5 Time-Blocking Mistakes That Are Killing Your Productivity (And How to Fix Them)

Time blocking seems like a simple idea: Schedule your day, assign tasks to each time block, and stick to your schedule. However, most of the individuals who take a stab at it only last for a few weeks, and it is not the strategy that is at fault, it's simply a few avoidable errors. If you're like many, you've created a flawless Sunday night schedule only to ditch it Tuesday night, then one of these five must be to blame.

1. Scheduling every single minute

The No. 1 error is trying to fill your calendar without any blank time. If every block is filled, 1 delay — a call that takes 20 minutes, a task that takes 10 minutes — knocks the rest of your day down like dominoes. The solution: add 15-30 minute buffers between blocks. These buffers aren't wasted time — they're what keeps your schedule from falling apart the first time something goes off-script.

2. Not paying attention to energy levels

Not all hours are equal. There's a window of time that most people find it easiest to focus at — typically mid-morning — and a time when it's tougher — typically later in the day when even simple tasks feel like a weight. The problem with time blocking is that it's only effective when you do it for the right reasons, not out of routine. Monitor your Energy for several days and correlate your most difficult work sessions with your best times of day, and the easier or less complex work sessions to the periods when you are most tired.

3. Overloading the schedule

You may feel tempted to pack all of the items you want to do into your schedule, but an overstuffed schedule usually backfires — here's what that looked like for me. If you always seem to fall short of what you want to accomplish, you are not necessarily lacking in effort, but rather you are planning too much, or perhaps you didn't plan at all. Just block the top 3 to 4 priorities and if time permits, block in the smaller tasks.

I used to schedule 100 things during my school days. I used to fail everyday. But it took me several years to even notice what went wrong, I used to tell myself that I'm not good enough. But now, I schedule only 3 things for the day. Most of the days, its a win, even if i don't win that day, I always win eventually. 

4. Not going back to the "what happened" part of things.

Many people have a time blocked schedule and never review how their day went. If you don't review this in a hurry, you will continue to make the same estimation errors, such as underestimating the time needed for tasks, failing to account for recurring interruptions or scheduling things at the wrong time. Take 5 minutes at the end of the day to review the plan vs what actually occurred and make changes to the plan for the next day.

5. Considering blocks to be unbreakable

Time blocking is not a contract you make with yourself. Then, when something urgent blows up the plan, many people give up on the system altogether because they are frustrated. A flexible time-blocker moves blocks around but doesn't throw out the day completely. Imagine that your schedule is a living plan that you are continually making adjustments to on a day-to-day basis, rather than a book that you have to follow to the letter or fail to follow.

The takeaway

Time-blocking is effective, but only if it takes into account real life: interruptions, low energy periods and inaccurate estimates. These five errors are corrected and the method is no longer an added burden but rather a way to regain control over your day.