Asana is a Saas (software as a service) platform that helps you manage your project and the team working on the project. You easily organize the project, prioritize tasks, collaborate with the team, and track progress. You manage your project from start to finish in one place.  

“Asana is powerful enough for any workflow but easy enough for any team to use.” That is what Asana claims, but does it stand true?

Asana was created in 2008 by two software engineers: Dustin Moskovitz (co-founder of Facebook) and Justin Rosenstein (ex-engineer for both Facebook and Google) - their goal was to enhance the efficiency and workflow of Facebook employees.

Asana is a project management software, but Friday helps you add structure to your day. What does that mean? 

With Friday, you see your schedule next to your tasks. You can add your tasks directly into the blocks of time that most convenient for you, helping you to focus outside the project noise of Asana. 

Daily Planner (integrates with Google Calendar and task apps!)

When you integrate it with Friday, you won’t need to copy and paste tasks from Asana to your Daily Planner or routine updates. Friday will pull in your Asana tasks automatically. With the Friday planner, you can do deeper work and finish the day feeling more accomplished.

Friday also works with teams. When sending a routine update for teams, Friday allows you to attach a task from Asana. You can also view your Asana tasks on the Daily Planner. The integration keeps everything in sync, maximizes your time, and updates you on what other team members will be working on that day. 

Asana is only one of the integrations you can use in Friday. Connect it to Slack, Teams, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Todoist, JIRA, Trello, and more. 

More on how to integrate Asana into Friday. 

Automate Async Updates

Asana is used to streamline your project’s workflow through remote work management, Asana boards, spreadsheet project management, and to-do lists. 

You can use Asana’s Kanban boards in conjunction with other useful tools to visualize the progress your team makes as they finish all the tasks given. 

These boards help you see the progress of your team much more clearly.

They also let you manage and organize workflows and plan product roadmaps.

Here are some examples of the Asana boards used in practice.

If you work with Excel spreadsheets a lot, Asana lets you import your Excel spreadsheets. There is no need to re-enter all your data manually.

Asana also helps you build and maintain all your spreadsheets very quickly and effectively.

It keeps all project details in one place, lets you collaborate with your team, and manage multiple projects and programs at once. 

These tips can help you with your spreadsheet project management.

Make a to-do list that is as basic or as detailed as you require. 

Everything in Asana begins with a task, which you may complete independently or as a component of larger projects. 

Connect your to-do lists to larger projects, including coworkers, and share real-time updates online.

Here are some examples of the use of To-do lists by Asana.

Asana’s key features are team management, task management, communication, views, and reporting. These features help you manage your project efficiently.

Whether you lead a team yourself or are simply part of it, Asana helps to organize the team with these features:

Projects - Organize your work into shared projects as lists or kanban boards for your initiatives, meetings, and programs.

Tasks - Assign Tasks to individual assignees or break them up into smaller Subtasks.

Deadlines - Deadlines ensure every task gets completed on time. You can also view tasks on an Asana calendar.

Timeline - Timeline of project and task deadlines in Gantt style to improve your planning and scheduling abilities

Likes - Likes function lets you approve a task or a comment, thank or give votes to tasks

Rules - Rules help you to automate various manual operations, such as task assignment or field updating

These are all the features directly related to specific tasks, projects, or assignments:

Proofing - Leave feedback on images or PDFs so that you can ease the tracking of tasks.

Project discussion - Discuss a project’s progress to keep the momentum going.

Languages and localization - Asana is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese.

It makes sense that communication is what connects teamwork. Asana understands this; that’s why they provide these communication features:

Task comments - Comments allow you to clarify and determine what needs to be done quickly. You can also connect colleagues and tasks by mentioning them in your comments.

Proofing - Leave specific and constructive feedback directly so that you can comment on all the areas that need improvement.

Languages - Asana is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese.

Views make your life easier when it comes to focusing on what you need to do.

My Tasks - Plan your day with a prioritized to-do list.

Inbox - Inbox allows you to use filters to specify each category for all your messages and notifications. Stay up to date with current progress on your tasks and projects.

