I'd like to invite comments and suggestions on how to design an analogue (pen, paper, notebooks etc.) or hybrid (combined with digital tools) system for personal organisation and time-management that is mobile (can be carried on the person).

So far I've been using digital tools (iPod Touch and laptops for mobility), mainly using WorkFlowy, Google Calendar, and Google Sheets, and occasionally including Gingko and MindMup (though at peak times I only have time to use the former two), and Boogie Board for ad hoc handwritten note-taking to work out issues.

The problem with my current digital system is that while it's good for capturing and developing tasks (WorkFlowy, Boogie Board) and scheduling and tracking them (Google Calendar and Google Sheets), it is not good at detaching me from the system to give me an overview of the depleting resource (time), to give me a chance to reflect on the shifting priorities and avoid being sucked into dealing with low-priority tasks that may have used up more time than they were worth.

To put it in other words, I need to be reminded of the passage of time and be forced to re-evaluate my priorities and abandon (or satisfice rather than perfectly accomplish, or delegate) the current task, if it took too long to accomplish.

More concretely, as an academic, I need to make sure that whenever possible, I am able to eek out time for reading and writing (and planning future research projects) every single day, besides unavoidable duties such as teaching hours and administrative and management duties. To some extent it's about protecting my research time from administrative and organisational demands imposed by others (which I mainly receive in the form of emails). There are some days that might be teaching-only, so I'd need to differentiate between normal and abnormal days ('abnormal' meaning that I shouldn't even attempt other activities, as one activity dominates and it's outside of my control).

I found that my current digital tools are inadequate for forcing me to re-evaluate priorities and abandon low-priority tasks. I often find myself racing against time to respond to someone's demand only to realise that it took too much time, at the cost of critical activities, such as reading and writing for my own research (which is not only a personal priority but also an organisational one).

The problem with re-evaluating priorities is that it requires some ruthlessness, whereby I need to delegate tasks to resistant peers or other people I have no power over, or ignore tasks imposed by superiors. It is not a natural skill or an easy thing to manage or do in a consensual organisational environment. Military people probably don't understand what I'm talking about :)

So I thought some analogue tools that can physically represent the depletion of time, combined with some electronic or digital tools into a system, might help to force me re-evaluate priorities and make the tough decision of abandoning or refusing or delegating tasks a bit easier.

Essentially I need to plan for 8 working hours in a day, be able to allocate those hours to specific types of activities (reading, writing, teaching, admin - emails etc.) and be able to shuffle those hours, while protecting the critical activities (reading and writing).

Ideas so far:

- use 8 paper index cards to represent each hour, with the task or type of activity written on each card, and me tracking the passage of time on each card. I also need some kind of a holder (plastic pocket) that makes it easy to review the cards.

- as my 5"x3" (127x77mm) index cards are a bit large, I thought of cutting them in half (perhaps I could looks for a smaller format), or using blank business cards for an even smaller footprint. As I'd be using a lot of them, I'd need to buy hundreds of these. Dealing with lots of loose cards could become messy though, and there is the question of what to do with yesterday's cards (keep them or not, store them etc.).

- use a small 5"x3" bound notebook, and have each day represented by two pages in the open notebook, which then I could subdivide into 2x4 sections (8 hrs) by drawing 4 lines across both pages. The advantage of this system is that I could see the whole day at a glance, I could allocate specific activities to specific times (e.g. teaching hours happening at specific time of the day), I could plan for the whole week and not worry about losing individual cards, and have a record of the past easily at hand. I could use a red pen to make marks to indicate current time on the page.

The disadvantage is that it is not that easy to re-arrange activities once they've been written down (index cards could be just re-ordered), it would look messy, or I'd need to skip over the next few days already planned to re-plan the current day). Also, it is not possible to zoom in on an individual task as with index cards (where I can put the other cards away while focusing on the current task).

- perhaps the two systems could be combined, using the notebook for initial planning, and then using blank business cards or index cards to shuffle activities as they're being accomplished or re-evaluated.

- the best system would be a notebook made up of removable cards that could be re-arranged.

- WorkFlowy, Google Calendar and Sheets would still be used for longer-term planning or capturing tasks and recording them.

- A watch, or stop watch, or timer would be also necessary (either to monitor passage of time or depletion of time, i.e. timer) This could be digital or analogue.

Has anyone managed to solve the above problem in an analogue or hybrid way? Any suggestions on how to deal with this?

