I Stopped Time-Blocking My Calendar For A Week

So I have been time-blocking my calendar since the beginning of 2023, as a means of making myself more productive and wasting less time on, well, non-productive activities. If you wish to know more about time blocking (a.k.a. timeboxing), you may read: How Timeboxing Works and Why It Will Make You More Productive and The Complete Guide to Time Blocking.

Has time blocking worked? I would say yes.

I would not have done my posture exercises regularly if I don’t schedule them on every Sunday morning. Three months in and I do enjoy “life admin time” when I will line my activities up for the week ahead. Otherwise, I would be relying on the Muse to guide me for each day (and the Muse is a lazy one).

However, as the weeks go by I find myself increasingly not following my calendar. Save for important events at which my attendance is expected, many weeknights I would end up doing whatever I feel like doing, even though I remember exactly what I have scheduled. The irony of having an “FJ” personality: I set goals and organise my time (Judging), but on the actual day, I end up deciding what to do based on gut feeling (Feeling).

Taking a Sabbath

As Easter Sunday rolled around on 8 April 2023, the brilliant idea of a Sabbath came to me. In the Bible, the term Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word Shabbat which basically means “a day of rest”.

Whether the idea of taking a Sabbath was from the Holy Spirit or it was my mind making excuses not to update this blog, I’m not too sure. In the end, I chose not to time block my calendar for Easter Sunday. I also chose not to post anything on this blog on that day, in honour of the Sabbath.

The no-time-block day stretched into a week.

It is okay to leave a day, or days, unscheduled once in a while.

The following Sunday, i.e. 15 April 2023, I opened my Google Calendar to see a string of days which are not chock-full of scheduled events, save the routine activities which were already scheduled beforehand.

I used to hate seeing a series of unmet daily goals in my habit tracker app. So, did I feel bad about not time-blocking my calendar?

No, I don’t. Because during that week of no-time-block, I managed to observe what activities I will gravitate towards when my day is unscheduled.

1. I tend to daydream maladaptively more often – a story for another time – if I have more “free” time for that day.
2. I feel more inclined to do the things I usually put off because it is not “important” enough, such as folding laundry.

By only completing the urgent “housekeeping” or “maintenance” tasks, and not filing up all my free time with such tasks, I begin to see once again the big picture.

I reconsidered the true reason I create Footslips & Mercies.

My very first post in Footslips & Mercies describes how God planted in me the dream of being a lecturer and prepared me for it. The main reason Footslips & Mercies is created is to record my experiences and thoughts during this season of preparation, so that people who read my blog will be inspired and blessed by them.

As I took a four-week break from this blog however, I discovered that my enjoyment comes not from having plenty of content ideas, or the prospect of posting fortnightly, or being able to call myself a blogger.

My joy comes simply from having a reason to write. To put down my thoughts in black and white. Even if no one reads them.

Yes, Footslips & Mercies is to serve as a platform for me to testify about living out my purpose as per God’s will. The real reason that moved me to actually create this blog, is to give voice to my thoughts and views through the craft of words.

I rediscovered my real passion for writing.

Not blogging. Not corporate governance. Not even drafting minutes of meetings.

Whenever I write, be it a blog post, story or fanfiction, never once do I felt that my time is wasted.

Nor do my thoughts stray to other stuff during those writing sessions. Okay, I do get lost in daydreams, especially when there is music, and in the internet rabbit holes (this occurs only very occasionally, I promise).

You know the situation where you would rather do something other that what you are currently doing? Or the nagging feeling that you are not supposed to do something at a certain point in time?

If you can find an activity which never (emphasis intended) make you feel the above, pay attention – it might just be what you are meant to do for the rest of your life.

For me, it is writing.

Conclusion: It’s okay to take a break!

If you feel like your days are spent just going through the motions, try taking a Sabbath. In fact, we are meant to take a day of rest every week. Allow yourself to recalibrate – so that your future days can be spent on things that truly matter.