Tell me honestly how many times have you made the “perfect” timetable and forgot about it.
Many moons later you found it lying in the corner catching dust.
Since school days I have made a 100 if not a thousand “exemplary” time-tables that I was barely able to follow after 3 hours into it.
So finally I sat down to research whether this dream is possible and have boiled it down for you in this article.
Keep reading to know how to be a Pre Planner and plan practically.
Happy scrolling.
Following a schedule is more painful than stepping on a lego when you don’t know the core meaning of it.
Scheduling your day means assigning time to your task.
This does not mean you are going to cramp the schedule with your unmeetable expectations of a perfect day.
It also does not mean that you are going to expect the world to be silent and perfect when you have scheduled your “writing time”.
You need to understand that more than planning a perfect day it is more about performing your scheduled day.
So you need to devise a plan which is practical, manageable and mindless to execute.
If you distribute the minutes of a day to perform small and simple tasks that take your worries away off the bat, schedule them first.
Trivial tasks like house chores, bill payments or grocery shopping. Give them their time and move them out of your head.
Now your planner has long chunks of hours to perform mindful tasks that are actually productive and give meaning to your life or bank account or both.
So planning your day and to know which tasks are to be performed gives your brain a clear mind map towards your daily goals.
Instead of lurking around the luring loophole of mindless marathons your brain will have tasks on its hands to execute for a better today.
So, plan your day and do write the task you consider vital to be performed to call a day successful.
In the long run, you will thank yourself for showing up everyday to exercise for just 5 mins.
So now that you are convinced to make a planned day, let me tell you more about how to go about it.
1. Map your Habits
The first step to make sure you structure your day effectively is to observe.
You need to notice how you spend your day.
Initially you will need to schedule according to your existing habits.
Observe your day.
Here is a detailed insight to how you can do it:
a. What is the first thing you do by default when you wake up?
Is it putting the alarm on snooze, opening the social media platforms that you know you shouldn’t.
Instead drink water, freshen up or exercise. Leave the world aside and just stare outside your window taking the fresh air in.
b. What is the bridge? The things you do before starting your work.
This is the time before you leave for work.
It can be running around finding your watch, drinking half a cup of milk and leaving the rest of the breakfast in the fridge.
Running out for the bus with one shoe on?
This time should ideally be spent journaling, spending time with yourself, being mindful of the day and planning your highlights (as suggested in the book Make your time).
c. Time to go to work.
How do you commute? What is your mindset during work?
Is it focusing on your tasks or complaining about every possible aspect of your life?
d. Then you come back home
You rest and Netflix for hours till you feel sleepy and the day rolls again.
Are you doing something for yourself?
Working on that youtube channel you always wanted to or just cook something that you had bought ingredients for weeks ago.
I know that you know what’s good for you and what’s not.
I’m not here to parent you.
I’m just here to tell you that you are consciously wasting a lot of your time that you can actually direct towards your growth.
And commitment to a scheduled day can be a real task if you are not truthful towards yourself.
2. Format of your schedule
Do you really want a structured day is the first question to be asked or do you want flexibility?
a. Structured time blocks
Structured day gives time blocks deadlines for the task of the day.
Like by 10 o’clock you want to be done with your morning tasks, lunch and dishes.
Till 5 you want to work on your articles.
Breaks in between.
By 9 you shut everything down and spend time with your tribe.
b. Flexi hours
Having time constraints makes your free soul uncomfortable or your life makes it impossible to work in time locks.
If you want to have a flexible day, select 3 tasks you want to complete one day.
Switch in between and make sure you do complete it by keeping a reward at the end of the day.
A drama episode,a page of your book or a music party and anything else, the choice is yours
2. Cut down on mindless tasks.
Uninstall apps that don’t serve you in any way.
Keep the apps you consider essential for your survival on time block apps.
5 mins after watching the irresistible adorably hilarious cat and dogs and animals and hoomans it is going to ban you from the glorious world of instantaneous hormone rush.
3. Remind yourself through journaling everyday.
Remind yourself of the tasks you have to do today.
Analyse what you could’ve done differently yesterday to complete your promise
What more you want to accomplish tomorrow.
Journal your progress
4. Keep reminders.
Take help from modern technology or old hoomans. But don’t forget to keep a reminder for yourself.
An alarm can work wonders if you tend to forget your schedules.
A person nagging you every other minute for wasting your time hits the conscience very hard. Nothing like it.
Nowadays apps showing your dream schedule and the percentage of you actually following it with a reminder can help too.
Suit yourself.
But do something. Don’t go lazy on it.
5. Paste a poster on a wall you face everyday.
Nothing like a paper with tasks written in bold yelling at you to get work done.
Sketch one or get a print of a poster reminding you of your dreams.
Paste it on the wall which faces you when you wake.
Remind yourself that you have a day to follow the moment you wake up.
6. Shut down
Don’t forget to schedule an adequate amount of sleep time.
A good amount of space for a good night sleep to get charged for the next day.
Take a pen and paper now, install that app and let your hooman know about your idea of the perfect day.
Let the Universe remind you how precious time is and a perfect schedule shows you the miracle of consistency.
I’m with you my dear friend, on days when you feel you can do more than you have committed and on the day when even getting up is a atsk.
7. One step at a time. It will all be okay.
If you feel that you want to take a deeper dive into the universe of scheduling go ahead and have a read of these 5 books that helped me to give me the essence of a structured day.
1. Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day
Book by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky
2. How to Be an Imperfectionist: The New Way to Self-Acceptance, Fearless Living, and Freedom from Perfectionism
3. One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way
4. The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage
And the legendary
5. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
I’m nowhere near perfect and still have a lot of trials and errors to do to actually make one.
So if you know any books that helped you to schedule your day better let me know in the comment box below.
Also don’t forget to share your thoughts on this article.
Thank you for your time.
Know you are loved.