How Time Chunking Can Help You Be More Productive

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Time is your most important asset. You can always make more money, but you can’t get back your time.

That’s why the idea of time chunking as a productivity tool sparked my interest. This time management technique can help you be more productive and feel better about how you spend the finite hours of your day.

Photo by Elizabeth Kay on Unsplash

What is Time-Chunking?

Time chunking is the act of blocking off large chunks of time for one task instead of bouncing between different, smaller tasks.

The idea of time-chunking comes from an experiment conducted by a group of psychologists. The subjects of the experiment were to conduct five random acts of kindness each week for six weeks. These acts could be things like buying coffee for the person behind you in line, or bringing in donuts for your co-workers to enjoy, etc.

One group of participants was told to “chunk” their acts of kindness into a one-day time period per week. So they would do all five acts of kindness on Tuesday, for example.

The second group was told to “sprinkle” their acts of kindness throughout the week. That meant doing one act per day for five days.

The results were surprising.

One group reported an increase in happiness and energy that lasted through the entire six-week study. The other group said there was no improvement in their mood.

Can you guess which group is which?

Time-Chunking Led To Improved Mood & Happiness

It was the chunking group that reported an increase in happiness and energy, not the sprinkling group.

Here’s why:

When the random acts of kindness were sprinkled out over five days, those acts became just a single moment in a 12-16 hour day. The pleasure of conducting the act was buried by the minutiae of the rest of the day that came before and after it.

The act of kindness didn’t resonate.

But when participants chunked the acts of kindness together into a single day, knocking out 5 in a row, that did have a lasting emotional impact. The participants felt like they made a difference in the lives of random strangers. That, in turn, improved their mood and happiness.

Plus, those who chunked their acts of kindness into one day had more flexibility to work on their own projects for the rest of the week. They didn’t have to think daily about what their act of kindness was going to be and when they were going to do it. They had more freedom.

Maker’s Time VS. Manager’s Time

Millionaire entrepreneur Paul Graham has a similar time management technique worth exploring. He calls it Maker’s Time vs. Manager’s Time.

Maker’s time is a big chunk of time (4-hours, for example) free from distraction to do creative or deep work - maker’s work. This could be work like video editing, writing, or software coding. Your focus is on a single (hard) task for the entire chunk of time.

Manager’s time, though, is filled with meetings. It’s divided up into 30-60 minute sprinkles where you are continuously moving from one small task to another.

Both are necessary, but only one - maker’s time - makes you feel like you accomplished anything of value.

Managing Time In Your Own Life

As a creator, I chunk out a few hours each day to do isolated work like writing or reading. This protected “maker’s time” allows me to go deep into whatever it is I’m working on. I silence all social media apps, email, phone calls, etc. in those protected two hours. No distractions. Just creating.

When it comes to managerial work, I chunk all of that together too. I’ll block out 3-4 hours for emails, phone calls - anything that needs less than 60-minutes of attention.

Chunking time works great for managing leisure time as well. I find that when I commit to a full day off with my wife and dog, I’m better off not doing any kind of work on that day. I find myself more present and enjoy myself more.

Even when I sit down to watch a hockey game, I’m tempted to knock out some “to do’s” in between periods. That’s a mistake. When I sprinkle work in and I look back on the game, it doesn’t feel like I was connected to what I was watching.

So chunk your leisure time together. Don’t cut it up with periods of work. Obviously, if something urgent comes up, you handle it, but otherwise try to enjoy the big chunk of time off.

Time management is personal. Find what works for you and stick with it until it doesn’t work anymore. It’s that simple.

Start now.

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SOURCES

Chunking vs. Sprinkling experiment: https://hbr.org/cover-story/2017/01/beat-generosity-burnout

Paul Graham’s article: http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html