To reiterate, the key aim of the system is to:

a) make sure critical tasks are dealt with daily (to enforce a daily routine);

b) remind user of depletion of limited resource (time for the day, as well as time per task) in a physical way;

c) force user to re-evaluate priorities of tasks in order not to encroach on time allocated for critical activities;

d) be portable (have small footprint, i.e. fits into pocket), not depend on 100% internet connection, be manageable and not turn into a huge mess.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

P.S. Time is of course not the only depleting resource. The daily (and indeed, weekly, and termly, i.e. leading up to a vacation) supply of mental attention (alertness) is probably even more important, but this could be mapped onto the time management system (i.e. to schedule critical tasks for the most alert times).

The reason digital-only tools are inadequate because they tend to suck the user into their world at which point it's difficult to step back and look at the big picture. While you can use digital tools to provide the big picture (Gantt charts, calendars etc.), one is still within the digital space mentally, and so that can drag one into paying more attention to digitally represented tasks than they're worth.

What I'm saying is that the system needs to allow the user to mentally break out of it, so proper reflection for re-prioritisation can take place, and the use of the system as a whole should not become itself a burden (or too enjoyable an activity that makes one have fun with organising without actually doing the important work).

This is why I think an analogue element is important, to allow for this mental "switching out" of the digital space (which is often designed deliberately to suck people in, to be "sticky").

First idea that comes to mind: small stickies (Post-It) instead of index cards. You can stick them in a notebook and move them around on the page, if needed.
You could also use different colors for different tasks or priorities.

P.P.S. I have considered the bullet journal system but I am not entirely convinced that reviewing all my tasks every day is a good use of my time.

My problem is that I end up with a vast number of tasks daily and weekly, and most of them end up being abandoned naturally, simply by being overshadowed with more important and urgent tasks, so having even another look at these tasks would be a waste of time.

I just prefer to record them in WorkFlowy and forget them forever (but still keep the option of returning to them, if they re-emerge as important or if I made a mistake of de-prioritising them - this is why I prefer the light web interface of Outlook, as I can copy URLs to specific emails and link to them from WorkFlowy.

Obviously this requires that I never delete those emails from Outlook. I keep all emails that are not junk, and I use the read/unread option to keep emails that are important "unread" until I will have dealt with them. It's just another layer of marking out important todos, besides also linking to them from WorkFlowy.

Franz Grieser wrote:

First idea that comes to mind: small stickies (Post-It) instead of index
cards. You can stick them in a notebook and move them around on the
page, if needed.
You could also use different colors for different tasks or priorities.

Franz,

That's an excellent suggestion, thank you very much! I've just tested it, and while 4 post-it notes don't quite fit side-by-side exactly in my 3"x5" notebook, it's still doable with a little overlap, so this would actually do the trick. I will give this a try next week in a real-life situation.

I have similar goals of an analog/digital combo. After trying several things, the analog part that has been working well is a Rhodia A6 Wirebound Notebook https://rhodiapads.com/collections_spiral_A6.php .

For me, it is 'just' big enough to handle any sort of detailed notes/sketch, two columns of tasks, or to divide into halves/quadrants to play with plan/actual layouts. Basically it's the biggest one I could find and still consider pocket-able. I always felt way too limited by the size of most 'pocket' notebooks like Moleskines. I like the grid or dot patterned ones and it has 5 squares per inch where most grid notebooks are 4 squares per inch. Seems silly but that makes a big difference in how 'big' it feels when filling out a page. I write kind of small and coupled with my favorite .38MM Pilot G2 (cheap) pen, I can fit A LOT of info on a single page if I really want to. It's high quality paper and therefore a joy to write on but still 'cheap enough' so I don't feel wasteful for just scribbling a note/sketch to tear out and hand to people. Because I can sometimes cram an entire day of planned/actual tasks on one or two pages, I just take a pic and drop into a digital journal for posterity. I also prefer the top spiral bound format (called a reporter's notebook I think) because it lays flat on the table as opposed to the stapled pocket notebooks that you have to hold open. The format also enables better front/back flip options. Like I can write down a detailed list and plan for the day on one page and use the 'flip-side' as the stream-of-consciousness sloppiness of real-life.

