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Time-blocking III – what to do with massive interruptions

Time-blocking part III – how to get into a new system

Time-blocking is still one of the leading productivity hashtags out there – vlogs, blogs, books, coaches – everyone talks about time-blocking, amongst all the other strategies to establish functional routines.

To repeat:

Timeblocking or time blocking (also known as time chunking) is a productivity technique for personal time management where a period of time—typically a day or week—is divided into smaller segments or blocks for specific tasks or to-dos. It integrates the function of a calendar with that of a to-do list. It is a kind of scheduling.
When done properly, timeblocking can help eliminate distractions and discourage unproductive multitasking.

(To read the full definition, click here for the Wikipedia definition.)

In the first part of this series, I discussed how I came to time-blocking, its pros and cons, and some glimpses into my workday routine and the tools I use. Part II was about how to get started; I listed some basic steps for applying the time-blocking method to your schedule and work-life balance.

This part concentrates on interruptions to your workflow, and there are a lot of interruptions, distractions, emergencies, and last-minute deadlines that suddenly can pop up. If you are working in Academia, may it be to finish your PhD, as a PostDoc or whatever sort of knowledge work at a University, you might know those things very well.

What about big distractions that kill your routine?

Let’s assume a job change combined with a move to another country.

I did this very recently; as you probably can imagine, my planning routine exploded – my all-over-go-to-routine exploded. Everything was off track. When you get a new job, let’s say, at a new university, there are so many things you need to think about. I summarised my top three (in no special order).

1. Administration stuff at the new institution – like getting your ID/library card, your new work computer, checking out all the services, finding out how the administration works, which person is responsible for what, how to find the individual paperwork, etc.

2. Find your place in the new team – beginning a new job at an institution where you have never worked before and where you do not know anybody can be challenging. In the first weeks, sometimes months, you will work yourself through meetings, coffee breaks, invitations to talks, presentations, and so on, getting to know a lot of new people. Trying to fit in is a process.

3. Move your life – we are vagabonding a lot in Academia. Mostly, it’s not really on purpose and not by choice. If you start a new job in another city or country, there is much private life to organise. You leave people behind: working colleagues, friends, family. You find new people: working colleagues, friends, maybe even (new) family. Change is good, though change will break your heart, at least sometimes. Finding a new place to live, packing your life into boxes, transporting them across the country, settling in and trying to get on with your work like nothing ever happened – easy, right?

So, how can you keep your well-planned working hours? That’s the wrong question. It’s more like: How can you keep your sanity while creating a new work routine and plan?
There is this saying: “Never change a running system”. Well, it’s the wrong advice in moments of significant interruptions because there is no running system anymore. Now, it’s “Develop a new system.” To do so, you need time and to know yourself.

Getting into the “new system” – change is not your enemy.

Beginning something new, changing your life because you move abroad, leaving well-known spaces and loved ones is challenging and an attack on your mental health. Positive stress (e.g., you are thrilled to work at that new institution) can easily be corrupted, and suddenly, all the latest exciting things are paralysing, overwhelming and almost a nightmare (e.g., you are terrified because this institution is so well-known and people are so brilliant there – imposter syndrome and so on). But even at this challenging parting of ways, time-blocking can help you to keep your focus. You need some adjustments, that’s all.

1. Reduce your hours. A workday may last eight hours, but you must look for a new apartment, etc. So maybe you can reduce your “deep work hours” and, in general, your working hours in the first weeks. There will be times of working long hours and producing a lot of overtime. This is Academia, after all.
Keep track of your working hours—I know, as a scientist or academic knowledge worker, there is often no rule that you have to do this. But just for your personal feeling and overview, do it. There are many apps that do the trick. I use Toggl Track (which you can read all about here) to keep records of my working hours on different writing and research projects.

2. Start with Day Theming. This is one principle of Time Blocking. You can dedicate each weekday to a particular theme, meaning a specific type of work. When you are new to a city, maybe you want to plan your apartment tours on one or two days of your week. If you know that the essential meetings at your new faculty will be held on Mondays or Wednesdays, you may decide to have a “meeting and networking day”. I had a case in one of my workplaces that Friday was our “research day” where the whole team, including our boss, did not respond to emails, and there were no meetings – we were all at our desks, writing, reading, sorting data, etc.

3. Task batching to get rid of little interruptions. Next to your struggling with the significant new system design, there are still those nasty tiny things like email, etc. I look at my email for 15 to 30 min. in the morning (sometimes during the time I am commuting to work) and then again directly after my lunch break because that’s the phase where my body is busy digesting and I am tired, so I have a bit of a performance slump. My emails are administrative work, so I do another 30 min. of administrative tasks (phone calls, paperwork, etc.) if necessary.

4. Reflect and reset. When you get through the first two months of your new life, you may finally have the time to look at your current routine, your long-gone planning routine, and now you can sit down and do a bit of reflection. What did work great in your old system? What would you like to bring into your new one? What was not working or working poorly? What new way of doing things can you now keep in your new routine? You see, it is not about establishing the perfect new system within the first day of your new job but giving yourself time to adapt and reflect on your way of doing things.

5. Be kind to yourself. I am now three months into this new job and in a new city; I moved back in with my partner after living for 4.5 years in a long-distance relationship; the atmosphere at work is so different to my old workplace, and there are many things to adjust to, in my professional and my private life. I haven’t figured out everything yet. I am still in my try-and-error phase on how to evolve a routine that includes my working day as well as my own free time. But that is ok. I need to tell myself that a lot. You are not alone in that struggle.

Doing all the planning

In the next part, I will introduce you to my planning routine. I am mixing digital and analogue planning tools, and in the last few years, some of my planning habits have changed radically. There are many ways to actually “do” all the planning. Everybody needs to figure out their favourite tools and routines in planning. And it is allowed to try things out. 🙂 I will present you my own experience – please, feel free to adapt, follow or just get inspired by my way of doing the planning.

All the best

A. <3


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Astrid Schmölzer (January 30, 2025). Time-blocking III – what to do with massive interruptions. Epigrammetry. Retrieved February 11, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/137n7


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