This may annoy half the productivity gurus out there but hear me out, your colour coordinated calendar, and your detailed 15 min block schedule is working against you.
For the last two decades, I have been operating businesses and consulting in the training industry. In this time I have observed numerous professionals, highly skilled in their fields, struggle to effectively manage even the basics of their daily schedules. The result? People are feeling stressed, less productive, and a growing sense of failing at something that should be simple. Even today we have so much tech with all the apps on our phones, yet we are also the most time poor we have ever been.
Let me tell you what changed my perspective on the matter
I used to work with a manufacturing client in Brisbane three years ago. Their production manager Sarah was the ideal personification of time management excellence. She had the apps for everything: a colour coded system; she could tell you where every minute of her day would go. She was exhausted. She even considered leaving the industry.
On Tuesday morning, their main production line broke down, which lead to the best breakthrough. Sarah’s perfectly planned day went out the window. I realised that suddenly she became much more effective, much more decisive, and frankly much more fun to work with than she had been in months. Its as if something had changed.
That’s when it hit me. The time management systems that we are taught are not only ineffective, but they are also quite counterproductive in most Australian business environments. There are many training organisations who teach time management techniques but many are outdated and not effective.
Why Traditional Time Management Fails in the Real World.
Most time management training assumes that your day will go according to plan or at least to a calendar. Anyone who has worked in business in Australia knows that’s just not reality. When a crisis or emergency arise at work, supplies or deliveries have hiccups or a basic chat turns into a two hour problem solving session, your rigid schedule can be more of a frustration.
I’ve seen this pattern repeatedly across industries. A retail manager with a full schedule of meetings will address a customer complaint that has been assigned top priority for the afternoon. The construction supervisor thorough to send out detailed task lists whose work becomes incidental when it starts bucketing down at 10 AM.
The statistics back this up too as a recent study by Melbourne University suggests that 78% of middle managers do not follow the plan for the day. Yet we keep teaching the same old time management methods that worked in corporate America back in 1985. Today in 2025 a different set of rules apply and so do time management techniques.
The Australian Approach: Flexibility And Adaptability
The Australian approach to time management is more realistic and takes into account distractions than the off the shelf time management methods. What works better?
Successful Aussie business professionals don’t try to control every minute; they focus on three things which we have included below:
Managing Your Energy Over Your Time
Your energy levels go up and down as the day goes on, and savvy people use this to their advantage. Between six and nine in the morning, I do my best thinking work when my brain is fresh and clean, no matter what. Especially after my first coffee has kicked in.
Priority Buffers, Not Time Blocking
Instead of planning tasks to exact times, I have flexible priority lists with additional buffer zones. When something urgent occurs (and it always does), I can shift priorities without experiencing a full system collapse. I use the Pareto principle 80/20 rule to book 80% of my tasks with a 20% buffer.
Switching Tasks
Here’s where most time management consultants get it wrong. They tell you to avoid task switching at all costs. Yet in Australian business task switching is unavoidable. A more efficient way is to manage anxiety instead of fighting it. Its similar to how the mind works with the traffic it processes every day. If you try not to do something, you may find you are actually doing more of it.
The Lesson in Time Management
About five years ago, I learned this lesson the hard way while consulting for a Telstra subcontractor. Mike, their team leader, was constantly being disrupted by this team and customers. He wasn’t getting anything done. The common advice here would be to schedule in “deep work” time and train others not to interrupt. Or even just have an open door policy where he could close his door.
But we found that the things that interrupted him were not distractions. They were the job itself. These are the day to day things that people have to deal with. Maybe it is not listed in their role position, but they are part of the job.
Mike needed to be available all the time to solve problems. He would also be quick to make decisions, as his team would face issues. However these quick decisions sometimes cost him more time as he didn’t plan carefully. In addition, he would be in touch with the clients quickly through communication, so he was always interrupted wherever he went by the communication devices he used. Then by trying to batch these interactions into specific slots, he was becoming less effective at performing more essential things.
We shifted his approach entirely. We set up systems to ensure that interruptions run smoothly instead of fighting them. Effective decision making tools, pre-approved solutions to common issues or problems, and transparent escalation paths made sure most disruptions are resolved in under three minutes.
What was the result? Mike’s stress levels decreased almost instantly, his team became more autonomous, and customer scores improved 23%. That’s huge, imagine that figure increase in sales or your role.
Where Most Business Consultants Are Managing Time Incorrectly
People who have never run a business day to day have taken over the productivity industry. They offer systems that sound perfect in theory but fail miserably when real world business operations are applied.
I frequently notice this with new clients who have attended one too many productivity seminars. They show up with overly complicated systems that involve multiple apps, a filing system that would make Edward Snowden blush, and a schedule that would make a Swiss train conductor weep with joy. Individuals suffering from the imposters syndrome usually do not realise they are actually experiencing this.
The situation is simpler and more impressive than that: most traditional time management techniques are tailored for predictable, routine work environments that don’t really exist today.
Australian businesses today need to be agile, responsive, and able to change instantly to survive. The old industrial era system of maximum efficiency through rigid scheduling is not only outdated but downright harmful. Things are changing quicker and quicker every day.
The Time Management Reality Check That Was Needed
What we recommend every client should do, is to take three weeks and track what you actually do instead of what you plan to do.
Don’t try to change anything during these three weeks. Just observe and take note of when you feel the most energetic, if interruptions help or hinder your work, and which planned activities keep getting thrown aside for “urgent” matters. This analysis is a great start to actually seeing where your time goes.
Work with your natural patterns instead of trying to fight them. Harness your weaknesses and use them as strengths.