Search - Find any work, task or project effortlessly

Saved advanced searches - This function lets you save specific searches for future reference or further inspection so that you can have a detailed look at what you were searching for at any time.

Calendars - Have a clear idea of what is planned, due, or going on with all your projects, tasks, and assignments.

Colorblind-friendly mode - See the full Asana color palette clearly in colorblind-friendly mode.

Reports are vital - they are essential to clear communication within the team. Here are the reporting features on Asana.

Goals - You can set, track and manage your goals, so they are communicated clearly and effectively.

Milestones - Use Milestones to set goals and motivate your team to be more efficient by setting task milestones to outline the progress better

Dashboard - Provides custom real-time charts to assist you in understanding where work could also be blocked or off-track, with the flexibility to export charts.

How Useful Is Asana, and Is It Easy to Use?

Asana is valuable for project management, and it’s easy to use. It provides the necessary collaboration and workflow tools to streamline your project—all these in a simple and intuitive design.

All the features listed above prove that Asana is valuable for all types of teams: marketers, engineers, designers, IT professionals, and others.

But let’s hear it from the Asana users.

Benedikt, a specialist in information technology, said the following on the G2 Review Portal:

“The ease of its use is great. Because it is effortless to create a task, Asana is a tool that adjusts very easily to your workflow. Your entire workgroup can edit tasks, and asana also allows you to tag tasks and mention other people in these tasks, and it also has quick access, which makes it much more special.”

Marlon H, A Digital Marketing Manager, also on G2 Reviews, said this about Asana:

“Asana is a tool that is periodically updated without the need to pay an additional cost. This update happens to add new functions - this is very important for my team. I started using the free trial after a week. Feel free to buy their services, because it has the best tools and functions - it makes all my work much easier. I have also been able to create projects and add tasks and subtasks to them, which I find incredible since I can better track my projects and daily activities. I can customize my work tool, the interface is extremely intuitive, and you can create your projects in different ways, schedule, list, calendar, and board.”

Here you can find more Asana reviews from the G2 Review community.

Asana is a software or app is mostly for team management. A single individual will not find as much use for it.

The only use we found for a single person (sort of) is if only one person carries out a project - this individual’s work can be managed through Asana, although the functions might be limited.

For one-person tasks, the Friday Planner gives you all the functionality you need to organize and manage your tasks. 

Asana is excellent for teams. You can assign tasks to team members, set deadlines, track progress, approve/disapprove and comment on a completed task.

As with anything, there are always some advantages and disadvantages when it comes to Asana. 

Here we list a few for you, so you don’t have to find out for yourself.

User experience : The user interface is easy to use - it is very intuitive. It also can color-code pretty much everything, so it is nicely and neatly organized and clear.

Work efficiency: It allows its users to see all the tasks at hand. This helps the team focus on what is urgent and schedule what may be less critical.

Integrations: Asana integrates well with other apps like Friday; please see below for more information and detail regarding this topic.

Free plan: Small groups and individuals may not have the financial resources to invest in costly project management software. Nonetheless, these technologies are critical to a company's success. Asana, fortunately, includes a free plan that lets organizations on a tight budget use the platform.

One task, one person - You can’t assign multiple people to one single task - thankfully, the Friday integration helps with that.

Lack of Two-factor Authentication - This can be a security issue and potential drawback. The 2FA is used to prevent cyber attacks and security breaches, which can cause a lot of damage if you keep sensitive information in your Asana project management system.

Not very newbie-friendly - Asana is popular among experienced project managers. On the other hand, the technology can overwhelm novice users.

Asana is not a monopoly in project management apps. It competes with Trello, Monday, ClickUp, JIRA, among others. 

Here, we look at these competitors as we point out some of the differences between them.

Asana is more task-oriented and has improved workflow functionality.

While Trello is also simple to use, Asana offers a more comprehensive collection of tools on top of that.

Learn more about Asana as a leading work management platform and how it integrates with Friday.

