Why Time Blocking Doesn't Work for Type B Moms
I used to create schedules for imaginary days where nobody interrupted me.
Seriously.
I'd sit down and make these beautiful little time blocks:
5:00–6:00 — Workout
6:30–8:00 — Kids
8:00–10:00 — Work
10:00–3:00 — Kid time
3:00–4:00 — Housework
6:30–8:00 — Kids
8:00–10:00 — Work
10:00–3:00 — Kid time
3:00–4:00 — Housework
And on paper? It looked PERFECT.
Except apparently I forgot I had children. And a house.
And a brain that sometimes gets really into something and doesn't want to stop just because my planner says it's time to clean the kitchen.
Traditional time blocking sounded like exactly what I needed. Give everything a time, follow the schedule, get everything done.
Except I constantly underestimated how long things would take. My kids interrupted me. I'd get into the zone working on my business and want to keep going. Something around the house would need my attention earlier than scheduled.
And once one block got messed up, the whole thing felt messed up.
Eventually I realized something:
Time blocking wasn't failing because I needed more discipline. I was trying to force motherhood into predetermined chunks of time.
I didn't need to get rid of structure completely.
I needed structure that could move.
And once I figured that out, time blocking finally started working for my Type B brain.
Why Doesn't Time Blocking Work for Some Moms?
Time blocking can be incredibly helpful. The problem is that traditional time blocking usually requires you to predict how long something will take and then protect that time from everything else.
Have you met children?
Mine are notorious for sitting in the same room with me while I'm doing absolutely nothing and needing NOTHING.
The second I get up to accomplish something?
“Mom, can I have water?”
“Mom, can I have a snack?”
“Mom, look at this.”
“Mom, let me tell you a story.”
Where were all these needs five minutes ago?!
That doesn't mean time blocking is bad. It means that if your schedule only works when nothing unexpected happens, mom life is going to destroy that schedule approximately 14 minutes into the day.
And that's what kept happening to me.
1. I Was Terrible at Guessing How Long Things Would Take
This was one of my biggest problems.
I'd decide something should take 30 minutes based on absolutely nothing other than the fact that 30 minutes sounded reasonable.
Then it would take an hour.
Or I'd forget about all the little steps involved.
This was especially obvious in our mornings. I wasn't just “getting the kids ready.” I was helping with clothes, teeth, hair, breakfast, lunches, shoes, backpacks and whatever random emergency appeared five minutes before we needed to leave.
Eventually I had to stop trying to squeeze more into our mornings and build a realistic morning routine for Type B moms around how our mornings actually worked.
The same thing was happening throughout the rest of my day.
I wasn't planning based on my real life.
I was planning based on how long I thought my life should take.
2. My Kids Did Not Respect My Carefully Planned Schedule
Rude, honestly.
When I had one or two kids home with me during the day, I could plan a work block all I wanted.
That didn't mean I was going to get two uninterrupted hours of work.
Someone needed a snack. Someone needed help. Someone wanted to show me something. Someone had a story that apparently could not wait another second.
And I would get SO irritated.
Not because my kids were doing anything particularly unusual for kids.
I was irritated because in my head, they were interrupting something I was supposed to be doing.
The clock said Work Time.
My child said, “Mom.”
And suddenly I felt like I had to choose between being productive and being available to my kids.
I don't want my productivity system making me feel like my children are the problem.
3. One Late Block Made Me Feel Like the Whole Day Was Ruined
This was probably the biggest issue.
Once I got behind, I didn't just adjust the schedule.
I'd basically give up on it.
I'd look at everything I hadn't accomplished, feel terrible about myself, and eventually decide I'd try again tomorrow.
Except some of those things never got done.
For years, I had a daily and weekly chore scheduled in my planner.
Want to know how often I actually did that weekly chore?
Maybe 10 weeks out of 52.
And honestly, that might be generous.
My husband eventually hired someone to clean every other week, which helped tremendously. But on the off weeks, keeping up with the house was my responsibility.
And every single week, I'd fail at it.
I'd usually manage one or two daily chores, but the weekly stuff? Nope.
Then I'd look around at the mess and wonder why I couldn't keep up.
The schedule that was supposed to make me feel organized was giving me another way to measure everything I hadn't done.
4. Sometimes I Actually WANT to Keep Working
This is one of the things traditional time blocking never accounted for with me.
Sometimes I'm in the zone.
If I'm working on something for my business and everything is clicking, the last thing I want to do is stop because it's 10:00 and apparently Past DaVette decided Current DaVette should be folding laundry now.
No.
She's busy.
And sometimes it's the opposite.
