How I Stay Productive With Daily Scheduling
Learn my tips to make sure you get the most out of your day, every day.
Some of us are winding down from the school semester while others are quietly biding their time in their houses due to the stay at home order. That being said, I know I’m not the only one who has some trouble with staying productive during slow periods. Whether it’s a break from school or relaxing from work on the weekends, I personally have a really bad habit of cycling through “hyper” phases and lazy phases.
Doing Too Much Causes Leads To Less Productivity
Credit: Neurotracker
Many times I have become bored and restless from the monotony of every-day schedules so I tend to start a handful of new hobbies/projects. My spontaneous passion is enough to see me through the entirety of starting a new workout routine, planning a business venture, and learning three sessions of new recipes all at once. On the other hand, I am the complete opposite. In my mind, of course, I’ll complete them all. Even doing the bare minimum seems like it’s too much work and if I receive any more than three emails at a time, I’m hitting ‘Do Not Disturb’ until further notice.
Breaking My Bad Habits
Obviously, these are major problems. The lack of restraint when it comes to initiating projects can cause a lot of unwanted loose ends and not wanting to do anything at all is pretty debilitating. At first, I thought that the problem had to do with what I was doing such as juggling school, work, and extracurricular activities which didn’t seem hard, but I was leaving loose ends. I never felt like continuing past a day or two. Recently, it clicked. The problem wasn’t with what I was doing, better it was when I was doing it. The tasks that I was doing on a daily basis were quite simple on their own, but trying to “grind it out” and write a school paper, followed by a HIIT workout, followed by cooking dinner then randomly deciding to do all of that on the same day? Maybe it's possible for a “Superwoman”, but not me. If you’re thinking, “Hey, some of that applies to me, too. Where do we go from here?” then I have an idea that’s been working so far.
The Helpful Idea Behind Daily Scheduling
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The process of planning out my day is relatively new to me (as I’m not very fond of routines), but I’m learning that in order to build a schedule that you are willing to stick to, you first have to establish a concrete set of priorities. As a young adult trying to figure out her way in the world, I initially didn’t think that daily scheduling was a good fit for me. Before, when I heard of people making schedules, it was in reference to a businesswoman (or man) who had to fit in multiple appointments, or my hair braider trying to figure out if she wanted to schedule me early in the morning or later in the evening. But it turns out that scheduling wasn’t a pretentious event like I thought. In fact, scheduling serves as a great way to optimize time.
Prioritizing Time
An important thing to decide is what time of day you’d like to complete tasks. Start by narrowing it down to both the most important and the most time-sensitive. You also want to make sure that you are scheduling these during the time of the day where you are the most productive rather it be morning, noon, or night. That burst of energy might be when you wake up, as soon as you get off from school/work, after you exercise or etc. so once you are done, you can relax. Whenever you’re most productive is, set a physical and mental reminder to complete your goals.
Scheduling Styles. Time Blocks Scheduling or To-Do List Scheduling?
Something that may deter you from creating a schedule is the idea of a time-sensitive schedule; this image is similar to the “high-maintenance” style of appointments that I originally had in my head. But when it comes to daily scheduling, doing what works best for you is the only way to ensure that things actually get done. Maybe after scheduling certain time blocks for studying, cooking, working out, and practicing an instrument, you realize that you were horribly off on the timing, yet most or all of your tasks get done. In this case, it might be better for you to plan a “To-Do” style series of tasks that you know that you have to get done every day, and then referring back to the list whenever you feel like you have nothing to do. Maybe you have a list, but you keep getting carried away with how long it takes you to do certain things; for this, a time block is ideal to make sure that you don’t neglect some tasks for the sake of others. Perhaps you have either or, but some things are more time-sensitive than others; or, maybe working on a project too long causes you to experience burnout. Habits like the Pomodoro Method, or simpler methods like setting reminders in your phone, may help keep the timeliness of your schedule in order.
In the end, staying productive with daily scheduling is the definite way of finishing your list of goals and tasks. By doing this you will have a detailed list of times you can “slack-off” or even finishing a book that you enjoy.
