Time blocking on Mac and iPhone with an hour grid
Time blocking is planning your day by giving each task its own slot on a calendar, instead of working from an open-ended list. To do it in Alcove, give tasks a length (type "2h" or "14:00-16:00" when you add them), open the calendar's Day or Week view, and drag tasks from the Plan panel onto the hour grid beside your calendar events.
A to-do list tells you what to do but not when. Time blocking fixes that by giving each task a slot. The first benefit is honesty: once your tasks have lengths and sit on a calendar beside your meetings, you can see straight away whether the day fits. The second is focus: when a block starts, you already know what you're doing.
How time blocking works
- List what you want to get done. Today's tasks, or this week's.
- Estimate each one. Fifteen minutes, an hour, half a day. Rough is fine.
- Place them on the calendar. Around your fixed events, with your hardest work where you have the most energy.
- Leave gaps. A buffer between blocks absorbs the overruns and the things nobody planned.
- Adjust as the day goes. Moving a block is part of the method, not a failure of it.
Time blocking in Alcove
1. Add tasks with a length
Press ⌥ Space on the Mac (or use quick add on iPhone) and type the task with its length:
- "Write the proposal tomorrow 9am 2h"
- "Workshop thursday 14:00-16:00 /Clients"
- "Stand-up every weekday 9:30 15m /Work"
Alcove reads the day, the time, the length and the repeat as you type. See adding tasks from any app.
2. Open the calendar's Day or Week view
The calendar has Day, Week and Month views. Day and Week show an hour grid with an all-day row on top, and each task with a time fills its length on the grid.
3. Bring in your calendar events
Turn on your calendars in Alcove's settings to see their events on the same grid. Your meetings become the fixed points you plan around. Alcove only reads them; nothing is written back.
4. Drag tasks into place
On the Mac, show the Plan panel beside the grid: it lists the tasks that still need a time, overdue first. Drag a task onto the grid to give it a slot, or drag a block to move it to a new time or day.
5. Follow the plan from anywhere
The same grid is on iPhone and iPad, and everything syncs through your iCloud. Tick tasks off as you go, from the app, a widget or the Mac menu bar.
Tips that make time blocking stick
- Block themes, not just tasks. "Email, 30 minutes" twice a day beats answering email all day.
- Protect one deep-work block. Two uninterrupted hours in the morning, every weekday, as a repeating task.
- Overestimate. Most tasks take longer than you think. Add half again.
- Review at the end of the day. Move what didn't happen. Alcove's Progress screen shows what you finished against what you added, so you can see whether your plans are realistic.
Sources
- Time blocking, an overview of timeboxing on Wikipedia
- View and edit calendar events in Calendar on Mac, Apple Support
Questions people ask
What is time blocking?
Time blocking is a planning method where you divide your day into blocks and assign each task, or a type of work, to a block. It turns a to-do list into a schedule, so you can see whether the day actually fits.
How do I give a task a length in Alcove?
Type it when you add the task, such as "Write the report tomorrow 9am 2h" or "Workshop 14:00-16:00". The task then fills that much of the hour grid. You can also change the length in the task's details.
Can I see my calendar events next to my tasks?
Yes. Turn on your calendars in Alcove's settings and their events appear on the hour grid beside your tasks, so you can plan around meetings. It's off until you turn it on.
Does time blocking work on iPhone too?
Yes. Alcove's calendar on iPhone and iPad has the same hour grid, and changes sync through iCloud, so you can plan on the Mac and follow the plan on your phone.
What if a block runs over?
Drag the next task later, or into tomorrow. A plan is a guess, not a promise; the point is to notice early that the day won't fit.