You: Hi, my name is your name, and I’m a recovering time blocker.
Ayapyers (altogether): Hi, your name.
You: It started innocently. I saw a post on LinkedIn about how successful people schedule every minute of their day. And I thought… why not? I’ll be one of them.
So I spent 2 hours creating my schedule. It was Colour-coded. It was Optimised. It was Bulletproof. But then, at 9:37 AM… I checked my email real quick to get some info for my project…
…only to find an urgent message from a client that derailed my entire time block.
Still, I kept going…
And at exactly 11:00 AM, right on schedule, I sat down to write…
But then my brain wanted Peanut butter toast first.
So I walked to the kitchen to satisfy my craving for 10 minutes… but 25 minutes later, my eyes were glued to my phone, watching a YouTube documentary about a man who married a ghost.
Great. Another time block derailed.
“But this is just the first day…” I told myself.
“I’ll get used to it…”
I did not get used to it.
And eventually… my perfect, precious time blocks were left to rot in the Google Calendar graveyard…
I thought it was my fault—
Yosi: But it wasn’t your fault, was it?
You: No. The problem wasn’t me. The problem was the system.
One clap.
Then another.
Then a full round of applause.
Yosi (raising a hand slightly, speaking above the noise): Alright, alright… would anyone else like to share their experience?
A hand goes up.
New Ayapyer: …I j-juhh-just don’t understand. Even when I plan everything down to the minute… I still run out of time.
“Yes, me too!” A voice from the group chimed in.
Yosi: Ah. The Planning Fallacy.
New Ayapyer: The… Planning Fallacy?
Yosi (solemnly): Yes…The Planning Fallacy.
Our brains are too optimistic when it comes to predictions. So we consistently underestimate how long tasks will take… even when we have mountains of evidence showing that similar tasks took longer than planned in the past. That’s why you convince yourself a task will fit neatly inside a time block… Until life happens, one thing leads to another, the task gives birth to babies, and suddenly…
New Ayapyer (whispers, horrified): …the whole schedule collapses.
Yosi: YES
Silence.
Thick. Heavy.
Yosi: But there’s a way out. A way to be wildly productive… without time blocking.
New Ayapyer (gripping their chair and leaning in): …what is the way?
Yosi: That’s a longer conversation… one we don’t have time for here…
New Ayapyer: …so when can we have that conversation?
Yosi: Well, that’s what the Productivity Hotline is for…
It’s kinda like a red London telephone box.
Except instead of a payphone, it’s your email inbox.
Instead of a regular coin… you’re dropping in one AYAPY Coin.
And instead of a robotic, script-reading customer service rep who couldn’t care less about your productivity issues, you get me—ready to help you break free from the momentum-killing rigidity of time blocking, so you can get unstuck and start moving again.
For more info: https://yosianderson.com/
Tp. Tp.
There’s more where that came from!
See, I’ve been writing daily productivity emails for online business owners since November 2024.
And what you just read is barely a scratch on the surface.
The real gems… The fun, insightful, and occasionally absurd behind-the-scenes stories… My best offers… The kind of stuff that makes you go:
“Wait… did that REALLY happen?”
I don’t blast those out to the whole internet.
(Some things… should be kept private.)
But if you want to snoop around… if you want to see what really happens in AYAPYLand…
There’s a door.
And it’s open.
For now.