Whether you want to be more productive and effective in a professional context, want to fit in certain personal development routines in your everyday life, or just want to stop falling behind with your chores, planning your days out in advance can be a very effective exercise.
Among the many different benefits of planning your days out, are the fact that you can more reliably deal with responsibilities, chores, and tasks such as needing to contact an AC Repair specialist, update your CV and apply for new job roles, take your pet to get a checkup, or whatever the case may be.
Of course, it’s easier said than done to actually create a schedule for yourself and stick to it – and there are many failed itineraries out there that bear witness to this fact.
Here are some tips for getting started with effectively planning your days, in a sustainable way.
Assume that your schedule will be disrupted, and schedule in open times accordingly
One of the most common mistakes that people make when it comes to planning the days out, is the fact that they schedule essentially every minute of the day out, so that if any one thing were to go wrong – or if their routine would be disrupted at any point – the whole thing would risk falling apart.
Life being what it is, though, it’s inevitable that your schedule will be disrupted from time to time – and probably quite a lot when you are first establishing it.
Compensate for this fact in advance by scheduling in“open times” that you can use to adjust your plans as required on the go and fit in a bit of self care too.
Be sure to structure your schedule so that you actually have some things to look forward to
One of the reasons why scheduling and time blocking tend to have very bad reputations, is because people so often treat these practices as forms of self punishment.
If you time block your entire day, and fill each time slot with various chores and errands that you don’t want to do, but feel that you need to do, it’s no surprise that you will come to dread the process of scheduling, and will likely become pretty disheartened about the state of your day-to-day life, too.
Be sure to structure your schedule so that you actually have something to look forward to, as well as just responsibilities to take care of.
Scheduling in a slot in the evening for watching a film, for example, can make the whole process far more pleasant.
Plan for your most important tasks and obligations, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking you have to plan out everything
There are many benefits to having a broad general plan for how you want your day to play out, in addition to having specific plans in place for dealing with your most pressing tasks and obligations.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you have to plan out absolutely everything, however. This is likely to leave you feeling as if all the fun and spontaneity has left your life.
Balance is key.
Kori
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