-task focus.
• Admin mode of low brain power tasks like follow-up emails, replying to messages, filling data. (30-60 min).
• Communications/Meetings mode (60-120 min)
• Break mode for grabbing a bite and socializing with others.(10-30 min blocks)

This method helps me track my time very well and especially track the external interruptions that take place during the day and the tricky self-initiated distractions like when grabbing my phone and so on, because these distractions replace pre-defined tasks in my schedule.

I recommend you time block your day every morning. Keep your schedule by your side and notice how the actual schedule diverts from the plan and what the causes are. With time these diversions will decrease as you get better at estimating the time you need to finish a task and guard your time more assertively.