Asana Overview: What It Is & How It Works

Asana Overview: How It Works & Why You Should Integrate with Friday

The ambitious among us know how hard committing to long-term goals can be. Try as you might, it does sometimes seem impossible to make real progress. In the event of a failure, you might chalk it up to distractions, other responsibilities, time limits or a good helping of procrastination, but what if I told you that you had set those goals inefficiently? Or what if I said that the only thing you’d really set was yourself, up for failure?

Goal-setting theory believes that proper formulation of effective goals has a direct influence on your achieving of them, not too dissimilar from the “If you build it, he will come” mantra in late-80’s classic movie Field of Dreams. 

Scientists now agree that the brain uses 20% of our total energy, suggesting it’s usually up to quite a bit of thinking. The secret to goal-setting is to optimize the way in which we perceive our goals – a sort of psychological optimization – as means to implement more productive attitudes.

If you set a goal, it’s more likely to happen. 

Goal-setting theory suggests that people can achieve various feats by setting effective goals, and that people are more likely to achieve their goals when they have a suitable action plan.

In A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance, Edwin Locke and Gary Latham explain that “goal setting theory is based on the simplest of introspective observations, namely, that conscious human behavior is purposeful... [thus] the domain of goal setting theory lies within the domain of purposefully-directed action.”

In simpler terms, goal-setting theory is concerned with the relationship between goal and motivation, whereby the very act of goal-setting can positively influence the acquisition of said goal.

“The theory focuses on the question of why some people perform better on work tasks than others,” Locke and Latham continue, “If they are equal in ability and knowledge, then the cause must be motivational.” 

Goal-setting theory helps in numerous settings. For example, within education, where students are oftentimes barraged by many targets at once, the theory allows students to prioritise their goals and track their achievement, nurturing an underlying love and appreciation for learning (higher grades!). In business scenarios, goal-setting allows both employers to motivate their workforce and employee to set goals relevant to their career ambitions.

By applying some goal-setting theory, you too can learn how better to focus on your highest-priority targets and form plans for achieving the most ambitious of undertakings!

Aside from a generous sprinkle of aspiration, there are three core skills that goal-setting requires to be successful at work:

Conceptual Thinking: typically, you start a long distance from your goal, with many obstacles and complications between. In order to enact useful, viable goal-setting practices, individuals must first understand the situation, using their ability to think critically. Without this skill, you will not be able to develop your goals, or convert them into smaller, more manageable parts. If you do not know how to turn an ambition into actionable steps, it will be impossible to get anywhere.

Planning/Organization: You simply cannot achieve any significant, long-term vision without the necessary preparations and consistent planning. An unplanned endeavour is like trying to cross a lake in a rowboat with no paddle... You may luckily drift somewhere near, but there’s no way you’re getting anywhere soon. Likewise, a huge portion of time-waste can be avoided by adhering to simple organizational practices, such as a dedicated space for work, or ensuring you store your data or files efficiently.

Self-Motivation: Also called willpower, this skill is notoriously difficult to measure. Obviously, if you’re not motivated, you won’t attain your goals, but self-motivation can absolutely be learned and refined. Much of the time, motivation is dependent on an individual’s self-efficacy, one’s belief in oneself that they have the ability needed to complete a task (more on this later). 

When you’re setting goals, you should always consider your motivation for doing it; if you can’t see sufficient reason (output, gain, results), or if there seems too little value within those reasons, think twice about investing in such a pursuit?

Aside from these goals, there are numerous other skills that will be favorable to any kind of work, including determination, resilience, and creativity.

However, don’t forget that goals are influenced by external factors, too. According to Victor Vroom’s Expectancy Theory (1964), “motivation also is influenced by the employee’s perceived chances of getting various outcomes as a result of accomplishing his or her performance goal.”

Setting goals is the exhilarating act of attempting to transform the intangible and unknowable into the measurable and achievable. When done right, it allows you to commit focus, evaluate progress and adjust a plan as needed. There are some basic steps to follow:

If you closed your eyes, spun around 15 times and were then asked to point to the door, could you do it? Likewise, there’s little chance you’re going to have success with goal-acquisition if you are blind to the actual thing you want to achieve. As Locke & Latham wrote, in a 2013 work , “a specific, high goal leads to a higher performance than no goal, or an abstract goal such as to do your best.”

