They’re just suggestions

We recently had some feedback asking why Penciletin scheduled things the way it did. The user thought that there was some secret of the universe that a phone app had tapped into when it came to when it was time to do chores. The answer is simply that it made a mistake. There is a fundamental truth that you need to keep in mind:

Computers are frequently wrong

There are many things about you that Penciletin just doesn’t know. You might visit the gym almost every Wednesday, but if you hurt yourself this Tuesday, that changes things. And there’s no way for your phone to know that without invading your privacy.

Even when it’s a normal day, Machine Learning can only do so much. The patterns it’s following may not be real, and it might have just made a mistake.

So rearrange things how you want it. You are in control, and not your phone. It will make mistakes, and you need to fix it. Treat everything as a suggestion. As you use it, those suggestions will get better, but there will still be mistakes. Make sure to fix them, and Penciletin will do better in the future.

Keep breathing room in your schedule

When scheduling events, it’s important to give yourself a bit of buffer time.  If something takes only 20 minutes, why do you need to schedule 30 minutes for it?  Use that extra ten minutes for yourself.  Take a break, have a snack, stretch a bit, practice mindfulness, or visit the restroom.  Anything.  If you don’t take a moment to relax, everything else will suffer.  If you really need to keep going, just start the next thing a little earlier.

Also, when deciding how long to schedule something, plan for the worst case scenario.  Traffic jams, computer problems, or other unexpected delays can throw everything else off.  If something usually takes only 30 minutes, but can rarely take 45, then it will take longer on the exact days that you are busiest.  Murphy’s Law applies to your calendar, so it’s better to be safe than sorry!