I did try a Filofax for a while, they allow re-arranging of pages, which helps mitigate the worst analog limitation of not being able to re-arrange on the fly. But I found that was more conducive to being mostly digital with task/project management. Like you, I really just want a 'day-control' analog and any task/calendar/project/reference beyond today belongs to my digital world. For that purpose, the Rhodia notebook has been great as it feels nicer and more functional than cheap scratchpads but not as serious as a Moleskine. It's both my planner and scratchpad, depending on the whim of the minute.

You might want to try a program which integrates tasks with calendar functions in a manner which facilitates filtering by priority, tags, etc., and which has mobile apps - Essential Pim Pro and Leadertask (which, BTW, will apparently be significantly discounted later this week in BitsduJour) come to mind. Properly configuring such programs enables you to prepare custom filters which enable you to focus on the "big picture" when you wish, and on individual tasks when you wish.

That said, I personally use a different system now (as with all CRIMPers, this is potentially subject to change...): I record my big tasks in Todoist (Pro/Business; as an academic you should be entitled to get this at 50% discount), where I have a special set of custom labels and filters to enable me to focus on the big picture, including big projects as well as big tasks belonging or not belonging to specific projects.

In addition, my daily tasks are recorded manually in a notebook, which I schedule on a daily basis, divided into five principal parts: morning, afternoon, early evening, late evening, and desired tasks (which, naturally, I often don't get around to doing on schedule). I have also begun to record on facing pages what I actually accomplished, with the hope of analyzing how things went and thereby optimizing my workflow.

BTW, I too am an academic, with research, teaching, supervisory and editorial responsibilities, so my setup might also work for you. And I have tried Workflowy, as well as Moo.Do and Dynalist - and at least for the present, I find that my present setup works much better for me.

PS If you use Todoist Pro/Business, you can also schedule tasks for specific hours. Likewise, this software provides virtually instantaneous two-way sync w/ Gcal.

Additional ideas for hybrid systems - https://thesweetsetup.com/hybrid-producitivy-method-using-both-analog-and-digital-for-task-management/ (while Apple oriented, the basics of this can be adapted, mutatis mutandis, to Windows/Android as well).

LM7 wrote:

In addition, my daily tasks are recorded manually in a notebook, which I
schedule on a daily basis, divided into five principal parts: morning,
afternoon, early evening, late evening, and desired tasks (which,
naturally, I often don't get around to doing on schedule). I have also
begun to record on facing pages what I actually accomplished, with the
hope of analyzing how things went and thereby optimizing my workflow.

Thank you for your suggestions. Concerning Todoist, I have tried it in the past but for some reason I prefer WorkFlowy. Please note that I'm quite happy with the digital side of my current setup. So I'm not looking for alternative digital solutions.

Instead, my main issue is that due to the easily expandable nature of digital space (e.g. as a task in Google Calendar), I have a hard time keeping track of (or appreciate) the physical disappearance of time.

I don't doubt that other people can manage this digitally. Maybe this has to do with my idiosyncratic mental make-up. For some reason I need the discipline imposed by the physical constraint of the size of a paper index card, blank business card, post-it note, page size of paper notebook etc. to remind me that my daily time is limited and that I better switch tasks if I want to have any hope of accomplishing my reading and writing (which is easy to reschedule to another day and then never actually do).

So the most interesting aspect of your post to me is how you use your notebook to manage your daily activities.

To put it another way, I need a physical representation of ringfenced time (e.g. an index card representing 1 hr of reading, another representing 1 hr of writing etc.), so I know when to start saying "no" to demands that threaten the ringfenced hours in a given day, and reschedule those to another day, rather than my high value-added activities (which sadly ends up being the casualty most of the time, hence my plea for help).

Unfortunately it's not as simple as ringfencing a specific time of the day (e.g. 9-11am for research) because my teaching or other meetings can take place in those hours, and so I need a flexible way of managing and shuffling these blocks of time. It's really has to do more with disciplining myself than anything else. I just need a physical object to tell me that "you've ran out of allocated admin time, stop looking at your emails and switch to reading and writing, otherwise the latter will not get done today, and this lost time will never come back).

There are smaller-format (1" square) stickie notes available.

I'd also suggest the Kokuyo Jibun sticky notes and their sticky to-do notes. Available at a reasonable price from JetPens (and others)

https://www.jetpens.com/Kokuyo-Jibun-Techo-Film-Sticky-Notes-Mini-B6-Slim/pd/21861


Franz Grieser wrote:

First idea that comes to mind: small stickies (Post-It) instead of index
>cards. You can stick them in a notebook and move them around on the
>page, if needed.
>You could also use different colors for different tasks or priorities.