The first step towards greatness is to identity this specific goal, the rationale behind doing it and the potential benefits of completing it; treat your goals to some full-on analysis. Once you’ve convinced yourself something is worth doing, avoid vague terminology (“do your best”) and instead have yourself aim for an explicit, quantifiable statement.

In Goal Setting, project management specialist Michael Dobson (et al) poses a striking question to determine whether an action is goal-critical. He writes that “criteria often used to rank concerns are importance and urgency*. With regard to importance, consider the impact of each concern on your goals... What kind of an effect will this activity have on your reaching your goals?”

* If you’re interested in learning about the difference between “urgent” and “important” tasks, consider reading up on the Eisenhower Matrix

There exists the old mantra, “a problem shared is a problem halved,” but how about a problem halved is a problem... well, halved. Break your beefy, long-term goal into smaller goals and alter the perceived difficulty of the larger project.

By changing your perception, you can temporarily trick yourself into focusing on these smaller tasks, which seem very doable, instead of worrying about the daunting entirety of the project. 

For example, the goal “lose weight” isn’t specific, meaning it’s hard to gauge direction. Alternatively, “lose 2 pounds a week” or “go to the gym 10 times this month” are measurable and seem a lot easier, even though they are both working towards the same ambition.

Procrastination is the poison that taints your productivity, and deadlines just may be the cure. The Yerkes–Dodson Law outlines the unbreakable bond between pressure and performance, in essence summarising that we experience an enhanced work rate when we feel pressured, such as when we’re working to meet an impending deadline.

Similarly, in a 2018 study, Professor Meng Zhu coined the “mere urgency effect,” the theory that tasks considered to be urgent elicit greater attention as these opportunities are viewed as soon to be gone, regardless of whether their impact or significance is greater than less-urgent jobs. Setting yourself a deadline is a clear, constant reminder that allows you to determine how much energy or resources you’ll need to allocate in order to meet the time limit. Ideally, you should set deadlines for every goal you have.

Just as a deadline is a mental reminder of your responsibilities, writing down your goal in a visible place, where you will see it every day, acts as a physical prompt. They increase your awareness of your goals, giving yourself a greater number of chances to self-motivate.

Whatever your note-taking medium is, be it sticky notes, whiteboard, digital planner or notebook, these messages effectively allow you to be your own coach with reliable encouragement to do better and be more productive. A second consequence of writing things down is that a fluffy dream that’s been happily floating around in your head suddenly becomes very real and clear.

As people, we are rather fond of positive reinforcement and there’s no reason you shouldn’t be congratulating yourself when you’ve accomplished a task relevant to your goal. Review your goals every day to make sure that you are on track, rewarding yourself for positive behaviours and healthy habits.

Goals need to be reviewed regularly to ensure they remain in alignment with your current values and priorities; they need to continue to be relevant as your desires and ambitions develop. 

Not only might your motivations change, but you could also realise that you’ve set an objective that you cannot achieve, either through underestimating the difficulty/scope or overestimating your abilities/resources. Regular review can catch these unhelpful goals, allowing you to substitute them for better, more practical endeavours.

An added benefit of using a digital interface for goal setting is that users can take advantage of more refined structures, just like Friday's goal charts, which let users set goals, make comments/amendments and evaluate progress. 

Although there have been numerous variations that attempt to reinvent goal-criteria systems, there seems to be no replacement for the old, reliable SMART goal, meaning specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based.  

Your goals should be specific, otherwise you won't truly be able to focus or know how to plan your next steps.

In a similar fashion, goals are best when they’re measurable, as you can visibly track progress, maintaining a clear picture of where you stand in the process. It’s obvious when you have achieved a measurable goal, meaning there’s a clear moment for reward.

Furthermore, your goals need to be attainable, because even the best of intentions are damaging for self-confidence and goal-acquisition when they aren’t reflective of your abilities/resources, ultimately leading to discouragement.

Goals have to be relevant to your values, long-term plans and grander ambitions. In this way, goals completed can inform subsequent goals, resulting in a productive chain of achievements that steadily nudge you towards success.