Maybe I start cleaning and get on a roll. I can see exactly what needs to happen next, I have the energy to do it, and I want to finish.
I've learned that there's usually a natural stopping point.
Sometimes that's five minutes.
Sometimes it's two hours.
Sometimes, apparently, it's three and a half hours because I decided to wash every comforter and change all the bedding in the house on a day I also had to write a blog post and teach dance.
Was that my finest planning decision?
Probably not.
But it is what it is.
The difference now is that one block taking longer doesn't automatically mean everything else has failed.
5. I Was Getting Things Done and Still Running Myself Into the Ground
This was something I didn't recognize for a long time.
I worked out every morning.
So technically, I could tell myself I was taking care of myself.
Except then I'd go through the rest of the day without eating enough, without taking a mental break and without giving myself a second to recharge.
By the time I picked up the kids from school, I was mentally SPENT.
Then they'd come home tired, overstimulated and ready to have their after-school meltdowns.
And I had approximately zero patience left.
Meanwhile, I still had this list running through my head of all the things I hadn't gotten done because I'd been distracted, interrupted or spent too long vibing on one thing.
That's when I started realizing that I didn't need to squeeze more into my schedule.
I needed a completely different way of thinking about my time.
I Didn't Stop Time Blocking. I Stopped Letting the Clock Control My Blocks.
Eventually I noticed that almost everything I was trying to fit into my day fell into four categories:
Self-Care
House
Work
Kid Time
So instead of assigning each category an exact amount of time, I started rotating through them.
That's it.
There isn't a rule that says Self-Care has to be from 8:00–9:00.
There isn't a rule that House gets exactly one hour.
I look at what needs to happen in each area, choose one or two things that matter, and work through my blocks based on what makes sense that day.
I try to rotate through all four throughout the day.
How many times?
I honestly don't count.
Because the second I start telling myself I need to complete four rounds of four blocks, I've just created another productivity system to fail at.
No thank you.
My 4 Flexible Time Blocks
Here's what each block actually looks like in my life.
Self-Care
This used to mean “workout.”
Now I understand that taking care of myself involves a lot more than exercise.
Self-Care might be my workout. It might be five minutes of quiet time. It might be eating. Getting myself ready. Sitting down for a minute before I move into the next thing.
This block matters because I've learned what happens when I spend the entire day doing things for everyone else and expect myself to keep going indefinitely.
I become a very unpleasant person.
House
This is where my house reset, laundry and daily chores live.
I usually plan my chores on Sunday, so certain things happen on certain days. Mondays might be floors, Wednesdays bathrooms, Thursdays bedding.
I also do a house reset after school drop-off to clean up the morning madness.
But here's where flexible blocking changed things for me.
Years ago, “doing laundry” meant I'd put clothes in the washer.
Maybe I'd fold what was in the dryer.
Putting it away?
Let's not get carried away.
There would be clean clothes on the folding table, clothes sitting in baskets and another load somewhere in the laundry process.
Once I started thinking of laundry as part of my House block, I got better at completing the whole cycle.
I'd put away the clothes that were already folded, fold what was in the dryer, move things around, start the new load and keep going until I reached a natural stopping point.
A year later, I can take a load of laundry from dirty to washed, dried, folded AND put away in the same day.
Five-years-ago me would like everyone to know that this is basically witchcraft.
But really, I practiced completing the process instead of doing one random laundry task whenever I happened to remember it.
Work
Work changes depending on what I'm doing that day.
Sometimes I'm working outside the house. Sometimes I'm working on Productive as a Mother. Sometimes, like today, my Work block is writing this blog post.
I decide during my Sunday planning what actually needs my attention that week.
And I try not to put more than one or two important things into each block for a day.
I've learned that once I start piling on three, four, five things, I can physically feel the overwhelm creeping in.
That's usually my sign that I've planned too much.
Kid Time
This includes the obvious things: school mornings, pickup, activities, dance, helping them get ready and intentionally spending time together.
But I also count interruptions.
That part has been huge for me.
If I'm working and one of my kids genuinely needs me, I stop what I'm doing and help them.
That counts as Kid Time.
Why?
Because I can very easily get into my own head and convince myself that I'm not spending enough time with my kids because I have a business and a house to take care of.
Counting those interruptions reminds me that I WAS available.
I did stop.
I did listen.
I did take care of them.
I don't need to reach the end of the day and beat myself up because we didn't have some perfectly planned two-hour family activity.
What Flexible Time Blocking Looks Like on a Real Day
Let's use today, because today is a perfect example of why I need flexibility.
I started with Self-Care: about five minutes of quiet time.
Then Kid Time: getting everyone ready for school.
