They have to be free to accommodate the needs of their buyers and sellers and other service providers with whom they work. But agents don't have to turn their schedules over to others as much as they may think. With very little advance notice, you could be showing homes to buyers one day, working with a seller the next. You can try to follow a daily calendar, but you frequently find that most days rarely finish the way you planned. With no regular pattern of work time, it is very easy to allow play time to encroach on your productive time.
Many agents work when they want to work and play when they want to play.
The trouble with that approach is that it leads to low productivity and low earnings. The most successful people in any profession are usually highly scheduled. No, doctors have highly scheduled lives. They have blocks of time set up for seeing patients, performing surgeries, and working at their hospitals. They know how many patients they need to see each day to create the lifestyles they choose to live.