Dr Andus wrote:>That's an excellent suggestion, thank you very much! I've just tested

it, and while 4 post-it notes don't quite fit side-by-side exactly in my
3"x5" notebook, it's still doable with a little overlap, so this would
actually do the trick. I will give this a try next week in a real-life
situation.

+ There are structural & ontological issues with OP, P.S. & P.P.S. analysis to begin with imho. Both in regards to analysis & possible solutions, search trees, intuition etc.

It's best to start with the most simple needs, categories, procedures, solutions etc & build up tools that way. Like natural selection. That evolution would be different for each person. Simple to Complexity.
KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid


+ I'd start with at least 3 categories branding:
+ Must-Do
+ To-Do
+ Might-Do
Might add more later.


+ I'd also learn about 80/20 rule, aka the Pareto Principle


+ Might look at the analogue personal Kanban I posted a while back here:

http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/5390/15


+ Also I wrote about analogue & digital not being enough. Mental modelling is actually the most important. It requires a chosen methodology though, and gradual training. Just like going to the gym. But that's another whole discipline, beyond this forum.

etc.

Good luck.

I agree entirely. Chronesthesia, prospective memory, memory of the future, etc. Physically writing something down is the best way to put something into future memory. Digital planning just doesn't work that well.

washere wrote:

Mental modelling is actually the most important.

Paul Korm wrote:

I agree entirely. Chronesthesia, prospective memory, memory of the
future, etc. Physically writing something down is the best way to put
something into future memory. Digital planning just doesn't work that
well.

washere wrote:
>Mental modelling is actually the most important.

That's one of the pre modern teaching techniques that did work. Like using a foreign word a few times in different context, instead of just hearing or reading it, when learning new languages, it then sticks. Pre modern seminary techniques were quite different, as were ancient Greeks or Indians. They might teach/discuss the whole day about a paragraph, usually just a page. Heidegger taught the old way, Derrida said he'd only read a few books thoroughly and properly, about a hundred, in his whole life etc. Not knocking new methods, I mix both.

WRT techniques for memory indexing & then mental modelling & then simulation, plus training, everyone has to develop their own using whatever works for them, that's been my experience anyway. Incorporating paper &/or digital notes/outlines/Mindmaps etc. too. All 3 methods can be used anytime in the process. Useful for schedulingb, project planning & Operational Research methods too.

Interesting topic. I agree that there is something about working with physical representations that can break one out of the digital monotony. Everything digital takes on a certain homogeneous feel (and lacks tactility), and this is exacerbated by the fact that it is overwhelmingly pervasive in all areas of life.

I don't really have a system for the analog part, but as I get older and more burned out on the digital world, I increasingly have a few high level things represented on ad hoc index cards that I can shuffle, arrange spatially, tape to the wall, manually tear up, etc.

You might look at getting a sand hourglass as well?

This is the format I use; 38x55 mm. Big enough for 4 lines in my rather spacious handwriting, small enough to discourage overwriting.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001VEJB3G

I've been relying on these for a year now, and it has worked _for_me_ better than any other system I've ever used. I've reduced it to the bare minimum: the sticky notes, a pen and a day-per-page notebook.

I have just one rule for their use: whenever I think of something I need to do, I write it down immediately. The process is simple enough to be completed in a few seconds, allowing me to resume whatever I was doing without any problem.

To make the process even faster, I have a set of notes and paper in every room, and in every piece of luggage I may use.


Paul Korm wrote:

There are smaller-format (1" square) stickie notes available.

I'd also suggest the Kokuyo Jibun sticky notes and their sticky to-do
notes. Available at a reasonable price from JetPens (and others)

https://www.jetpens.com/Kokuyo-Jibun-Techo-Film-Sticky-Notes-Mini-B6-Slim/pd/21861


Franz Grieser wrote:
>First idea that comes to mind: small stickies (Post-It) instead of
index
>>cards. You can stick them in a notebook and move them around on the
>>page, if needed.
>>You could also use different colors for different tasks or priorities.
>
Dr Andus wrote:>That's an excellent suggestion, thank you very much!
I've just tested
>it, and while 4 post-it notes don't quite fit side-by-side exactly in
my
>3"x5" notebook, it's still doable with a little overlap, so this would
>actually do the trick. I will give this a try next week in a real-life
>situation.

