Schedules
Schedules are tools that allow us to plan our days in advance by sorting our to-do lists into specific time slots.
“If you don’t change your schedule, you’ll be the same person you’ve always been.”
The Absolute Simplest Way to Begin with Schedules:
1. Find a Place to Keep it.
You can simply write it on a piece of paper, or there are planners that have hourly pages. There are also apps where you can put in an hourly schedule like google calendar.
2. Write in Your Immovables
These are the things that have to happen at a specific time, such as work or classes.
3. Schedule in Fun Next
If you skip this step, you’ll end up not having room for it, and if you have no fun in your schedule, you will not stick to it. Fun can be anything from a hobby you enjoy to a meet up with a friend.
4. Schedule in Your Most Important Tasks
The things you really have to get done. You should still have plenty of room for them, with at least a little room left when you're done.
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”
I Keep a Regular Schedule Because:
I’m prone to laziness. I’m not sure laziness is an actual thing. For me it stems from depression… and I have this theory that all laziness stems from some sort of mental disorder. Because why would anyone legitimately want to do nothing all of the time? So.. I don’t like the word laziness. But I do have a habit of doing nothing. Since I’ve started using a schedule. I notice that the busier I am during the day, the better I feel and the more energy I have…. Which feels counter intuitive… If I just lay around all day doing things that feel good shouldn’t that make me feel better. But the opposite is true. Yet, even though I recognize that logically. The urge to do nothing persist.
The schedule helps. When I feel tired I tell myself… I’m going to follow the schedule as best as I can, if I legitimately don’t have the energy then I’ll do the tasks a little slower than normal, and try to get to bed a little early to improve my energy the next day.
I keep my schedule on google calander. I set it up in my phone, and the best part is I have an app for it on my Garmin. So if I just swipe right when I get off track I see exactly what I’m supposed to be doing and what comes next.
It works for me 90% of the time. When I get really off track… I find it works best if I just jump in where I’m supposed to be on the schedule instead of trying to go back into the stuff I missed and catch up. Then at the end of the day I can try and work anything important that I missed in to later slots in the week.
“The decisions you make determine the schedule you keep. The schedule you keep determines the life you live. And how you live your life determines how you spend your soul.”
Schedules Can Improve Your Life in Many Ways:
1. Schedules Save You Time
Instead of wasting precious minutes trying to decide what’s next. Or living by a whim and always doing what you want to do instead of what you need to do. Plan it out. Plan in the fun. Plan in the work. Then you don’t have to think about it. You just keep doing what’s next.
2. Helps Defeat Laziness
I do that ‘Just Keep Going’ Mantra in my head when I feel tired. Because I know if I stop…. I’ll ultimately feel more tired and also feel bad about myself for not getting things done. I just look at my schedule, see what I’m supposed to be doing, and do it as best as I can. It’s easier to make myself do stuff, when I don’t have to think about it.
3. Schedules Make You More Productive
Good plans make you more effective at everything. But plans are mostly ueseless without a schedule (Unless maybe you have a really really good memory and focus). Putting your plan into your schedule will allow you to pull it off easily and efficiently.
Different Things for Different People: People whose time is dependent on other people, to the extent they have no way to know what they’ll be doing a given day, like those who work on-call jobs may not do well with a schedule.
“A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days.”
Practicing Meditation Can Help You Overcome Many Obstacles
1. Laziness
It’s easier to do stuff, when I have something to tell me what to do. But I only what to do what I want to do. Thus, a schedule. The schedule is me telling myself what to do, so that I can just keep going.
2. Time Lack
Before I started following a schedule I felt like I never had enough time for anything. But each week when I go and slide everything I need to do into my schedule, I find that I have more than enough, with a little left over. Almost. Like. Magic.
“If you talk about it, it’s a dream. If you envision it, it’s possible. If you schedule it, it’s real.”
Go Deeper into Meditation:
Atomic Habits by James Clear