Why Perth Businesses Are Leading the Way In Productivity Revolution
I’ve seen some creative strategies to improve productivity at the workplace from Perth Businesses. The constant change of conditions within the mining industry breeds structure and planning. They need to be adaptable but also have a level of planning in their systems. Western Australian businesses have always been more practical in obtaining results than following processes as they are the most isolated city in the world.
Whatever the reason, Perth businesses are leading a movement I call “outcome based productivity” which is a focus on results not the methods themselves.
Take Resource Capital, for example. They completely discarded traditional time management and now focus on weekly outcome goals, giving complete freedom to team members in how to reach them. Some people work best in three hour blocks with less breaks. Others prefer short bursts and more frequent breaks. Some are natural earlybirds, others are night owls.
The result? Productivity saw a spike of 34% in the first six months, while employee satisfaction hit record highs.
The Uncomfortable Point About Multitasking
Let me speak to the elephant in the room: multitasking. Every productivity expert tells you that multi-tasking is bad and that you should focus on one thing at a time. They believe that task switching destroys your cognitive performance.
They’re right about the delay and mindset switching costs. But they’re wrong about the practical alternatives.
In most job roles in Australia, single tasking is just not possible. You can’t ask a customer to hold off while you finish your focused work block. You can’t just ignore your team’s questions when you’re in the zone. And you can’t pause business development just because you are invoicing. Don’t try to Eliminate multitasking. Instead, get better at It.
This implies realising which activities can be dulled easily (I do regular admin while on conference calling), which switches are costly and should be minimised (from creative work to analytical), and how easily we will get back to work once the switch happens (I have got simple note system to capture my thinking when I am forced to switch). You can listed to a podcast while driving or making some calls (as long as they handsfree)
How Technology Is Costing You
You might be surprised to learn that the average professional in Australia now uses 27 programs in a typical day. Twenty seven! Different apps, email systems, alarms, project management softwares etc.
Each app switch requires mental energy and switching. Each notification breaks focus or interrupts your pattern. Each new productivity tool makes things more complex and sometimes they don’t work together causing you more time to set them all up.
I have begun suggesting the exact opposite: plain old simplification. Pick three main tools and use them for everything. Basic tasks are in email, simple task manager, and basic calendar for most. More than likely all else makes you less productive.
The successful operators I know employ surprisingly straightforward systems. They might use a notebook and pen for daily planning. Most of their communication will be over the phone and not lengthy emails. They do not spend time optimizing their systems; instead, they focus on getting things done.
What Actually Works: The Five Principals Framework
I’ve boiled down effective time management to five essential principles after testing various approaches with hundreds of clients across every industry over the years.
1.Manage Energy First, Time Second
When you are naturally alert and focused, plan for the most important work first. Everything else is negotiable. In business it is called Eat The Frog. This is where if there was a dinner served up with a frog on your plate, it is best to eat the most disgusting thing first, at least then all the smaller fun things fit in at the end.
2. Batch Similar Together
Organise similar tasks together (like all phone calls or all admin work) but keep the different dials apart. Batching helps you stay focused in one mindset and makes you more productive.
3. Build Buffers, Not Walls
Leave space in your schedule for the unexpected. If your schedule is packed, you’re not being productive; you’re being a fool. 80/20 rule as spoken about earlier.
4. Respond Fast, Decide Slow
Reply to messages quickly but don’t rush to respond to complicated issues. Planning man vs action man. The one who plans can actually finish his/her tasks earlier than one that just acts.
5. Weekly Planning, Daily Adaptation
Every Sunday, plan out your week, but schedule it according to the situation on the ground and energy. By taking the time to plan your week, there is some structure, but remember to be more flexible with buffers.
The Adelaide Experience That Proved The Point
One of my clients in Adelaide stated that strict time management was a vital part of her work as finance director of a medium sized construction business. She was insistent that the flexible approaches I suggested would not work in her setting. On this I proposed the following:
So, we tested both approaches simultaneously. She kept her tight scheduling system for four weeks, monitoring her actual achievements and stress levels. Then for the next four weeks, she then tried an adaptive approach with the same tracking to see the difference.
The results were actually quite impressive. By using the fixed system, she was able to complete around 68% of her planned tasks daily but did report high stress and often ended the day working past the end of her shift. This unfortunately also increased her fatigue. By working in an adaptive system, she managed to achieve 89 per cent of her priority work with much less stress and hardly any overtime. She found things flowed better and had more energy when she needed at those crisis moments.
Her initial resistance makes a lot of sense. When you’ve been taught that structure is professional, and flexibility is chaos. But the data doesn’t lie. Companies that are always adapting will beat the stiff ones. In fact adaptability is the key to surviving.
The New Future of Australian Workplace Productivity
We are heading to a better understanding of workplace productivity and that recognising the differences of people, the realities of the business and the randomness of life will throw up unexpected surprises.
In the next decade, companies that optimise for energy results rather than results from activities, which build around us as humans rather than efficiency models, and that recognise productivity is a skill to learn rather than a system to implement. They are the ones that will thrive at work.
The old thought of scheduling is based on colour coded calendars and rigid time management had served its purpose in the industrial age. Nevertheless, we now live in the information age and that demands other tech tools, other approaches and other thoughts.
The clients who I have personally seen find the most success do not use the coolest productivity systems. The people who have discovered the art of working with reality, not against it. They have mastered adaptation, not planning. They understand real productivity is not about managing time; it’s about managing energy, attention, and priorities in a stressful workplace.
Do you want to change your approach to workplace productivity? Often the biggest changes come not from applying fixes to non working systems but stepping back and questioning the fundamentals. Learn more about time management and become less stressed and get more of your energy back to spend it on the things you love, and who you love.
