Welcome to Trevor AI, a daily planning app and time management assistant that uses time blocking to help you schedule tasks between your to-do lists and your calendar in real-time.
This is the ultimate guide on getting started and mastering daily planning, with the simplest, yet most effective type of time management - Time blocking.
This article is written by Trevor's founders - George and Dmitry, to help you get the most out of your Trevor. The features listed below are available in our Free Forever plan, unless stated otherwise.
Time blocking is the process of reserving a specific amount of time to work on a specific task. This helps to ensure that the task is completed in a timely manner and prevents distractions from interfering with your work.
Time blocking with Trevor can be as simple as dragging and dropping a task from your Task Inbox, into your Calendar, yet it enables one of the most important skills in the digital age - Deep work.
Deep work is a term coined by author and professor Cal Newport in his book Deep Work. It refers to the ability to focus deeply without distraction on a cognitively demanding task.
In order to achieve deep work, you need to eliminate or at least minimize distractions and schedule a few hours a day to focus on deep work. Once you learn to embrace the flow state, you can gradually increase the amount of time as you feel more comfortable.
The end result is a new level of focus, that enables you to achieve better results in less time - creating more opportunities to master your work and have more time for other important things in life.
Time blocking is considered among the best time management techniques enabling deep work.
In a nutshell, Trevor AI is a link between your to-do list and your calendar, bridging the gap between both and providing you with the best of both worlds.
To-do lists are great because they help you stay organized and on top of your work. They allow you to see all of the tasks that you need to complete in one place, and they make it easy to prioritize and organize your work. Task lists, however, are just an organized backlog of things to do. They don't incentivise action or help you manage your time and attention.
On the other end of the spectrum is the Calendar - a purely time-based system that's great for managing your time and focus, but is terrible as a backlog for recording and organising tasks.
Trevor's intelligent time blocking technology makes sure you get the best of both worlds - an inbox to organize your tasks and a calendar to manage your most valuable asset - time or attention. As your personal assistant, Trevor AI seamlessly integrates both. All changes are reflected on both ends and in real-time.
As a result, at any time you're fully aware of everything you need to do, but can also focus on completing a single task in a specific time block. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by all of the things competing for your time in your endless to-do list, you can prioritze your day and plan realistically by scheduling your important tasks in your calendar. Furthermore Trevor can help you feel more in control of your life and your work. When you can visually see the full picture of your daily plan, you're less likely to feel stressed out or overwhelmed.
Trevor AI is available on web for mobile and desktop at https://app.trevorai.com.
Choose a sign in option based on your calendar of choice (ex: Google calendar). You can change sign in methods and sync different accounts at any time via Account Settings. Furthermore you can sync multiple Google calendar andOutlook calendar accounts with our Pro plan.
Once you signup, Trevor will take you through a very short walkthrough on the most basic action - scheduling a task. Just write a new task to add it to your Inbox and then drag and drop it into your Schedule. The task is now synced with your calendar.
You can add your tasks manually via the Inbox or enable real-time sync with a task list integration like Todoist. We're plan on integrating with all major task management apps in the future.
By default, all synced calendars within your account will be visible in Trevor. You can easily hide unnecessary ones via Calendar Options in the top right menu to declutter your schedule.
You can sync additional calendar accounts from Google calendar and Outlook calendar with our Pro plan, via Account Settings from the top right menu.
Tasks can be organized in #lists, similar to traditional task management apps. You can create new color coded lists from the List settings icon at the top right of your Task Inbox.
The default list is where new tasks are added by default, unless another list is selected. You can change the default list with the star icon via the same List settings.
By default, the Task Inbox displays all enabled lists and the first 3 tasks for each list. Tapping on a list's name will expand that list to show all of its tasks and notes. Use the back arrow to return to the Inbox.
By default, Trevor creates a new "Trevor AI" calendar in your account, which is where all tasks schedule via Trevor can be found. You can enable this calendar to be visible on all of your other devices. You can also change the primary Scheduling Calendar, using the Star icon in Calendar Options from the main menu.
Drag to reschedule
Scheduled tasks behave as any other calendar events, allowing you to move them around at will.
Resize to change duration
To resize a scheduled task, drag the bottom of the event on desktop or tap and hold on mobile devices.
Tapping on a scheduled task will display the following options:
Complete
Marks the task as completed and leaves the calendar event in your schedule. Completed tasks are also hidden by default and can be shown via the "Show Completed" filter on top of your Task Inbox.
Unfinished (previously known as partially complete)
Leaves the calendar event in your schedule, but allows you to reschedule the same task from your inbox at a new time.
Reschedule
Provides options to reschedule the task at a specific time.
Quick Reschedule
Provides options to reschedule the task at a suggested time.
Postpone
Removes the calendar event and allows you to reschedule the task.
Remove
Removes both the task and the calendar event, which cannot be undone.
Notes, alerts and more
Improve your focus with a beautiful timer, write notes in an expanded note field or add alerts to make sure you stay on track.
Trevor will highlight overdue tasks in your Inbox to make sure you don't forget a single important task, which is a feature unique to Trevor. If you've done work on the task, you can select Uncomplete, which will allow you to reschedule it, while keeping an entry in your calendar. If you haven't done work on it, you can Reschedule or Postpone it for another time.
Trevor can also provide Rescheduling Suggestions for Overdue Tasks, which highlight a probable time for rescheduling right within your schedule. Clicking on it will enable you to
Trevor's interface allows you to zoom in and out of your schedule to adjust your focus, using the buttons on the top right of your desktop screen: Daily, 3-Day, Weekly, Monthly.