Finally, make sure that your goals are time-based, for the aforementioned reasons on deadlines, most significantly that it’s vastly more probable you’ll complete something when you’ve assigned a time-limit to it. An example of a SMART goal: "I will lose 20 pounds by April 1st." Also notice the positive affirmation (I will), a language trick proven to influence your motivation and the likelihood of extended goal-commitment.

Without the use of any punchy acronyms, we can still differentiate between goals, most commonly by the metric they are measuring:

·       Time: As you’re aware, goals are either short-term or long-term. Short term goals are usually time-bound, having a very short time frame (ship order by 4pm tomorrow afternoon). Long-term goals may have a specific date by which they must be achieved, but they don’t necessarily require deadlines; instead, they can be process-goals (study for 1 hour every weekday evening) with undefined end-dates.

·       Focus: goals are either seriously big objective, the life-changing milestones you gradually work towards, falling into the long-term; conversely, short-term goals can work with limited focus, as in something quick that you want to achieve, not necessarily a prerequisite of your long-term ambitions. These often materialise as topic-based goals, such as health, where you might want to “cycle 5km every day” (this isn’t technically a long-term goals, but rather a series of repeating short-term tasks... the long term goal would be improved fitness or cycling proficiency)

Of course your goals are unique to you, and manifest in multiple aspects of your life, not merely work but also home, family, love, education, health, et cetera. Though, just for example, let’s zoom in on a sales context, which might have goals that look a little like these:

1. Meet with 10 new prospects a week (Time-based and measurable)

2. Establish three new relationships with key decision makers each week (Quantified and specified)

3. Close two new deals each month (Achievable and Relevant)

Don’t limit yourself to just professional aims. Goal-setting theory is a general approach that simply argues an affirmation to do something increases the chance of getting it done, thus goal-setting can be introduced at home, too!

Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself, not only to see what you can accomplish but also to practice and improve self-efficacy. Locke and Latham (1991) report that “in addition to affecting performance directly, self-efficacy can affect it indirectly by affecting personal goal choice and commitment to assigned goal.” They go on to say those that assign themselves challenging goals improve their self-efficacy, since doing so is, itself, an expression of confidence.

In other words, the boost to self-confidence, earned by completing a particularly challenging goal, established higher self-efficacy, thus promoting the setting of further challenging goals. In much the same way, a 2001 text from A. E. Schwartz & Associates reminds to “set yourself up for success by choosing long-term attainable goals,” and to “start with small steps, especially in areas that are difficult for you.”

Friday integrates goal-setting software directly into our simple-to-use planner and operating system. 

See key success metrics you’re trying to achieve for more focused productivity

Share progress and provide context to key stakeholders to spend less time in meetings

Know how the whole organization is doing with all goals in one view

Connect goals to your everyday work. Strategy in action!

Final Thoughts on Goals & Goal-Setting Theory

Goal-setting theory is exactly that... a theory.  In reality, everyone has unique ambitions, passions and work ethics. However, as a practical exploration into the relationship between goals and achievement, take from it what you will.

Curious as it may have sounded, we’ve now seen that the way in which you set goals has a potentially huge impact on your goal-commitment and target-acquisition. By changing the landscape on which you formulate goals, you can set yourself up, not for failure but brilliant success.

So go and take your newfound goal-setting skills with you. Dream big, but plan bigger!

Use goal setting to improve your work and life. Learn about goal-setting theory and how to apply it to make a difference in achieving your goals.

Goal Setting Guide: How To Achieve Your Goals and Succeed

Goal Setting Guide: Use Goals to Improve Your Work & Life

Chunk, hunk, slab, brick, cube, lump, and, well, block. 

Of all the things one could hold in their hand, time doesn’t usually get a mention. 

So rather than being taken literally, what exactly is time-blocking? 

It does sound like some classroom analogy you tell children to teach them about the sands of time, or perhaps an exceptionally strange math question for pre-teens... of course, it isn’t, but perhaps they should be teaching the real thing in schools.

