Time blocking unlocks more free time.

Does your student ever feel like they’re juggling a million things at once? School, extracurricular activities, homework, sports, chores and maybe even a part-time job can leave many students thinking there is zero time to just relax and have fun. A simple technique that helps students get organized, boost productivity, and even free up some much-needed time for relaxation is known as time-blocking.

Time-blocking is a tool many professionals and executives use to allocate specific periods of time for tasks that they need to get done. Instead of hurriedly jumping from one task to the next and facing a to-do list that winds up getting longer and longer each day, people who use time-blocking techniques dedicate a digestible number of hours (or minutes) into their schedules and get things done. 

Let’s break down an example of how your student can use the time-blocking technique.

The first step is to list out everything that the student wants to get done in a certain period of time. This includes everything from homework to chores to extracurricular activities.

Then, using paper and pen, a planner, or a physical or digital calendar, your student needs to start blocking out the amount of time they think they need to complete each task on their schedule.

Finally, it’s time to put the time-blocked schedule into practice.

Here’s a sample afterschool schedule:

4:00-5:00 PM: Rest and recharge

5:00-7:00 PM: Homework and tutoring

7:00-7:45 PM: Dinner and chores

8:00-9:00 PM: Volleyball practice

9:15-10:30 PM: Study for upcoming exam

10:30-11:00 PM: Wind-down before bed

The key is for your student to be realistic about how long each task will take and to include breaks. No one can or should work non-stop, and short breaks between blocks have proven to boost students’ productivity. Also, it’s important that your student sticks to the schedule as closely as possible, but not to stress if something comes up—flexibility is key.

One of the best things about time-blocking is that after a few weeks of planning out their schedule this way, most students can clearly see how they generally spend their time. Many have even been thrilled to report back that they have more pockets of free time than they thought!

Time-blocking is a tried and true method for getting more done while simultaneously reducing stress. It's a great technique for anyone looking to get more organized and enjoy more free time to do the things they love.

We don’t want to come across as not having a pulse on reality if we undershoot (always better to overestimate time spent studying/staying up) to highlight that you “get how hard it is”