November 1, 2025

What about calendar blocks?

Fellow list member and Ditcherville all-star David Raistrick, replied to a particular line in my last email about things I don’t put in my calendar.

Here’s what I wrote:

My calendar is simply the place where I put appointments I have with other people. Not “appointments” with myself, not “focus time”, not things like “go for a run”,

And here’s David’s reply (shared with permission, lightly edited for clarity):

Well, for many folks, those are important calendar items - they’re blocks, not todos. When other people schedule things on your cal (Calendly, or just typical shared cal access in business), blocking out your time is critical.

Admittedly, I sometimes put a block from 9am-5pm on an upcoming day that I want to myself to prevent someone from sneaking in an appointment via my Calendly.

But - importantly, I think - the block isn’t designated for anything.

I just want it to myself and will decide how to use it when I “get there”.

Also, it’s really something that I should probably put in Calendly, but that’s harder than just dragging an 8-hour block on Friday, or whatever.

Blocking it on the calendar is much more flexible and frictionless, and I have found no negative side effects from doing so.

Thanks to David for bringing it up!

(Stay tuned for a Ditcherville comic later today!)

Yours,

—J