When a typical five-day work week is cut short by a holiday, as this week is in Canada by Victoria Day, peculiar physical properties of a scheduled week are revealed.

When the week is compressed, not all parts of that week compress equally. Events that are scheduled, especially regular and recurring events, tend to remain scheduled with their usual frequency and duration. Even though the week is squeezed, these events resist compression and hold their size. It’s the space around these events, the unscheduled time, that does all of the compressing.

Be aware that the unscheduled time in a shortened week is compressed disproportionately to the rest of the week.