Make time for what matters

At one point during my college days I had 21 final exams in a two weeks period. Some of these exams were 4+ hours and would make 100% of the final score for a given subject matter, others were 1-2 hour long.

That's when I discovered the magic of time blocking.

The Challenge of Making Time

There's been times where I've been more strict with myself, but nowadays it's hard not to time block every second of the day, in order to MAKE TIME for the things that matter:

• Working a full-time job (40h/week)
• Getting enough sleep (8h/day)
• Working out (1h/day, min 4day/week)
• Quality time with family
• Hobbies, etc.

Building a Simple Solution

I've vibe coded a simple web app to create time blocks for the week. I built it for myself, but a friend of mine saw it and was also interested, so I published it.

It's free and works offline (it's a PWA, so you can install it via Chrome).

How ByWeeks Works

For a given week, you can create time blocks associated to "themes" (e.g. Work, Personal, Sleep) and sub-themes.

The idea is to consciously MAKE TIME for the things you want.

My use case is pretty simple. I have a somewhat flexible work schedule, but I still have to put 40h/week. On top of that, I want to prioritize getting enough sleep and working out.

Then see how much time is left for other stuff, and plan accordingly.

"I have too many books in the shelf, but no time to read them"... but the reality is that I'm choosing not to make time for that (either consciously or unconsciously).

Retrospective Planning

You can also use it in retrospective, as in:

I had planned to work out 9:00-10:00, but I didn't. What did I do instead? Was it a conscious decision? Past weeks could then serve as a reference for how good you're sticking to your plan or habits.

Anyway, feel free to give it a try. Let me know what you think.

I'll be using it myself, so if there's a couple more people that find it useful, then that's worth the trouble =)

Why Time Blocking Works

Time blocking is effective because it forces you to confront the reality of your finite time. When you visually map out your week, you can immediately see if you're trying to fit 30 hours of activities into a 24-hour day.

It's also a powerful way to ensure you're allocating time to your priorities rather than letting urgent but less important tasks consume your week.