Time Blocking Template

Time is fleeting. That’s what the poets say. Project managers tend to be more pragmatic than poets, but they’d be the first to agree. That’s why it’s so important to block out time to deliver their projects on schedule. Download this free time blocking template for Excel to organize the day to be more productive and get the necessary work done.

What Is Time Blocking?

Time blocking is a time management technique that allocates blocks of time to particular tasks throughout the day. It’s more robust than a to-do list that simply lists tasks. Time blocking lists tasks, but also schedules and prioritizes them, which makes it more likely that those activities will be completed on time.

Time blocking is about dedicating time slots for specific tasks to focus exclusively on that work. This scheduling of work helps one plan the day more efficiently. Another aspect of time blocking is prioritizing tasks to address what is more important first. Work can also be divided into different categories, such as work, meetings, personal time and breaks.

Why Use This Time Blocking Template for Excel?

A time blocking template is a powerful tool for time management and increased productivity. It does this by enhancing one’s focus, reducing the tendency to multitask and improving concentration by dedicating specific times to specific tasks. This leads to allocating time more effectively and avoiding issues, such as overcommitting or underestimating task durations.

That alone creates a more productive work environment, but the time blocking template for Excel is also ideal for reducing procrastination. It does this by creating a structured approach to tracking tasks. Not only do people procrastinate less, but they achieve a better work-life balance by allowing for scheduled downtime, personal periods and breaks.

Use this free time blocking template for Excel to add clarity and control to the day. Having a plan on how to spend your time reduces stress and improves overall organization. While a time blocking template is a step in the right direction, it will fall short of providing the structure needed to manage a project. For that, we recommend project management software.

ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that has robust Gantt charts that can schedule work across a team and track their progress in real time. More than a to-do list or time blocking template, our Gantt chart organizes tasks and start and end dates and adds task descriptions and milestones. Most Gantt charts software can do that, but ours goes the extra mile, linking all four types of task dependencies to avoid costly delays, filters for the critical path to identify essential tasks and setting a baseline capturing the plan and comparing it against actual progress and costs in real time. That keeps work on track. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

Gantt chart in ProjectManager — ProjectManager has Gantt charts to better manage work across teams. Learn more

Who Is This Time Blocking Template For?

Anyone can use this time blocking template, especially professionals such as executives who need to manage busy schedules, prioritize tasks and make sure that important meetings and deadlines are met. This includes entrepreneurs and business owners who need to allocate time for various aspects of their businesses, such as client meetings, product development, marketing and administrative duties.

Naturally, students can benefit from using a time blocking template to organize study time, manage coursework, prepare for exams and manage extracurricular activities. Parents, people who are into self-improvement, coaches, trainers and so on can all use this template.

In terms of work, there are freelancers, project teams and remote workers who can use this time blocking template to structure their workday, manage multiple client projects and set boundaries between work and personal life. This goes double for project managers, team leaders and supervisors. They can use the time blocking template to plan and track project tasks, allocate resources, schedule meetings, align teams with project goals and manage deadlines efficiently.

When Should You Use This Time Blocking Template?

This free time blocking template for Excel is versatile as it’s an effective tool for a variety of situations. The following are just a few examples of how to use it.

Manage complex projects, with multiple tasks and deadlines, which can be broken down into manageable bits, allocating specific times for each task
Improve productivity by scheduling dedicated periods for each activity, which reduces distractions and procrastination
Balance multiple responsibilities, such as work, personal tasks and other commitments
Set goals and priorities to ensure important work is being completed on time
Create routines for more consistent work habits
Manage life-work balance so one doesn’t encroach on the other
Avoid feeling overwhelmed as can happen with a long to-do list by structuring time

How to Use This Time Blocking Template for Excel

Once users download this free time blocking template, they can customize it as they see fit. Add a company logo, copy the week-long schedule and paste it to have two weeks, a month or however long one wants to block time.

The time blocking template is straightforward. It’s divided into a calendar-like grid from Monday to Sunday. Each day has four columns: time, task/activity, priority and notes. We’ve filled out the first day as an example of how to use the time blocking template. Users can delete this data and add their own.

We’ve broken up the day into hour intervals. Tasks range from the personal, such as one’s morning routine before work, to various tasks one might have during their workday, such as reviewing emails, meetings and breaks. After selecting a time and identifying the task or activity to be done then, set the priority from low to high. There’s also a column to add notes to further define what needs to be done during that specific time block.

Related Time Management Templates

The time blocking template is one of over 100 free project management templates for Excel and Word that can be downloaded right now from our site. They cover all aspects of managing projects across multiple industries. We’ve selected just a few related to time management, which goes further in scheduling work efficiently.

Gantt Chart Template

A Gantt chart is like a supercharged time blocking template. This free template organizes all one’s tasks, adding the start and end dates, and then automatically populating them on a timeline that visualizes the entire project in one place. This timeline shows the duration of the work by the length of the taskbar, which can be color-coded to differentiate things like project phases.

Work Breakdown Structure Template

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is used to identify all the project deliverables. That leads to understanding the various tasks and subtasks necessary to produce them. Using this free template allows project managers to thoroughly outline all the work necessary to create the final deliverable of the project.

Kanban Board Template

Kanban boards are a visual representation of the workflow. This free template is divided into columns, which reflect the stages of a process, and cards that capture all the pertinent information for an individual task, such as deadline, description, etc. These cards then move across the board as they go through the workflow to help teams manage their work and managers identify potential bottlenecks that they can then resolve before they slow down production.

How ProjectManager Helps With Time Management

A time blocking template is fine when addressing a simple work schedule or even a small project, but its limitations become obvious. Templates are not collaborative, they can’t notify teams when something has changed or remind them of impending deadlines. There’s no way for a manager to manage resources to keep a team productive and work moving smoothly on schedule. And so much more. Project management software is a great leap forward. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that has task management tools to plan, execute, manage and track work, but also resource management features to keep teams working at capacity and real-time dashboards and reports to monitor that work.

Balance Team Workload

Templates can’t manage resources. Resources are everything needed to get those tasks on the time blocking template done. Our resource planning software allocates resources and tracks their costs, sets team availability and manages their workload. Once the team is onboarded, their PTO, holiday and vacation time is blocked out, which makes it easier to assign tasks. Then managers can toggle to the team page or the color-coded workload chart to get a live overview of the team’s workload and balance it right at that point. This keeps everyone working at capacity, without risk of burnout, and that leads to a more productive workforce.

Track Progress, Costs and More

Another thing that templates are not designed to do is provide visual data about work and projects. Our software has multiple channels to deliver that information in real time. There are real-time dashboards that provide a high-level overview of one project or multiple projects. Live data is automatically transformed into easy-to-read graphs and charts showing project metrics, such as time, cost, workload and more. Some reports can be customized to go deeper into the data or offer a progress report to share with stakeholders. Labor costs can also be tracked with our secure timesheets that streamline payroll and provide a window into how far each team member is in terms of completing their work.