Make a Schedule and Stick to It
As someone who has had a very hard time trying to make and stick to schedules in the past, I've finally got it right and am wanting to share my techniques with anyone who wants/needs to make a schedule and stick to it!
Steps
- Make a list of all the things you absolutely have to do during the day. This includes school, work, etc. These will be the things that have to be done at a certain time every day, and the times for which you do them cannot be moved around or rescheduled. Ideally, this list should be relatively short .
- Similar to step one, make a list of things you do that need to be done. This includes exercising, studying, chores, shopping, personal hygiene, and so on. These are things that you need to do, but can be moved around a bit on your schedule for your convenience.
- Lastly, list all the things you would like to do, but are usually considered free time activities. This includes reading, socializing, watching TV, video games, etc.
- Go through and fill in the tiny details of all of your daily activities. For example, if you've written down "6:00 PM - Revision", turn it into "6:00 PM - Revision - Chapter 7 Science, make flashcards + review vocabulary".
- Now that you've listed all your daily activities, play around with what order would be most convenient for you to do them in. Of course, go ahead and add all of step 1 activities first, then step 2's, and last but not least, step 3's.
- After you're happy with the order in which you'll do things throughout your day, go ahead and assign the times of day you will do each activity in. Spending 1-2 hours per step 2 and 3-type activities is ideal, but do what's best for you.
- Buy a planner/agenda/organizer. After you have your ideal schedule in mind, you'll know what type of agenda is best for you. Remember, don't worry about what the cover of the planner looks like so much as if it has what you need in the contents on the inside. Worst case scenario, you could turn it into a DIY project if the cover isn't your style. Explore different layouts as not all planners are the same. There are different planners for different uses, so do your research.
- Be realistic. Now that you've made your schedule, you're going to need to stick to it, which is going to be the most difficult part. You can't expect to cram 100 activities into 24 hours. If you have more activities to do than what you have time for, you have two options: Either have 2 different schedules that alternate between days (for example, Monday - Schedule 1, Tuesday - Schedule 2, Wednesday - Schedule 1, and so on) or you really need to prioritize and/or compromise based on your own personal daily routine. Only you can decide the best action to take here. But the whole point of this step is to make sure your schedule is possible to stick to, so make sure you do that by taking one or both of the options I've listed above and allowing enough/not too much time for each activity.
- Motivate yourself. Be conscious of why you wanted to stick to a schedule in the first place and keep it in your mind. Also be aware of the consequences should you fail to keep a schedule AND the rewards if you are successful. Some pros of keeping a schedule: be more organized, resulting in less stress, can help you be more responsible, make you feel in control of your life, help you be successful in your business, work, school, and/or every day life, etc.
- Don't give up. We all fall off the wagon sometimes, so if you don't get it right straight away, don't fret. Identify where you went wrong and try a new strategy. It could take months to get your schedule where you are happy with it and where you can finally stick to it. It's definitely a learn-as-you-go-type experience, but it's well worth it in the end, when you've finally got everything worked out.
Warnings
- Results may vary.
Things You'll Need
- A sheet of paper
- Writing utensil
- Agenda/Planner/Organizer
