Time-Blocking sounds great, but here’s why it didn’t work for me

Time-blocking is sometimes considered the holy grail of productivity, and I don’t doubt that it works for some people. However, I have tried many times; I didn’t succeed once. Here’s why.

1 Constant stress

Despite once telling everyone on LinkedIn that they should block off their days, I soon realized that it was doing me more harm than good. One of the biggest problems with this was that I was constantly stressed.

Because I had no flexibility, I constantly felt overwhelmed with tasks. Additionally, I was also resentful of others as I neared the end of my time block in something I had no control over. For example, my gym class sometimes goes over its allotted time. This constant stress remained with me even as I became more lenient with the spacing between different tasks.

2 Zero flexibility

Sometimes life gets in the way. For example, I remember one day when I had to renew my passport. The meeting went well for the time I allocated it and I was frustrated for the rest of the day. If I put a few things on my to-do list, I would probably make more progress toward my goals.

That’s why I think making an efficient to-do list is better for me than blocking time. With a to-do list, I have more day-to-day flexibility and am less irritable when life happens.

Regardless of your productivity technique, you need to consider external factors. For example, your Wi-Fi connection might drop, or you might need to pick up one of your kids early. Time blocking is too rigid in my opinion.

3 Too much pressure

Pressure in itself is not a bad thing and I love the responsibility. However, I also like to focus on tasks and give them my all. When I blocked out time, I felt like I was constantly in a rush. Instead of getting into a flow state, I worked on tasks with more frantic energy.

Because I wasn’t giving any task my full attention, the quality of my work was significantly worse. As a result, I was even more frustrated. I eventually realized that it’s better to take an hour and 10 minutes to finish something well than 50 minutes to rush it.

4 I’m constantly checking my calendar

I admit that I have to bear the blame here. I made my days too different from each other, making it harder to keep up with what I was supposed to be doing. However, constantly checking my calendar has done more harm than good.

Because I was constantly switching between windows, it was even harder for me to focus on anything. Plus, I hated feeling overwhelmed—knowing I didn’t have time to regroup before the next task.

Again, I could have solved these problems by putting some breaks in my calendar and having more consistent routines. However, I don’t experience these problems nearly as much with the to-do list.

5 I felt like I made less progress on my projects

The whole point of time blocking or any other productivity method is to make progress towards goals that are important to you. So you can imagine my frustration when the time blocking felt like I was constantly hitting a brick wall.

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Because I often didn’t finish tasks by the deadline, I had to revisit them later. This led to an endless backlog and I felt like I was stuck in the same place for months. Because of this, I was prompted to explore time blocking alternatives.

If you insist on time blocking, I recommend doubling how long you think the task will take to complete. Additionally, you should allow for some time for revisions and potential project delays.

6 The compulsion to fill every second

Another reason why time blocking didn’t work for me was that I felt pressured to fill every second of my day. Whenever I saw a spare 30 minutes or so, I filled it with another task. By the end of the time blocking phase, I had so many meaningless tasks that didn’t even relate to my goals. For example, I started new projects that I didn’t care about.

You need to give your brain time to rest. This means understanding when it’s time to sign off for the day, as well as taking several breaks throughout the day to prepare for your next task.

Time-blocking is a powerful tool for some people, but every time I did it, it didn’t work. I’ve tried different procedures, adding spaces, etc. and I always came to the same conclusion. I won’t stop you from trying time blocking, but know that it doesn’t work for everyone.