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Time management apps are everywhere, promising to streamline your schedule, boost productivity, and make the most of every minute. I bought into this promise, trying out app after app in hopes of mastering my daily routine. While this practice initially gave me a feeling of accomplishment, I eventually decided to step away from these apps. Here’s why.
1My Day Lacked Flexibility
When I planned my day with atime management tracker, I filled up every hour of the day from the time I woke up to the time I got into bed. Whether I sectioned time for writing, work, exercising, or hobbies like reading and crocheting, there was something to do for every minute I was awake.
Sometimes, this rigid structure filled me with dread, rather than providing me with a helpful guide map for how I was going to spend the day. What if I didn’t want to read a book from 6 to 8 PM on a Wednesday night? What if I woke up later the next day and my entire schedule had to shift?
I spent more time stressing about not meeting the time increments I set aside and feeling “trapped” in my schedule, leaving me little room to go with the flow and join in on last-minute plans. I’ve had to take the time tounderstand my time management needsbecause this time-tracking approach hasn’t been successful.
2Some Tasks Took More Time Than I Expected
Something else I learned from using time management apps is that I always underestimated the amount of time it would take to complete a task. Whether it’s filling out job applications, cooking dinner, or even getting ready in the morning, I somehow found a way to run over the allotted time in my schedule.
I was constantly rushing to get to the next task while failing to finish what I initially set aside time for, leaving me with half-done tasks that I’d inevitably have to circle back to later in the week. This meant I rarely had a feeling of accomplishment at the end of a block of time I’d set aside for a specific task.
3I Often Overplanned
Screenshot by Marissa Zupancic — no attribution
Building off of my last point, I often overplanned my day because some tasks were much longer than I anticipated. I would try to compensate by building my schedule the next day with tasks I didn’t get to finish, but that would only cause me to push looming deadlines back even further, sometimes into the next week.
Tracking my time was supposed to help me finish tasks sooner, but I was left running on empty and pushing deadlines in a race against my self-set deadlines. My stress level only ended up increasing.
4I Enjoyed Hobbies Less
Unfortunately,sectioning out time for hobbiesin the evenings made them less enjoyable overall. Instead of spontaneously reaching for a book during some downtime, reading or crocheting in the evening became a chore. My hobbies soon became something I “had” to do to check them off my list for the day.
This made me wish the block I’d set aside for reading would hurry up and end, so I could move on to the next task. Turning my hobbies into a task made them feel like an extension of my typical workday. What’s the fun of a hobby if I’m not actively enjoying it and hoping for it to end?
5The Day Passed by Much Quicker
Rather than having a random free hour or two where I could decide what I wanted to focus on, my time was always full of something to do. This meant that the days passed by much quicker because I was constantly flitting from one assigned task to the next.
In hindsight, I needed to factor in some downtime to just sit down and take a break from my constant flight. Because of the rush from one task to the next, I found 10 PM approaching at a record pace and still felt wired when I got into bed. I ended up staying up later most nights, trying to relax by scrolling through memes to get my brain to calm down so I could actually sleep.
6I Couldn’t Focus on Assigned Tasks During the Scheduled Time
Sometimes, my brain just couldn’t focus on the task I assigned to myself during that part of the day. Whether it was writer’s block, fatigue, or some other wrench thrown into my plans, I just couldn’t push through and complete my task. I felt guilty for not being able to focus and tried to push through to no avail, rather than giving myself even 10 or 15 minutes to reset by taking a walk or reading a chapter of a book.
The rigid nature of my schedule made me feel like I couldn’t just get up and do something because that meant I wasn’t working on what I was supposed to be doing. While I definitely learned the downside of time management apps, there are plenty oftime management strategies I’ve been adding to my routine to boost productivitynow.
When I scheduled my day with a time management tracker, I was more stressed about trying to meet my own deadlines, which meant I was less focused on the tasks at hand. My hobbies became less enjoyable, too, and my days went by in the blink of an eye. I’m glad I’m done with time-managing apps. Now, I can go about my days at a leisurely pace while actually completing my to-do list.