The humble workday has changed much over the course of history. James Suzman writes, in Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time, “our hunter-gatherer ancestors almost certainly did not endure ‘nasty, brutish and short’ lives... in many agricultural societies, [people] rarely had to work more than 15 hours per week [and] had plenty of time and energy to devote to leisure.” Fast-forward to the industrial revolution and people were spending as much as 14 hours a day on the production lines.

Although we’ve now (generally) settled on 8-hour days, there are huge discrepancies in people’s productivity. The truth of that, perhaps, are the various tricks that help individuals achieve more, and the 40 hour time blocked work week just so happens to be one.

The basic idea of time blocking is to work on a specific task for a pre-defined period of time. You arrange your time in sections that accommodate complete focus on a single activity during that time and for the entire day. 

Note: Time-blocking is not the same as time-boxing; whereas both methods allocate time to tasks, blocking ensures sufficient time, while boxing limits time spent.

The method was invented by a former Wall Street Journal columnist Laura Vanderkam in 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, cited by several major publications, including (fittingly) Time, as being one of the best productivity books available. Time-blocking a simple concept, based on four principles of time management: 

·   	Single-tasking: simply the act of applying undivided attention to a solitary focus, the keystone for time-blocking

·   	Deep work: partly by virtue of single-tasking, you set yourself up for deep work, but true deep work demands no distractions and full task commitment--unlike shallow work, such as skimming, checking analytics, or responding to emails. 

·   	Measuring progress: quantifying your time as blocks allows you to more accurately measure your productivity during identical durations of time, so you can more easily track progress

·   	Breaks: Time encompasses both work and rest, so don’t reject the very basic need to take a break after each time block, or even consider your breaks as a mini time block themselves; alternatively, you can think of each time-block as containing a break (integrated)

Aside from these four cornerstones, you may benefit from more general task management tips  or the support of a dedicated time management app.

The main advantage of time-blocking is that, when done right, it demands pure, raw focus, also known as single-tasking. Neurologically hard-wired to prefer concentrating on one activity, numerous studies suggest multi-tasking to be as much as 40% slower than the singular counterpart. We often see the natural inefficiency of context-switching, our brains need to literally reset and readjust to differing types of tasks.

Unsurprisingly then, current scientific understanding is that “we inflate our perceived ability to multitask: there is little correlation with our actual ability.... [while] psychological science and neuroscience indicate that our minds are taxed by multitasking. When we attempt it, we must engage in task switching, placing increased demands on neuro-cognitive systems.”

When time-blocking, you joyfully kick away the malice of multi-tasking, allowing yourself instead to enter the deep work state, a far more productive position to be in. Entering the deep work state is a difficult process for many, as it requires strong self-control, but the rewards for doing so are enchantingly plentiful.

The key to time blocking is to first decide what you want to accomplish, before deciding how you’ll go about that, and the hours of time you will need to block for each task and do important work.

What on God’s green earth do you actually want to achieve today? If you can, define it; if you can’t, get as close to a measurable, specific target as you can. The important distinction here is that you aren’t simply saying what you need to do, but why you need to do it. Without this, you aren’t really time-blocking, but just scheduling a length of time to a task with no explicit or traceable purpose.

Your outcome helps you to focus on the subsequent action needed, thus it’s particularly crucial that your goals aren’t general. For example, the ambition “write a blog” is difficult to pinpoint, meaning you’ll likely spend far too much time on it, leaving you with a sense of dissatisfaction. Just be more specific: “create 1,000-word blog post”; “make 4 changes to website that notably improve user experience”; “contact magazine editors and blog owners about guest posting.”

2. Determine the Specific Tasks Required in Achieving your Outcome

Once you know exactly the outcome you want to accomplish, consider the precise actions you must do as means to attain it. In our current example, “create 1,000-word blog post,” your actual tasks could be competitor blog analysis, research, structuring, writing, complementary media, proofreading, editing, posting and promotion.

By partaking in this kind of top-down analysis (aims desired, tasks required, time needed), you can more easily distinguish the value in your actions, and their impact on your larger goal. This reduces time-wasting and nurtures a feeling of self-accomplishment when you do get things done.

