Just as human beings have different types of intelligence, so too do we have different methods for maintaining productivity.
After all, a well-organised desk can look dramatically different depending on the type of work you do, or even just by the way you prefer to brainstorm.
In essence, there’s more than one way to manage your workload and keep a clean-cut schedule, so bolstering your own productivity can be as simple as finding a scheduling method that works for you.
To help out, we’re sharing our top five different scheduling methods below, so read on to find which scheduling styles could work best for you.
1. The time blocking method
Are you gearing up for your last minute of school or college next year? Then you may feel daunted by having a whole year to put towards preparation for your final exams.
Thankfully, if you can use a 2025 planner and the ‘time blocking’ method, you may actually have all that you need to maintain a killer study schedule.
The time blocking method works in a very simple way. Instead of allocating strict ‘study time’ during the week, the time blocking method prompts you to simply identify periods of time throughout your weekly schedule where you could be studying.
This effectively takes a lot of the pressure off of sitting at your desk to revise, and instead transforms the activity into something that you can always do by choice rather than out of obligation.
The time blocking method basically provides a sense of independence to your schedule, allowing you to feel more in control, and thus more confident to work productively.
The time blocking method is also particularly useful for anybody who enjoys a rich extracurricular calendar or works part-time along their school timetable.
2. The ‘most important task’ method
Do you love making lists? Then chances are you get a bit of a thrill from crossing completed items off your list. But if your list gets too long, it could run the risk of demotivating you. That’s why it’s vital to keep your ‘to-do lists’ nice and succinct, and to practise the art of prioritisation.
When we prioritise, we trust ourselves to identify the ‘most important’ tasks in our expansive list of things to do. And in trusting ourselves, we again equip ourselves with greater confidence to work productively.
Alongside this, the ‘most important task’ method of list-building helps us ensure that all of our time-sensitive and focus-intensive tasks are completed within their outlined deadlines and are completed with greater consistency.
And as we all know, consistency in our daily routines (be it a morning self-care routine or a work routine or even a workout routine) is the key to reaching our goals.
3. The gamification/gratification method
Yes, ticking off completed items on a list can provide a sense of gratification. But what if your brain is hardwired to require a little more gratification than list-making alone can provide?
If this sounds like you, rest assured that there’s nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, many neurodivergent thinkers prefer gamifying their scheduling habits primarily because playing games is just a far more sustainable (and enjoyable) way to navigate adulthood.
But how do you gamify your scheduling habits exactly? A simple way is by giving yourself a little ‘prize’ upon completing a task or even set chunks of tasks. For instance, if you’re able to finish two assignments in one day, then you could cap your work there and let yourself take the rest of the afternoon off to do whatever you like. You’ve earned it!
Another method is to provide pockets of gratification between tasks. This is a great practice to maintain when building Sunday habits, as you can retain a little bit of your weekend laziness while still getting plenty done as you prepare for another workday.
4. The peaks and troughs method
Have you found that you’re most productive during particular periods of the day? Then why not work during those hours and let your mind and body rest when it naturally wants to do so?
This is the driving force behind the ‘peaks and troughs’ scheduling method. Basically, this method works by being respectful of your body’s ultradian rhythms, otherwise known as the ebb and flow of your energy and focus levels as you go about your day (from waking to falling asleep).
You could say that practising the ‘peaks and troughs’ method is really about listening to your body and doing away with the fallacy that you need to ‘power through’ the workday in order to maintain your productivity.
If you feel you’re more productive in 60- or 90-minute bursts with a 20-minute break in between, then structure your day around this work pattern. Who knows? You may find that your productivity climbs significantly by doing so.
5. The Pomodoro Technique
Last but not least, we have the Pomodoro Technique, which was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. Much like the ‘peaks and troughs’ technique, the Pomodoro Technique works by establishing ‘bursts’ of productivity.
However, unlike the peaks and troughs’, where you can expect to work for an hour or so at a time, the Pomodoro Technique dials back your bursts to about 25-30 minutes each.
These smaller bursts of productivity are designed to ensure you work with an intense and uninterrupted focus, which in theory will allow you to get far more done than seeing your entire workday as a window of productivity.
That being said, the Pomodoro Technique isn’t for everybody. For instance, if your work tasks can easily be completed within an hour, then the shorter bursts of the Pomodoro Technique may actually interfere with your overall productivity by needlessly segmenting your tasks.
With that, it’s important to trial the Pomodoro and other techniques to see if there may be some hidden benefits to you using an alternative scheduling method.
TELL US: Do any of these scheduling methods resonate with you? Or do you use other techniques that are a better fit for you? Let us know in the comments below.