Why Time Blocks Don’t Work
While the idea of time blocks—scheduling time in your calendar to complete specific tasks—seems like the perfect way to get more done, the reality often falls short of expectations.
Let me set a scene that I personally have experienced too many times:
Write down the tasks that need to be completed for the week or month.
Then, open up your calendar and schedule those tasks into your open time slots (so far, so good—we're scheduling tasks like meetings).
Like a bizarre form of magic, a customer meeting gets thrown on your calendar at the same time that you were supposed to scrub your team’s pipeline and submit your forecast.
…And then an urgent internal meeting is scheduled, overlapping with the time you set aside to prepare for a big customer event later this week.
Suddenly, those time blocks never moved past being aspirational goals that never actually come to fruition.
The main reasons time blocking doesn't work come down to a few small (but important) things:
Overloading your calendar
Being TOO rigid with it
Not thinking about things like life events or your energy levels.
Let’s dive into those 3 common mistakes and some ways to fix them.
Problem #1: You’re Overloading Your Calendar
If you fill the majority of your day with time blocks, you’re probably needing to embrace the “do less” mentality. I, for one, am totally prone to this.
There’s an assumption that having a maxed out schedule means you are important. But remember: busy-ness doesn’t equate to value. You probably don’t need to get all of those things done today, but you want to, so you schedule it all.
But the problem with that: if everything is important enough to require a time block, then nothing is.
If this is you: I’d encourage you to re-think how you prioritize your tasks. When you look at your to-do list, critically think about the most urgent things that need to be done within a specific time frame.
The Eisenhower Matrix
Consider trying out the Eisenhower Matrix before you start scheduling time blocks for tasks. Only those that are in the “urgent and important” box should have a time block for that given day.
As a manager, one of my first experiences with this came with an “Pipe Cleanup” time block that I put at the end of every day. This was an hour dedicated to reviewing and cleaning up my team’s pipeline before I headed into the next day.
90% of the time, that never actually happened. And the reason was simple: other things took priority. When I started using the Eisenhower Matrix each day for a week, I realized that scrubbing pipeline was something to ideally keep up with daily; but really was truly URGENT 2-3 times a week. Shifting that time block from daily to 2x weekly made a big difference in actually getting that task done.
Problem #2: You Aren’t Flexible With It
I call this the "throw in the towel" issue, because if one time block gets messed up, you abandon the whole system completely.
The problem here is you are expecting to get things done within a certain amount of time, and if it runs over into something else, the whole stack of to-do’s fall apart.
There are a few remedies to this, all of which center around making your time blocking method more adaptive:
Build in Buffers: If you have a meeting that will take 30 minutes, schedule a minimum of a 5 minute buffer on the front and back end to allow for things to run over.
Use Rolling Blocks: Didn’t get to that task during the time you assigned it? DON’T leave it undone, reschedule it. Find another time to complete it by rolling it into the next block and determining which task is most important for that day.
Use a “Catch Up” Block: Try building a time block to “catch up” on urgent tasks that didn’t get completed during other scheduled times. Think of this as a dedicated Rollover Block; just make sure you respect it the same way you do other scheduled meetings.
Problem #3: Ignoring External Factors
The last problem is most difficult for high achievers to embrace - and that’s recognizing the circumstances outside of your control and their impact on your productivity. We would like to think we can always be “on,” despite whatever adversity we face.
But the reality is, there are certain seasons and times of day you simply get less done. And understanding when you are at your best (and worst) will be most helpful to being impactful.
Maybe you naturally aren’t a morning person, or mornings are simply hectic with your personal life (things like getting your kids out the door and off to school). If that’s you, then don’t schedule deep, critical thinking work at 9 am when your brain isn’t ready for it.
For me, I hit a wall at 2 pm every day. Which means, that is the time I schedule a 15 minute walk to get outside and refresh myself. And I save my tasks that require less brain power for that time.
I also know that the holiday season is a time I'm stretched extra thin, which means my productivity will look different than other times of the year.
Time blocking doesn't have to be frustrating. With the right strategies, you can transform how you manage your time and productivity. If you're interested in learning more about strategies to take back control of your calendar, be sure to download my FREE guide.
