A packed calendar seems like the ultimate productivity hack. Yet, it is a terrible idea. Here is why.
When your calendar is packed, your mind feels a time scarcity, as if someone is constantly whispering — “Hurry up! There is not enough time.”
Soon, it starts creating overwhelm and anxiety.
Further, a packed calendar eliminates the idle time we need to relax, recharge, and occasionally, just ponder.
Without idle time, you won’t get new creative ideas — you may keep doing what you have always been doing. Many people have reported getting their best ideas when they move away from work, maybe for a walk or run.
Finally, in real life, things often take longer than we anticipate. But a packed calendar has no room for error. So if a task or meeting overruns, you panic or cut a sorry figure when late for the next appointment.
This desire to pack every minute on your calendar is very seductive, but is a bad idea.
To do great things at work, you don’t need to be always busy — instead, mix spurts of focus with full breaks, like how athletes do high-intensity interval training.
You need whitespace everywhere — in your life, in your mind, in your calendar.
Too much only creates a traffic jam.
– Rajan