You can assign a duration to any task, before you schedule it. This can be done via the Inbox. Assigning a duration will help you to realistically plan your day and help Trevor find available time for your tasks.
Deep Work Tip
We suggest breaking bigger tasks into smaller chunks, suitable for deep work. Try not to have tasks longer than 2 hours at a time for optimal results.
AI Assistance
Trevor's AI will automatically suggest a duration for your tasks, based on your time blocking history. This automation will improve over time and save you countless hours of micro-management. It can easily be overridden in a second. Additionally, having a duration for each task, allows Trevor to provide more accurate scheduling suggestions and find time for your tasks using the availability algorithm.
You can reorder lists with drag & drop via List Settings.
You can also reorder tasks with drag & drop from within an opened list.
Quick Tasks
The all-day field of your schedule could be used to add tasks taking up less than 15 minutes, such as a phone call or a quick web search.
Macro-managing your week
Time blocking in the all-day section could also be used to schedule a task for a specific day (without a time), allowing you to later drag it into your timetable. For example you schedule a task for Wednesday. On Wednesday you drag the task to 3pm. This can help you distribute the most important tasks over your week without micromanaging time.
Make Trevor your own by customising the UI and Trevor's behaviour.
Accessible from the top right menu, Calendar Options allows you to adjust:
Schedule View allows you to switch between Compact, Default or Detailed, adjusts the vertical height of your Schedule. Compact can help you see the whole day, while Detailed provides more focus on smaller 15 minute tasks.
Date and Time Format allows you to switch between AM/PM and 24:00 and choose whether your week starts on Sunday or Monday.
Allows you to setup
Any #list within Trevor can be shared with others. Simply open the list, tap the Share icon and send an email invite to that person. They will receive an invite to your list, which they can Accept or Reject from List settings.
Tasks within a shared list are visible to all participants. Tasks can be assigned to individuals and they can filter to see only their assigned tasks. Anyone can schedule and complete tasks. As we expand this collaborative time blocking functionality, teams will be able to track when each task should be done. This will provide a new level of clarity throughout the day.
Available from the top right menu, the progress dashboard provides clarity into how you're investing your most valuable asset. It helps with tracking your time by showing the amount of scheduled time, how many hours you invested in each list and displays your overall productivity streak over time. The progress dashboard is available with our Pro plan, which supports our development effort.
Get the most of scheduling your Todoist tasks by exploring the Todoist Time Blocking Guide.
For a native time blocking experience on mobile devices, once app.trevorai.com is open, tap the share icon in your browser and select Add to home screen. This will open the app in full screen and in a separate browser, similar to an iOS app or an android app. Both will be available sometime in the future.
Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to change days or Shift + Arrow to change single day in either direction.
When typing a new task, you can type '#', followed by the first letter of the list, to quickly add it to that list.
Most users organize their lists in categories such as home, work, project X, etc. You could also add an "Urgent" list, color code it orange and move it to the top of your Inbox. Urgent tasks often become mental boomerangs that pop up in our minds when we're trying to focus. This can help you clear your mind.
We all have 24 hours in a day. It's a matter of how we use them. The simplest and most effective form of prioritising your day is to schedule the tasks that align with your goals first. Time blocking enables you to do that with ease, as well as to truly focus on those tasks in each specific time block.
Humans are not robots. Productivity and Deep work for cognitive tasks is not a result of time, but a result of deep concentration. We often argue that certain activities that provide work-life balance and make people happy also empower their productivity during their deep work hours. A good run, a hike or time spent with loved ones before a deep work session can be much more productive than a longer working session. Try it for yourself and see what works.
Life is full of surprises. Your schedule should be flexible. Move things around, leave buffer time between events and make sure to schedule time for things you look forward to. A schedule could be a representation of your ideal day or week. Schedule your morning run, your time with friends, movie night with your family, your Friday date night and everything else you look forward to in life. Making time for the things that matter to you is only up to you. Trevor is just here to help.
One of the best ways to get started with daily planning is to learn from the experts. Many famous people use time blocking to help them stay focused and productive. Here are a few examples:
1. Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter and Square, schedules his days in 15-minute blocks. This allows him to move quickly between tasks and maintain a high level of productivity.
2. Oprah Winfrey starts her day by reviewing her goals for the day and then blocking out time slots for each task. This helps her stay on track and avoid distractions.
3. Bill Gates begins his workday by focusing on his most important tasks for the day, which he defines the night before. This time blocking technique allows him to start his day with a sense of accomplishment and momentum.
4. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, schedules his day around meetings and calls. This helps him stay connected with his team and make decisions quickly.
5. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, was known for his laser-like focus. He would often block out entire days to work on a single project. This helped him achieve great results in a shorter amount of time.
6. Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, is known for his insanely long work hours. He often works more than 80 hours per week. Time blocking allows him to get a lot done in a short amount of time.
7. Warren Buffett, legendary investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, schedules his day around reading and thinking. This helps him make better investment decisions and stay ahead of the competition.
8. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, starts her day by review her to-do list and then scheduling time for each task. This helps her stay focused and avoid getting sidetracked.
By following the examples of these successful people, you can learn how to use time blocking to improve your own productivity and gain a competitive edge. Give your personal assistant Trevor a try and see how it works for you. Just drag, drop, repeat...
Thank you for taking the time to read this article! We hope you found this guide helpful. If you have any questions or feedback, please don't hesitate to reach out to me at george@trevorlabs.com. Feel free to support our development effort on Patreon. All patrons receive the full benefits of our Pro plan.
