A routine that works with the Timeboxing app, from the first block in the morning to Sleep at night. Nothing here requires planning the whole day in advance. You only ever decide the next block.
The description field is for what you will do in this block. “Thesis” is a project. “Rewrite section 2 intro” is a block. If you cannot write the next action in one line, the first block is figuring out what it is. That counts.
Categories are labels you reuse: Work, Studying, Exercise, Reading, Cleaning. Keep them few. The app suggests an existing one if you type something close.
Not how long you wish it took. A task you have done before gets the tier it usually needs. A task you are avoiding gets Tier 1 or 2, because the job of that block is to start. The app rolls the exact minutes inside the range; you commit to the size.
The block runs on the clock, not in the app. Close the tab, lock the phone, it keeps counting. On iPhone the countdown sits on the lock screen. Pause only for a real interruption. If you paused and never came back, fail the block so the record stays honest.
After a block ends, start a break with a length you choose, five minutes up to two hours. Each minute you use earns 0.40 Exp. A break ends when you start the next block, so you are never locked into resting longer than you need.
The queue holds up to five upcoming blocks and breaks. Fill it during a break, and each item fires when the previous one ends. This is the closest the app comes to planning: a short chain, not a schedule.
Goals carry a date and a time. A live countdown sits above the ledger. End the goal when it is done and it is recorded as a win; let the deadline pass and it becomes a loss. The record is permanent, which is why it works.
The day panel shows blocks, minutes, breaks and Exp for today. The recent blocks table shows what each one was. This is the part a to-do list can never give you: evidence. If the day was bad, the ledger says exactly where it went.
The live streak scores the day in 15-minute chunks. Sleep protects the night so it does not cost you tokens. Press it before bed, and start the next day with a block.
| Time | Block | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| 08:40 | Work: reply to the two emails blocking the report | 1 |
| 08:50 | Work: draft the report summary | 4 |
| 09:25 | Break: coffee | 10 min |
| 09:35 | Work: build the report charts | 5 |
| 10:45 | Break: walk | 20 min |
| 11:05 | Studying: chapter 8 practice problems | 4 |
| 18:30 | Exercise: run | 5 |
| 21:00 | Reading: one chapter | 3 |
Eight rows. Nothing about the afternoon, because the afternoon had meetings and no blocks. The ledger does not pretend otherwise.
For the method itself, see what is timeboxing. For the phone, see the iPhone app.