When you make a schedule, you do so under certain assumptions. Many people tend to treat all time slots or activities equally, which is a huge mistake. Many of us do that during the schedule planning phase, and that's bad enough. Doing it when conditions change is just another way of wasting time.

Here's an example. I had slotted three hours for climbing at a climbing gym that's about a 30-minute drive from my home. I had other activities slotted for after that. I ended up extending my time by an additional two and a half hours--nearly doubling it. Why did I "blow my schedule" in this manner?

Well, I met some people I really liked and we climbed in a foursome. Two of them are far ahead of the third person and me in climbing ability, and they were helping us work on our own climbing skills. During that time, we ran into some other people who were just a hoot to be around. This made every minute I was there more valuable than I had anticipated.

Normally, this situation does not occur during a climbing session and sticking to that three-hour limit is thus normally good time management. But when there is such a thing as "making hay while the sun is shining."

Don't confine "time management" simple planning. It's also about managing the here and now.