Goals

• Learn how to create an effective schedule
• Get stuff done without losing your mind
• Maximize high-quality downtime by minimizing time wasted by not having a plan

Introduction

This post isn't for everyone. It's for me. To be more precise: my past self. And since the possible combinations and permutations of personality traits are somewhat finite, there's got to be people out there that somewhat resemble my past self. So if you identify with the following statements, there might be something in it for you:

• You feel like there are a million things you should be doing, but you end up doing none of them
• Although you're procrastinating throughout the day, you're constantly stressed out and barely get to relax in the evening
• Even if you manage to be productive, you feel like you could have done so much better
• Big chunks of your brain's capacity are wasted on thinking "wait, I forgot something important, didn't I..."

Here's a TL;DR, because I don't want to waste your time:

• I plan my day once I'm done with my morning routine (workout, breakfast, getting ready)
• Although I have a digital calendar, I transcribe all appointments to my analog planer, which also prepares me mentally
• Using my backlog (I wrote an article about it, check it out!), I fill the rest of the day
• All of this is done to make sure I get things done while also planing to take proper breaks, not procrastinating on the most important tasks, and maximizing the value generated by applying the principle of time blocking
• The main goal is to free up as much quality downtime as possible and enjoy it guilt-free. Still struggling in that department though...

If you've read this far, it means I got your attention and you're actually interested in the content. Look Ma, no clickbait!

Step 1: Appointments, yeah...

Grab something to write down today's schedule. Your trusty daily planner, a notebook, a sheet of paper, the back of your hand, a piece of toilet paper stuck to your shoe, your partner's back covered in sunscreen, whatever, I don't care. Now create some sort of timeline for your active hours, meaning the part of the day that's reserved for intentional activities, as opposed to just "hanging out" or relaxing. If those active hours equal your waking hours, you have a problem. I'm mainly looking at you, me! (I seriously need to work on that).

Next, fill in all the pre-planned appointments of that day. The time spent at work, meetings, a visit to the dentist, getting groceries. Also, plan and mark all transit times. This alone can be a big quality of life improvement on some days, as you won't have to wonder when you need to leave to be on time for a certain activity.

On some days, your schedule will remain empty. Chances are it's either the weekend or your vacation. If that's the case: What are you doing? Why are you trying to be productive? You are meant to relax, idiot! Again, mainly addressing myself here... But seriously, trying to make the most of each day, whether it's your day off or not, isn't a bad thing per se. You can create a rough timeline that might aid you in actually getting your butt off the couch and doing something fun instead of scrolling through Instagram hours on end. But don't overdo it. If you are lucky enough to have no appointments or other urgent tasks that day, leave some room for spontaneity.

Step 2: Fill in the Gaps

Some tasks have a fixed date, time, and duration. We've got them covered now. Others don't, which makes them prime targets for those procrastination skills you've been training throughout your adolescence. But how about we pretend these are appointments as well? The dishes? Yeah, I've got a meeting with them at 10:30. That report? There's a two-hour conference call on that at 2 pm, with me, myself, and I.

Either grab those extra tasks for your mental todo-list (if you're a crazy freak that can keep all of that organized without writing it down) or refer to something like a backlog. I outlined the process I use personally in an article a while ago.

Let's say you got 3 hours between 2 fixed appointments. What to do in these 3 hours?

• Option A You think to yourself: "Oh, I've got so much on my plate, it's not like I will get bored, so I will find something to work on without planning it beforehand". And what you end up doing is exactly that. Finding things to keep yourself occupied. You switch between tasks, half-ass most of them, complete none of them, and in between, you're complaining about how overworked you are.
• Option B You took a look at your to-do list in the morning, and have already assigned 2 tasks to those 3 hours, including a break in between, which feels deserved once you reach it. And instead of complaining, you pat yourself on the back for finishing the first task. You might have wanted to get more stuff done, especially giving your overflowing to-do list, but thanks to planning in the morning, you know you couldn't have crammed any more into your schedule anyway.

Of course, I might be biased and have therefore described one of the options in a slightly more favorable light. There will be days where even if you go for option B, some crazy stuff happens, burning monkeys throw flaming shit everywhere, and in the end, you barely get anything done. Be kind to yourself, you did your best. And try again the next day.

There's one big trap to look out for when assigning tasks to certain time slots though: Parkinson's law. It states that:

work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion

Keep that in mind, and don't waste time just because your schedule allows it!

Step 3: Bonus Challenges!

By planing out your day beforehand, you have to chance to optimize it yourself instead of hoping for some divine intervention. Trust me, god isn't going to descend from the heavens just to be your personal secretary and tell you what to do next or remind you to take a break.

Challenge: Plan to take proper breaks

Breaks are just as important as getting things done. You need some time to recharge every now and then. I won't prescribe the length and frequency of these breaks, since it's highly individual. Some people prefer 25-minute chunks of productivity with 5-minute breaks in between, others are most effective when concentrating for 50 minutes followed by a longer break. Read up on the Pomodoro Technique for more details.

Challenge: Pick a time when you'll stop being productive, and stick to it

The only effective way I found to break the cycle of procrastination followed by panicking and pulling an all-nighter is: Creating a realistic schedule for that day, picking a time when you'll stop working or being productive regardless of whether you've accomplished everything you set out to do, and sticking to it no matter what.

One big motivating factor to procrastination (at least in my experience) is your inner child sneakily sabotaging your adult self by convincing it that you deserve a little playtime, right now! You've pissed it off by forcing it to be functional last night, remember?

So to break that pattern, you need to regain the trust of your inner child. It needs to know that you will let it come out to play, exactly when you promised to do so. Otherwise, it will make your life a living hell. Like any kid does.

Challenge: Eat that frog

Yummy, frogs! So here's the deal: go to your nearest pond, grab as many of these nasty little aquatic flycatchers as possible, and swallow them whole. Thank me later.

Alternatively, this proverbial frog is the one task of the day you hate the most. No idea why eating frogs has gained such a bad reputation to deserve this comparison...

So while filling your daily schedule, make sure to get this task done as soon as possible. Got a phone call you've been avoiding for a while? Make time for it early in the morning. Need that business deal sorted out? Schedule a meeting before you do anything else.

Challenge: Time blocking

This can be the greatest thing ever, but also immensely nerve-wracking. The idea is to block activities that require a similar mindset, certain equipment, or are performed at a specific location in one big batch. This is done to reduce the overhead of task-switching, and reaping the benefits of your mind fully focusing on one type of activity.

Do you wash your socks individually? I guess not. Then why do you write emails in small chunks spread across the whole day? Why not sit down to get all of them done in one sitting (hence why this can be nerve-wracking.). The same principle applies to creative work. Try to write a book solely by sitting down 5 minutes at a time, and then doing some other random shit. You might get there, eventually, but chances are the resulting book will suck (a lot), and it will take a few decades.

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