Dr. Cal Newport

Is now the right time to do this?

I know I'm going to do it at some point today.

Why not now?

Well, what about now?

What about now?

Like you're just constantly asking yourself, right?

That's impossible, right?

That's going to drain you.

But if all you have to do instead is say, my commitment today is to follow my blocks.

And I get – I really feel good when I do it and like I check off a box.

If I do, give yourself some feedback here.

It's a much easier cognitive battle to win than just trying to be reasonable about, well, let me wait a little longer to check my email.

Like you're going to lose that battle eight times out of ten, which is like enough to really overcome it.

So that's like a hidden bonus of time blocking is now you can really get your arms around separating different cognitively distinct activities.

It's a single commitment.

And there's another hidden bonus of time blocking too, is visually distinct blocks.

So what I do, for example, is I put a double thick line around deep work blocks, focusing on some, not just deep work, but deep work on things I really care about.

It just gives you a visual record.

How much deep work am I doing, right?

Like it's this diagnosis.