The essentials
A calm starting point
- Put buffers at specific transitions, rather than leaving undefined free time somewhere in the day.
- Consider preparation, travel, switching and recovery separately.
- Your own experience is more useful than a supposedly perfect general percentage rule.
01
Where time disappears around an appointment
The calendar entry often shows only the appointment itself. But the invisible periods before and after determine whether you can realistically reach the next item in your plan.
Preparation
Finding documents, getting dressed, eating something or checking a connection happen before the journey itself. Without a place in the plan, these steps usually start too late.
Travel and switching
Even an online appointment requires switching from your previous task to the conversation. Going somewhere else also involves waiting, parking, finding your way or delays.
Arriving and recovering
After an appointment that demands concentration, social energy or sensory effort, the next half hour is not automatically fully available. Naming a transition helps avoid unrealistic chains of appointments.
02
Plan buffers with a simple four-part check
Instead of adding a blanket 30 minutes everywhere, check four specific parts and make room only for those that actually matter.
1. What needs to be visibly ready beforehand?
Write down the first preparation step and the latest time it needs to begin. Where possible, put important things somewhere visible the evening before.
2. How long does the journey take on a normal day, rather than a perfect one?
Use a realistic estimate from experience, including typical small delays. The fastest journey you have ever managed is not a sound basis for planning.
3. What does switching require?
Allow time for saving your work, tidying up, using the toilet, putting on shoes or joining the call. These minutes belong to the appointment block even when they do not appear in the invitation.
4. What demands are likely to remain afterwards?
Decide beforehand whether a break, food or a small, straightforward task will follow. Avoid another demanding start immediately afterwards if experience tells you that does not work.
03
Adjust using real observations
Buffers become more accurate when you observe a few real transitions. You do not need continuous time tracking for this.
Observe three similar appointments
For three medical, work or online appointments, roughly note when preparation started, when you actually left and when you were available again.
Change the bottleneck, rather than the average
If the journey estimate worked but documents were missing, do not enlarge the whole block. Move only the preparation or create a small checklist.
Treat the buffer as occupied time
A visible transition is not a free slot for another task. Name it in the calendar so that you do not accidentally allocate it again during your daily check.
A practical example
Example: turn an appointment into a realistic block
The doctor's appointment begins at 14:00 and is expected to last 45 minutes.
- 12:45
- Finish eating; check documents and water
- 13:15
- Leave home; travel with a normal buffer
- 14:00
- Appointment
- 14:45
- Travel back without an extra errand
- 15:30
- Arrive and take a break; only then decide what comes next
Scope and reliable sources
This page combines lived experience with general information. It does not replace diagnosis or treatment. Official health information is available from the German federal guides on ADHD and autism.
Written by Max Anton Schneider, founder of meinsystem.app. About Max
This guide describes practical approaches to planning and does not replace medical advice or individual treatment.
Published and reviewed on · About the author