Fire needs space to breathe. Pack the logs too tight and it chokes. Crowded schedules work the same.

Things need gaps between them to function, and a full container is not the same as a productive one. When every hour is allocated, there is no room for the overrun, the unexpected conversation, or the thinking that only happens between tasks. The result is a week that looks efficient and produces very little.

Leave one clear stretch in each day and defend it as though something were already in it. Notice how much of the good work migrates into that space. Being slightly less full is usually what allows the rest of it to catch.