Thank you all for the great suggestions and all the links. I'll experiment and will report back about what stuck with me.

Chris Murtland wrote:

You might look at getting a sand hourglass as well?

Funny you say that because I did spend some time looking at them today. For now I have decided against them as the hourly ones are quite big (so not really portable), and since what I want to represent in some way is the total work hours available in a day (8 hours) and their respective allocation to categories of tasks (blocks of time reserved for teaching, preparation for teaching, admin, reading, and writing) even an hourly one wouldn't quite do that. Also, it's not so much the passage of time I want to mark as such but the allocation and protection of ringfenced time.

So the hourglass that would work for me would have 8 little hourglasses within it, with different coloured sand, and I would need to be able to freely rearrange the 8 hourglasses to accommodate different scenarios depending on which part of the day I can perform given blocks of activity. And I should not be able to reset or pause the hourglass during the workday.

For now I will trial the 3"x5" bound notebook I have, where I will draw lines on a double page to divide it into 8 rectangular areas to represent the 8 work hours, then I will allocate the planned work, ensuring that there is always time for reading and writing, and everything else will need to fit around those, otherwise it will not be done on that day.

Then I will use post-it notes to zoom in on an individual hourly task or if I need to rearrange the day. I am also thinking of using a single page of Boogie Board Sync as a hybrid space for working out the hourly task and track it as time passes (hybrid because it has a stylus and I can use handwriting but it saves the record digitally, should I want to keep it and file it in my database (CT)).

What I'm hoping for is that the physical constraints this system imposes will help me decide when something needs delegated or satisficed or not done at all because the time available for it ran out.

Really what I'm trying to do is reduce time on admin, dealing with emails etc. so that I can free up time (and protect it) for reading, writing, and research.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

I have just one rule for their use: whenever I think of something I need
to do, I write it down immediately. The process is simple enough to be
completed in a few seconds, allowing me to resume whatever I was doing
without any problem.

To make the process even faster, I have a set of notes and paper in
every room, and in every piece of luggage I may use.

Interesting that you kept this part analogue. This is what I use WorkFlowy for, and partly why I like Chromebooks. I just open the lid, the Chromebook is instantly on, WorkFlowy is always open in a Chrome tab, and I record the thought, and close the lid. The key benefit is the automatic sync across all my devices. The same for Google Calendar, if the task is time and date related.

nathanb wrote:

I have similar goals of an analog/digital combo. After trying several
things, the analog part that has been working well is a Rhodia A6
Wirebound Notebook https://rhodiapads.com/collections_spiral_A6.php .

into a digital journal for posterity. I also prefer the top spiral
bound format (called a reporter's notebook I think) because it lays flat
on the table as opposed to the stapled pocket notebooks that you have to
hold open.

Interesting point about the reporter's notebook format. I guess the benefit of the bound ones is that they reduce the size in half when closed and protect the pages a bit better. But I might give this one a try as well, if the bound one doesn't work out.

Paul Korm wrote:

I'd also suggest the Kokuyo Jibun sticky notes and their sticky to-do
notes. Available at a reasonable price from JetPens (and others)

https://www.jetpens.com/Kokuyo-Jibun-Techo-Film-Sticky-Notes-Mini-B6-Slim/pd/21861

I didn't fully understand how the transparent sticky notes work, though the notebook they are stuck into does look intriguing!

Try doing the same with ADHD and then get back on track rather than going off on a tangent...

Dr Andus wrote:

Interesting that you kept this part analogue. This is what I use
WorkFlowy for, and partly why I like Chromebooks. I just open the lid,
the Chromebook is instantly on, WorkFlowy is always open in a Chrome
tab, and I record the thought, and close the lid.

P.S. I should add that I only use original 3M Post-it notes; the weak glue on some cheaper alternatives could lead to a very leaky system.

Dr Andus wrote:

Also, it's not so much the passage of time I want to mark as such but the allocation and protection of ringfenced time.

You may want to check this out https://www.timetimer.com/collections/all

There's a software version as well, where multiple timers of different colours can be set.

You write tasks / appointments on the transparent notes and reposition them on the diary as needed -- the grid shows through so it's not hidden.


Paul Korm wrote:

>I'd also suggest the Kokuyo Jibun sticky notes and their sticky to-do
>notes.