3. Assign Adequate Time For Your Time Blocks

Your time-block could be 10 minutes, 20 minutes or an hour. As long as you’re getting things done, and taking sufficient breaks, it’s all good!

Consequently, it’s up to you the number of time blocks your day consists of; the only important factor is the actual practice of setting time for each specific task, and sticking to it. For example, if you prefer to get work done in big chunks of dedicated time, you could create 3-hour chunks during your day. Then during each chunk, schedule all of the tasks that need to be accomplished during that slot.

4. Commit to Single-Tasked Focus for the Allotted Time Block

Ok, you’ve done the preparatory steps, now you need to set your timer or alarm before getting on with it. As we learned, the prized deep work state of premium productivity insists on serious concentration and the single-tasking model.

If you are going to work on a specific task, it’s important that you can work on it without distractions. You can use Friday's Focus Time, which halts notifications and reminders, or an equivalent aid. Similarly, you should close all social media platforms and communication streams like email, unless of course your task requires them.

If you want to use the time-blocking method, you cannot multitask. As a consequence of many life-hack quacks who, for many years, commended such a habit as means to maximize efficiency, we were led to believe multi-tasking meant consistently better results, but alas it’s almost always the opposite.

Multitasking is great for low-concentration work, but it will not help you to focus on your time-blocking tasks. In actuality, it will make your work more stressful and lead to more mistakes. If you are an especially persistent multitasker, fear not! When you have finished your time block, you can manically multi-task to your heart’s content.

In plain terms, don’t break up a time block, unless you absolutely must, and don’t worry about how long it’s taken to complete some of the tasks or how much time you estimate you have remaining. Just work until you’ve finished the task, or your timer goes off.

It’s very important that you take a break after each time block. The break can be a micro-break (seconds to a minute or so), a short break (5-10 minutes) or a full break (10-30 minutes). It’s entirely your call; the idea is to relax and recharge your batteries, and studies show psychologically detaching from work is necessary for effective recovery.

Even micro-breaks go some way to reduce the serious health risks associated with a career of sedentary computer work, such as eye problems, posture and spinal issues, raised blood pressure and even increased chances of heart disease. While you needn’t take full breaks after every block, you really should be taking sufficient rest after longer durations.

If you have trouble pulling away from your work, you can use apps that follow the Pomodoro method, or even specialised apps that lock your computer or provide pop-ups reminding you to avert your eyes, stand up or stretch.

Studies show that decision fatigue can make it difficult to stay focused, anyway, so your brain will naturally try to guide you towards taking a break, experienced by you and I as brain-fog or general difficulty in concentrating. Due to the high-intensity nature of single-tasking, you can afford to give yourself frequent breaks and still have a streamlined schedule, so do carve out some personal time.

Much like Ivan Pavlov’s experiments with classical conditioning, whereby dogs were trained to perform an action when given stimuli (salivating upon hearing a buzzer or whistle), congratulating yourself after a productive time block cognitively associates your commitment to work with the endorphins we call our sense of accomplishment. Our brains have the unique, intrinsic ability to trick themselves, often through necessity but sometimes by subconscious choice. Basically, we are the dog and the whistle.

In seriousness, though, it is extremely important to assess how well you maintained focus during a time block, as a decent measure of your personal productivity and establishing some well-earned pride after you’ve worked hard. At the same time, a quick review of your time spent allows you to migrate unfinished tasks into a new block. If you find you’ve spent a time block doing something unrelated to your set tasks, either add them to the next, or make a note to do it later.

One distinction to be made, however, is that it’s pointless to constantly assess your progress during the time block. Just like repeatedly checking your watch or giving into distractions, stopping your deep work state prematurely harms productivity. Alternatively, you could include review as contemplation during your break, or a separate activity between block and rest.

If you want to succeed in using the time-blocking method, you need to use a timer. It can be your phone, an alarm clock, an app, hell even a sundial if you’re pre-industrial. Just set it and forget it! The Pomodoro Method may also be helpful to you for this. 

