3 Time-Saving Strategies for Busy Association Leaders
Picture this: it’s Monday morning, and you’ve just woken up. You grab breakfast, get dressed, and head out the front door, ready to take on the day! At the office, you finally sit down, your computer lighting up as the clock hits 9. Click, click, click—your to-do list pops up, and there it is: a long lineup of tasks already weighing down your shoulders.
It’s unbelievable that despite the hours you spend in the office, you’re still overwhelmed by tasks that never seem to end! With urgent responsibilities waiting for you on all sides, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of to-do lists where a typical workday just doesn’t feel like enough.
But what if the issue isn’t how much you work, but how you work? What gets done first comes down to approach, not just effort.
The internet is full of flashy productivity hacks, but a few classics stand the test of time. In this article, we’re exploring Time Chunking, Work Chunking, and the Pomodoro Technique, as well as how these can help you build a workflow that feels less like swimming against the current and more like actually getting things done.
Time Chunking: What Is It?
Time chunking (also called time blocking) is a time-management technique in which you divide your day into blocks of time, each reserved for a specific task or activity. It helps you manage your day more intentionally by deciding what you’ll focus on each hour.
The point of time chunking is that it prepares your brain to focus on uninterrupted work for a period you set.
Let’s say you’re preparing to launch a new continuing education webinar for members, and you’ve set aside a five-hour block to start it. Time chunking here means breaking that block into smaller, focused segments. You get to decide how long each block is and what task you assign to it!
You can chop up your time into, say, five one-hour chunks. Here’s what that can look like:
- Hour 1: Review member feedback to choose a relevant topic
- Hour 2: Define the goal and key takeaways for the session
- Hour 3: Draft a basic agenda and content outline
- Hour 4: Create a basic storyboard of your slides
- Hour 5: Begin fleshing out your outline to create a script
Notice how approaching your task this way creates a clear path for your brain to follow. This makes it easier for you to accomplish each time block while eliminating the overwhelming pressure of deciding which task to tackle next.
Time chunking doesn’t just come in handy for when you need to power through a hectic workday. As Waggoner (2025) further explains, “Time blocking relies on not just blocking off time to study or work, but proactively blocking off recurring time in advance of a due date and intentionally stating what you will be working on during that time block.”
In other words, while time chunking helps you organize the hours of a single productive day, it shines even more when you plan your time blocks over an extended period.
This strategy works best for large-scale, long-term projects that require repeated tasks. It allows you to establish a clear timeline for completing your goal (potentially even ahead of time!).
Time chunking provides the structure and clarity needed to move your tasks forward with consistency and confidence, no matter how big they are. By outlining your priorities in advance, you create a workflow that supports steady progress and ensures your work actually gets done.
Work Chunking: The Same Strategy From a Different Lens
Work chunking follows the same principle as time chunking, but shifts the attention to the workload rather than duration. Time chunking and working chunking are actually two sides of the same coin: when time is chunked, work is chunked, too!
Work chunking is breaking a large task into smaller ones to make it more manageable. In Agile, this is called deconstruction.
Let’s go back to our earlier example. Notice how we took one big task like “launching a new webinar” and broke it down into actionable goals, divided by hours? Here, time chunking lets you manage your time by being intentional about when and for how long you work. Work chunking, on the other hand, helps you break one big task into small, specific, and actionable goals.
The Pomodoro Technique: Time Chunking’s Cooler Cousin
You’ve probably come across the Pomodoro Technique if you’ve spent any time in the productivity space. It was created by developer and entrepreneur Francesco Cirillo in the early 1900s, when he used to track his focused work time by 25-minute intervals. The word Pomodoro (the Italian word for tomato) was attributed to the fact that Cirillo would use a tomato-shaped kitchen timer to conduct these quick productivity sessions (Tan, 2025).
Now popular among students and workers, the Pomodoro Technique shines for those who struggle to focus for long periods. After all, concentrating on a task for hours on end can be daunting—especially for the easily distracted.
You don’t have to power through marathon work sessions, either; short 25-minute sessions offer just enough time to keep your attention engaged. Pair this with a 5-minute break at the end of each session, and you’ve got the perfect setup for productivity to flow (even when you don’t feel like working!).
The Pomodoro Technique, while originally designed in a 25-minute work/5-minute break schedule, can be tailored to your time-management needs. Play around with the time that works best for you. If a 25-minute work session is too short, feel free to extend it to 45 minutes or even an hour, then allow yourself longer breaks in between.
During your pauses, reward yourself for completing a session. You get to decide how to use your rest period: take a coffee break, spend time with your pet, or do something else you enjoy. The world is your oyster, as long as you stay productive!
Why Time Chunking, Work Chunking, and the Pomodoro Technique Work
Just as eating in small spoonfuls makes food easier to digest, your brain processes information better when it’s broken into smaller pieces. When tasks are divided into little segments, they become less overwhelming and far more approachable! Both time chunking and work chunking rely on this fundamental principle.
Imagine you have a single, sprawling project that demands your attention all at once. The thought of it can easily trigger stress or decision paralysis. Smaller chunks, on the other hand, give your brain a defined entry point: one clear, doable step to complete before moving on to the next.
Each piece becomes an intentional moment of focus. Instead of wrestling with an entire project at once, you’re tackling it through a sequence of manageable wins. Over time, these steps compound, creating steady momentum and reducing the sense of overwhelm that often accompanies long-term or high-stakes tasks. Before you know it, you’ve reached the end of your to-do list!
