Building Your First Time-Blocked Schedule: Two Real-World Examples
Theory is one thing; practice is another. To make these time-blocking tips concrete, let’s walk through what a structured week might look like for two very different professionals: a manager juggling meetings and a solo creator who needs long stretches of focus.
Scenario 1: Sarah, The Busy Manager
Sarah manages a team of eight people. Her calendar is a minefield of meeting invitations, 1-on-1s, and urgent requests. Her biggest challenge is finding time for strategic thinking and project planning. A reactive approach leaves her feeling like a pinball. Here’s how she uses time-blocking to regain control.
Her weekly review on Friday is crucial. She identifies her one major goal for the week: “Finalize the budget proposal.” She then looks at her pre-booked meetings and starts building around them. Her Monday looks like this:
8:30 – 9:00 AM: Weekly Prep. A recurring block where she reviews her weekly plan and top priorities. No email allowed.
9:00 – 10:30 AM: Deep Work – Budget Proposal. This is a sacred, non-negotiable block. Her team knows not to book over it.
10:30 – 11:00 AM: Team Stand-up Meeting. A fixed appointment.
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM: 1-on-1 Meetings. She batches her 1-on-1s back-to-back to stay in “coaching mode.”
12:00 – 1:00 PM: Lunch & Walk. A non-negotiable personal block. She leaves the office.
1:00 – 2:00 PM: Email & Slack Batch. Her first and only dedicated time for reactive communication so far.
2:00 – 4:00 PM: Cross-Functional Sync Meetings. Another block of fixed appointments.
4:00 – 4:30 PM: Buffer Block. This is a genius move. It’s an empty block designed to absorb meeting overruns or handle one urgent issue that has come up.
4:30 – 5:00 PM: End-of-Day Shutdown. She clears her inbox one last time and plans her schedule for Tuesday.
Sarah’s schedule is still full, but it’s now intentional. She has protected time for her most important work and has systems (batching, buffers) to manage the reactive nature of her role.
Scenario 2: David, The Solo Creator
David is a freelance writer. He has no required meetings, but he struggles with procrastination and the lack of external structure. His biggest challenge is staying focused on deep, creative work without getting pulled into the vortex of research, email, and social media. Time-blocking provides the structure he craves.
David’s schedule is built around protecting his peak creative energy, which for him is in the morning. His Tuesday might look like this:
9:00 – 9:15 AM: Daily Planning. He reviews his 1-3-5 tasks for the day and visualizes his deep work session.
9:15 AM – 12:15 PM: Deep Work – Article Draft. A massive, three-hour block. He uses a timer for three 50-minute sessions with 10-minute breaks in between. During this time, his phone is in another room and all non-essential browser tabs are closed.
12:15 – 1:15 PM: Lunch & Decompression. He deliberately steps away from his desk to let his mind rest.
1:15 – 2:30 PM: Admin & Email Batch. He handles all the “business” side of his work: sending invoices, responding to client emails, and updating his project tracker.
2:30 – 3:30 PM: Research & Ideation. A less intense but still focused block where he gathers materials for future articles or brainstorms new topics.
3:30 – 4:00 PM: Learning. He dedicates time to reading industry blogs or watching a tutorial to sharpen his skills.
4:00 – 4:30 PM: Shutdown Ritual. He cleans his desk, logs his hours, and confirms his plan for Wednesday.
David’s schedule uses large blocks to facilitate a state of flow. He batches all his shallow work into the afternoon, protecting his high-energy morning hours for the work that truly matters.