After drop-off, I moved into House: my house reset and daily chore.
Today was bedding day.
And somehow bedding day turned into three and a half hours because I washed the comforters and changed every bed in the house.
In hindsight, maybe the day I teach dance wasn't the ideal day to launch Operation Wash Every Comforter.
But here we are.
While the comforters were drying, I moved into Work and spent an hour writing this blog.
Technically, House wasn't completely checked off yet.
And I moved on anyway.
Scandalous, I know.
I'll get myself ready before school pickup, then move back into Kid Time when the kids get home.
I also need another Work block because I teach dance tonight and need to work on my lesson plan.
There will be some rest in there.
Then more Kid Time getting everyone ready for dance.
Dinner.
Dance.
That is what flexible time blocking looks like in my actual life.
It's not four perfectly equal boxes.
It's knowing what matters, knowing what still needs to happen and moving between the different parts of my life without deciding I'm failing every time the day changes.
But How Do I Remember What I Was Doing?
I write it down.
Seriously.
That's the system.
During my Sunday planning, I go through our calendar and decide what needs to happen that week. My chores are planned. My work priorities are planned. The kids' activities are there.
I also use a daily habit tracker for the things I'd like to happen in a general order.
Do I always follow the order?
Absolutely not.
I'm literally writing this while my comforters are drying, and technically I should have completely finished my House block first.
The planner doesn't tell me I'm doing it wrong.
It tells me what hasn't been done yet.
So when a kid interrupts me, I don't need to spend mental energy remembering where I left off.
I take care of my kid.
When I come back, I look at my planner.
If it isn't checked off, it still needs to be done.
That's one of the biggest reasons this works better for me than trying to hold everything in my head.
What Happens When I Don't Finish Something?
This may be the biggest difference between old me and current me.
Old me would look at the unchecked boxes and immediately start the shame spiral.
I can't finish anything.
Why can't I keep up?
I suck at this.
And once I felt like that, I was even less likely to do anything.
Now I can look at my planner and think:
Well...it was a day.
Cleaning out my car was supposed to happen Tuesday. It didn't.
Donating clothes was supposed to happen Wednesday. That didn't happen either.
But Friday is pretty open.
I'll do them Friday.
That's it.
No dramatic declaration that my productivity system doesn't work.
No waiting until Monday to start my entire life over.
I move the pieces around.
How to Try Flexible Time Blocking Tomorrow
If traditional time blocking makes you feel like you're constantly behind, don't start by creating another elaborate schedule.
Try my four blocks:
Self-Care. House. Work. Kid Time.
Then write down one thing you'd like to accomplish in each.
Not seven things.
Not everything you've been putting off since 2019.
One thing.
If you need to add a second priority to a block, fine. I usually keep myself to no more than two because I know that's where my overwhelm starts.
Then start your day.
Do what makes sense first.
When you finish—or reach a natural stopping point—move into another block.
If your child needs you, go into Kid Time.
If your House block takes five minutes, great.
If it takes two hours and you're on a roll, also great.
If you only make it through some of your blocks, that's information. It's not proof that you're bad at routines.
And if something doesn't get done?
Write it down and move it somewhere else.
Your brain does not need to keep carrying it.
You Don't Need to Plan Every Minute to Have a Productive Day
I still use time blocks.
I just stopped using them as little cages for my day.
I need structure. Without it, my Type B brain will happily bounce between seventeen things, finish approximately three of them and then wonder why I'm exhausted.
But I also need flexibility.
I'm a mom.
My kids are going to interrupt me. Some tasks are going to take longer than I expected. Sometimes I'm going to be in the zone and want to keep working. Sometimes I'm going to need to sit down and eat instead of powering through another task.
My productivity system has to account for the life I'm actually living.
And now, when I look at my day, I feel good about what I accomplished instead of immediately noticing everything I didn't.
I'm more patient when my kids get home because I'm not trying to mentally finish six other things while they're having a meltdown.
Well...
I'm more patient until everyone starts screaming.
I'm still human.
But that's the difference flexible structure has made for me.
I stopped blocking my time and started blocking my priorities.
And for this Type B mom, that changed everything.
Want a Planner That Doesn't Require You to Schedule Every Minute?
If traditional planners leave you feeling like you're constantly behind, that's exactly why I created the Mom Brain Productivity Planner.
It's the system I use to get everything out of my head, plan my week, organize my four blocks, track the habits I want to build and see what's still unfinished when real life interrupts my plans.
You don't need another planner that expects you to become a completely different person.
You need somewhere to put all the things your brain is trying to remember so you can focus on what's in front of you.
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