Dr Andus wrote:

I didn't fully understand how the transparent sticky notes work, though
the notebook they are stuck into does look intriguing!

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Try doing the same with ADHD and then get back on track rather than
going off on a tangent...

Good point. Probably I've been sucked into the internet more often than I realise, when I only wanted to record a thought... Down the rabbit hole...

I'll try my little notebook instead when I'm not working digitally, to see if that leads to more self-discipline.

I'd look into Cal Newport's time blocking methods w/ a notebook/paper. He is also an academic and has to deal with a lot of the admin/teaching time eating issues.

Here is a basic overview of the time block method =>
http://calnewport.com/blog/2013/12/21/deep-habits-the-importance-of-planning-every-minute-of-your-work-day/

I call this planning method time blocking. I take time blocking seriously, dedicating ten to twenty minutes every evening to building my schedule for the next day. During this planning process I consult my task lists and calendars, as well as my weekly and quarterly planning notes. My goal is to make sure progress is being made on the right things at the right pace for the relevant deadlines.

This type of planning, to me, is like a chess game, with blocks of work getting spread and sorted in such a way that projects big and small all seem to click into completion with (just enough) time to spare.

---

Sometimes people ask how time blocking can work for reactive work, where you cannot tell in advance what obligations will enter your life on a given day. My answer is again simple: periods of open-ended reactivity can be blocked off like any other type of obligation. Even if you’re blocking most of your day for reactive work, for example, the fact that you are controlling your schedule will allow you to dedicate some small blocks (perhaps at the schedule periphery) to deeper pursuits.

===

There are some good examples of him using the method to deal with unexpected interruptions in the academic world here:
http://calnewport.com/blog/2015/09/29/deep-habits-three-recent-daily-plans/

And here is a nice way to elegantly combine todo lists and your tasks with time blocking:
http://calnewport.com/blog/2007/12/03/monday-master-class-dont-plan-your-day-with-a-to-do-list/

He also emphasizes weekly planning:
http://calnewport.com/blog/2014/08/08/deep-habits-plan-your-week-in-advance/

In his recent post, basically about CRIMPing w/ paper productivity systems, he also notes what he keeps along with his weekly/daily plan:

My weekly plan documents have grown to contain more than just the daily schedule sketches. They include quite a bit of narrative around projects I’m working on, summaries of habits I’m developing, reminders about values I’ve been neglecting. I’ll also sometimes move over lists of key tasks I’m working on during the task blocks that week, or summarize my most relevant temporary plans. All in all, they become pretty wild documents…

I use Excel and block every hour into 40 and 20 min segments. Along with the focus of the block (project 1, project 2), I leave a blank column to fill with tasks by hand.

40 min segments I always do *work* (sans for long lunch break). 20 min segments I do maintenance/daily routine things: morning routine, breakfast, walk, nap, email etc

So my day is basically:
640-7 Wake/coffee
740 Current Project
740-8 Walk dog
8-840 Current project
840-9 Read email
9-940 Current project
...
5-540 Review day/plan next


My mornings are firmly blocked this way. Afternoons are open and I adjust blocks based on appointments/meetings/calls etc


So I print out this schedule along with a project lists w/ tasks for each project. As I hit work blocks, I fill in the tasks Im working on by hand.

The reason I interleave work and everything else like this is that I am prone to getting hyper focused and burning out early in the day (which also leads to bad mood). I've also noticed I get a lot more done when I interleave things this way versus working in long chunks. 40 min is just enough to get into a flow state, but short enough to prevent letting your brain idle in circles.


I have much more freedom than you, so I'm not sure how my system would work for you in an academic setting. Based on my little knowledge of academic work, hard obligations like class times/office hours/meeting would be a solid block, but everything else would be up to you how to block. I would focus on creating as many *sacred* 20/40 min blocks of work for real research/writing.

Addendum:

I wanted to emphasize this sort of time blocking keeps you cognizant of where your time is going. I keep alarms/reminders to make sure to switch tasks/blocks. You know where every minute is going during the work day.

This system may feel fragile, but is quite robust once you get used to playing with blocks. I want to emphasize this robustness by reposting how Newport tackles interruptions here:
http://calnewport.com/blog/2015/09/29/deep-habits-three-recent-daily-plans/

Also, the links above are short blog posts and easy reads if you are concerned about getting lost in 20 minute essays on productivity/time management.