Multitasking: The Enemy of Time Chunking
Contrary to time chunking, where you dedicate a time block to a single task, multitasking involves handling several tasks simultaneously (as much as your attention and energy allow!). The goal of multitasking is to accomplish as much work as possible with as little time as you can afford.
As it turns out, multitasking (also known as thrashing in Agile, wherein you quickly move from one task to another without having time to adjust) does more harm than good. According to Nevin (2024), “The brain cannot effectively do different complex cognitive tasks at the exact same time. Instead, evidence overwhelmingly shows that when our brains ‘task-switch,’ we gain errors and lose time.” His reports even showed that multitasking reduces productivity by about 40%, taking about 15 minutes to reorient yourself after a distraction—yikes!
Based on these conclusions, it’s no wonder we’ve now gradually moved away from chaotic, all-over-the-place multitasking to focused, single-task strategies like time chunking. These strategies are not only more straightforward but are also far more effective, helping you confidently check off your task list one step at a time.
5 Ways to Implement Time Chunking Into Your Daily Operations
The results are clear: time chunking just works. Your team must define how long each chunk is and how it fits into the workday. This can vary, so it’s essential to communicate goals as they fit into your strategy.
To boost efficiency and keep your team productive, here are five ways to implement time chunking into your daily operations:
1. Create Organizational Focus Blocks
Establish shared quiet hours in the workplace where teams can work uninterrupted in chunks. During these windows, set a rule to minimize meetings, calls, and non-urgent messages. This helps entire departments focus simultaneously, reducing interruptions and creating a rhythm of deep focus throughout the day.
2. Practice a Task Deconstruction Process
Encourage your team to break down their responsibilities into smaller, manageable components before the day begins. For example, instead of writing a single to-do list like “Prepare continuing education course launch”, the task gets broken down:
- Draft outline
- Write and review script
- Record voiceover
- Create slides
- Sync slides to voiceover
- Upload video to Learning Management System (LMS)
Smaller chunks make it easier to get started, as well as allow you to track progress and maintain momentum across longer projects.
3. Track Chunk Usage
Have teams track the number of blocks a task or project requires. Over time, this generates valuable data to support future estimation and planning. If writing a course description consistently takes four chunks, for example, your team can forecast timelines more accurately and allocate resources more effectively.
4. Use Your Tools
Encourage the use of calendar blocking or project management tools to structure time chunks. These visual schedules help your team commit to their work blocks, avoid overbooking, and stay aligned with your organization’s expectations.
5. Experiment with Different Chunking Patterns
Each of your team members has a different rhythm of focus throughout the day. Encourage them to experiment with various chunk lengths and time windows to see what suits their work style best. Some tasks benefit from shorter, high-energy blocks, while others require longer, uninterrupted stretches of concentration.
Testing different combinations helps teams identify when they work most effectively and which chunking patterns support their workflow.
Conclusion
At the end of the (work) day, real productivity is about giving your mind the structure that it needs to focus, rather than trying to do everything at once. The goal is to get work done, not just keep yourself busy!
As you tackle increasingly complex and urgent projects, these chunking strategies become more than just productivity tools; they serve as the foundation for healthier, more consistent habits that help the entire office stay focused and energized.
So, the next time your to-do list looks too long, try chunking your time and breaking the work ahead into smaller pieces. You might be surprised by how much lighter everything feels—when Monday comes, your shoulders won’t be drooping first thing in the morning!
REFERENCES
Beaton, C. (2017, January 29). The Millennial Workforce: How multitasking is changing our brains. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinebeaton/2017/01/27/the-millennial-workforce-how-multitasking-is-changing-our-brains/
Elon Musk’s “Time Blocking” Method: How to Manage Time Effectively Even If Your Schedule Is Hectic. – Mayo Oshin. (2018, May 1). Mayo Oshin. https://www.mayooshin.com/time-blocking-elon-musk-manage-time
Here’s how you can optimize your productivity with time blocking techniques as an entrepreneur. (2024, June 22). https://www.linkedin.com/advice/1/heres-how-you-can-optimize-your-productivity-time-fuv0c
Nevin, A. (2024). Brainomics of Single-Tasking. In The BrainHealth Project. Brainomics Bulletin. Retrieved November 26, 2025, from https://centerforbrainhealth.org/article/single-tasking
Scroggs, L. (n.d.). The pomodoro technique — why it works & how to do it. Todoist. https://www.todoist.com/productivity-methods/pomodoro-technique
Tan, F. (2025). Stay on schedule with the Pomodoro technique. Doodle.com; Doodle. https://doodle.com/en/stay-on-schedule-with-the-pomodoro-technique/
The Pomodoro technique for time management. (2019, October 7). Colorado State University Global. Retrieved November 26, 2025, from https://csuglobal.edu/blog/pomodoro-technique-time-management
Waggoner, E. (2025, February 14). Struggling with time management? Try Time blocking! University of Colorado Denver. Retrieved November 24, 2025, from https://www.ucdenver.edu/student/stories/library/lynx-tales/struggling-with-time-management-try-time-blocking
George, S. (2025). Time blocking for cognitive control: Reclaiming mental space in the era of meeting overload. Partners Universal International Innovation Journal, 03(03). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15732902
