⚡ Productivity
Time Blocking Prompt: Turn Tasks and Meetings Into a Plan
Turn your meetings, task estimates, and energy pattern into a time-blocked day that adds up: capacity math, triage, focus blocks, buffers, and a rescue plan.
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Prompt
Act as a productivity coach who builds time-blocked day plans from a real calendar and task list, and who protects focus time without pretending the day has more minutes than it does. Inputs: - Fixed calendar events with start and end times: [FixedEvents] - Tasks with my estimate in minutes and any deadline: [Tasks] - Working hours and hard stops (pickup, commute, appointments): [WorkHours] - When I focus best and when I slump: [EnergyPattern] - Interruptions I should expect (chat, support queue, family): [Interruptions] - Where the plan will live (paper planner, Google Calendar, Outlook, Notion): [PlanTool] - Blocking style (strict blocks, task batching, day theming): [BlockStyle] Generate: 1. Capacity math: working minutes, minus FixedEvents, minus lunch and breaks, minus a buffer sized to Interruptions, equals the minutes I can actually block. Compare with the total of Tasks and say how much does not fit. 2. Triage: what fits today, what moves to a named later day, and what to ask about dropping or delegating, keeping every deadline. 3. Block schedule: start and end time for every block from WorkHours start to finish, deep work in my best EnergyPattern window, shallow tasks batched, a buffer after any meeting longer than 30 minutes. 4. Labels for PlanTool: short block titles and one color or category per block type. 5. Rescue plan: what to cut or move first if a meeting runs over or a task takes 50 percent longer than my estimate. 6. End-of-day review: three questions that compare planned and actual time and adjust tomorrow's estimates. Rules: - The schedule must add up: no overlaps, no unlabeled gaps, and blocked task minutes plus any flex block must equal the capacity math. - Use my estimates as given. If you think one is too low, say so separately instead of changing it. - Never move a FixedEvent.
Instructions
Paste today's real meetings and your own task estimates. Put the blocks into your calendar right away, and run the end-of-day questions before you plan tomorrow.
Generated Output
This image was generated using the prompt above.
Examples
Example Input
FixedEvents: 9:30 to 9:45 team standup; 1:00 to 2:00 pm client review call; 3:30 to 4:00 pm 1:1 with my manager Tasks: client deck edits 90 min (needed before the 1:00 call); Q4 budget draft 120 min (due Friday); review 2 pull requests 40 min; reply to vendor emails 30 min; onboarding doc for new hire 90 min (due next Wednesday); expense report 15 min WorkHours: 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, hard stop at 5:00 for school pickup; 30 min lunch EnergyPattern: sharpest 8:30 to 11:30 am; slump around 2:00 to 3:00 pm Interruptions: team chat pings most of the day; budget 45 minutes of buffer PlanTool: Google Calendar BlockStyle: strict blocks in the morning, batching in the afternoon
Example Output
1. CAPACITY MATH Working day 8:30 to 5:00 = 510 min Fixed events: 15 + 60 + 30 = 105 min Lunch: 30 min. Buffer for chat and after the call: 45 min Blockable: 510 - 105 - 30 - 45 = 330 min Tasks total: 90 + 120 + 40 + 30 + 90 + 15 = 385 min. Over by 55 min. 2. TRIAGE - Today: client deck (needed by 1:00), Q4 budget draft, pull requests, vendor emails, expense report = 295 min. - Move: onboarding doc (90 min) to Thursday morning focus time. It is due next Wednesday, so this keeps the deadline. - Left: 330 - 295 = 35 min, kept as a flex block. 3. BLOCK SCHEDULE 8:30 to 9:30 Focus: client deck edits, part 1 (60) 9:30 to 9:45 Team standup (fixed) 9:45 to 10:15 Focus: client deck edits, part 2 (30) 10:15 to 12:15 Focus: Q4 budget draft (120) 12:15 to 12:45 Lunch (30) 12:45 to 1:00 Buffer: chat and call prep (15) 1:00 to 2:00 Client review call (fixed) 2:00 to 2:20 Buffer: call notes and follow-ups (20) 2:20 to 2:50 Batch: vendor emails (30), placed in the slump 2:50 to 3:30 Batch: review 2 pull requests (40) 3:30 to 4:00 1:1 with manager (fixed) 4:00 to 4:15 Admin: expense report (15) 4:15 to 4:50 Flex: overflow from any block (35) 4:50 to 5:00 Buffer: shutdown and tomorrow's top 3 (10) Check: task blocks 60 + 30 + 120 + 30 + 40 + 15 = 295, plus flex 35 = 330. Buffers 15 + 20 + 10 = 45. 4. GOOGLE CALENDAR LABELS - "Focus: ..." blocks in blue, "Batch: ..." in green, "Admin: ..." in gray, "Buffer" and "Flex" in yellow, lunch in light green. 5. RESCUE PLAN 1. Deck runs long: take time from the budget block, never the call. 2. Call runs over: shorten the 2:00 buffer first, then use Flex. 3. Pull requests take 60 min instead of 40: move the expense report to tomorrow. 6. END-OF-DAY REVIEW - Which block went furthest over its estimate, and by how many minutes? - Did the morning focus blocks stay free of chat? - What one estimate should change for Thursday's plan?