Keep your time block schedule for the day on your desk or somehow visible in your workspace, as you can stay mindful of your time between time blocks. For a more efficient paperless solution, head to the Friday planner where you can see all of your tasks next to your meetings. (More on the Friday planner below). 

The greatest ally to the time blocking method, as well as many other productivity hacks, is consistency. Use the technique every day. If you do, you’ll gradually adopt a stronger sense of your ability and the time it will take to complete tasks, especially beneficial for your self-efficacy.

As anyone who has attempted meditation will know, it’s so easy for random thoughts to enter our head, or for distractions to creep into a lapsed concentration. It’s ok if you lose focus, but always try to get straight back into work. If you don’t situate yourself in a quiet, suitable workspace, you will first of all have difficulty single-tasking at all, but more importantly won’t ever get into the deep work state. Find an environment that you are comfortable in and allows for uninterrupted working. 

Friday allows you to set Focus Time while working, which blocks distracting websites and mutes workplace chat apps, like Slack. 

For sheer, outrageous efficiency (that may very well have you investigated), think about combining time-blocking with the equally useful method of task batching, the process of placing similar and recurring tasks together to improve work rate.

Most certainly, you can; it’s a time management technique, after all! To do this, start by writing down the most important or urgent tasks you need to do. 

For those who benefit from something more visual, try making an Eisenhower Matrix, but any to-do list structure will do. As you’re compiling your tasks for the day, week, month, note how much time you are prepared to allocate to each one. If you want to get more done, feel free to add longer chunks of time.

Once you have a list of tasks, block them out on your calendar. If you have multiple tasks for the same time slot, you need to either split them up or amend the chunks of time you’ve given yourself to complete them. 

Use Friday for Your Online Planner & Calendar

You can sign up for Friday to create your independent to-do list calendar. It’s remarkably simple to have reoccurring time-blocks, too, with automated features and an easy-to-use planner. If you’re currently in love with Google or Outlook calendars, we get it... that’s why we integrate and have calendar syncing!

See your meetings next to your daily tasks

Integrate personal and work tasks from the task management apps you already use

Receive a daily agenda notification that summarizes the day ahead

Block distracting websites with the Chrome extension & go into focus time

When you block out time on your daily schedule or calendar, you can see precisely what will be worked on and for how long. By actively creating a time blocked calendar, you’re sending a message to yourself that those pursuits are important and worthwhile.

On a side note, you can use time-blocking practices within your Bullet Journal, too, most effectively as part of either the daily log or weekly spread. If you’re on the lookout for a digital journal, we’ve got a comparison of The 9 Best Digital Bullet Journals & Apps.

We know it’s easy to procrastinate, but time and time again we witness the pleasant powers of planning on goal-commitment, your ability to actually set goals and fulfill them. Without time-blocking, or more generally a tool to help you prioritize and visualize the work day, you may remain unaware of how little time you actually have to get everything done. 

Consequently, you might spend too much time answering emails or dealing with distractions, ultimately resulting in some end-of-day shame.

Set aside the time to focus on a single task and relish in your brain’s ability to essentially trick itself into getting stuff done... be the puppet master and the puppet! By time blocking and investing all of your energy into one aim at one time, you unlock your productivity potential, streamline your schedule and make it immensely harder to put off work for later, meaning you get more done in the long-run.

Time blocking: Work on a specific task for a pre-defined period of time. You arrange your time in sections that accommodate complete focus on a single activity during that time and for the entire day.

Friday Blog

Asana Overview: How It Works & Why You Should Integrate with Friday

Goal Setting Guide: Use Goals to Improve Your Work & Life

Time Blocking: 10 Tips To Streamline Your Schedule

10 Task Management Tips To Get More Done

Task Batching: 4x Your Workday With This Personal Productivity Hack

Planner Ideas: 16 Things To Add In Your Planner

13 Best Time Management Apps To Work Smarter

10 Planner Tips: Get The Most Out of Your Planner & Stay Organized

9 Actionable Team Management Tips You Can Use Today

Pomodoro Method: Why It Could Work For You

The Eisenhower Matrix: How To Prioritize Your Tasks for Success

The Anywhere OS: Preface

The easiest way to work from anywhere