Guardrails: Handling Interruptions and Overruns
A plan is just a guess. The real world is messy, and a truly pragmatic system must be flexible enough to handle it. Your calendar is a map, not a cage. Here’s how to manage the inevitable disruptions without abandoning your system.
When a Meeting Pops Up
Your boss requests an “urgent” 30-minute meeting right in the middle of your scheduled deep work block. The old you would have accepted immediately, derailing your focus. The new you sees this as a negotiation.
First, assess its true urgency. Can it be an email? Can it wait until your afternoon open slot? It’s okay to respond with, “Happy to connect. I’m in a deep work session on Project Alpha until 11:30. Would 2:00 PM work for you, or is it more urgent than the Alpha deadline?” This communicates your priorities and offers an alternative, reclaiming control over your schedule.
If the meeting is truly unavoidable, don’t just delete your deep work block. Shrink it or move it. Perhaps you can do 60 minutes of deep work before the meeting and schedule another 60-minute block later. The goal is to consciously re-allocate your time, not let it vanish.
When a Task Takes Longer Than Expected
You scheduled two hours to write a report, but you’re only halfway through when the block ends. This is a common issue, often related to Parkinson’s Law, the adage that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion. While time blocking helps counter this by creating a container, estimates can still be wrong.
Don’t panic. You have a few options. First, use your built-in buffer time. That’s what it’s for. Second, at the end of the block, take five minutes to assess. Can you finish this with another 30 minutes of focus? If so, look at your schedule. Can you borrow time from a “shallow work” block? It’s better to trade low-value time for high-value time. Third, if it needs much more time, schedule a new deep work block for it later in the week and move on to your next scheduled task. This prevents one overrun from causing a domino effect of failure across your entire day.
The practice of setting a time limit for a task is also known as timeboxing. It’s a powerful cousin to time blocking that forces you to focus on getting the most important part of the task done within the allotted time, rather than striving for perfection.
Renegotiating Your Commitments
The core principle here is to be the master of your calendar, not its servant. When disruptions happen, you are not failing. You are simply gathering new information. The key is to make a conscious choice. Look at your schedule, understand the trade-offs, and renegotiate the plan for the rest of your day. This act of intentional re-planning is itself a powerful antidote to the feeling of chaos and a key skill for better decision making under pressure.
