Plan Your Day to Achieve More

The past couple of weeks have put my time management skills to the ultimate test. I’ve had a load of work- and volunteer-related activities, with some personal and social life sprinkled in. As easy as it might be to feel overwhelmed during this very busy time, I’ve done a good job of keeping things under control and so far, nothing has fallen through the cracks (at least nothing that I know of!).  The key factor in my ability to staying on top of things is daily planning.

I liken daily planning to planning a road trip. You have a starting point and an ultimate destination, and you need to determine how to get between the 2 locations. A daily plan serves as the road map that helps you accomplish the things you’d like to get done on a given day. To create your own daily plan, use your planning tool (appointment book, online calendar, phone, etc.) to map out what you want to accomplish that day. Then decide how detailed you want to get – do you need to specifically schedule each phone call, or just block out general phone call time? Do you need to schedule every minute of the day, or just list the top 5 things you want to get done and fit them in whenever the mood strikes you? There is no right or wrong way, just whatever way works best for you.

A common problem for many people is getting to the end of the day with a to-do list that doesn’t seem any shorter than when the day started. Often that’s because we are unrealistic in terms of how time-consuming many tasks are. Using my road trip analogy, that’s like not taking into account how many miles are between two points, as well as how road construction, detours, and other unforeseen hazards may slow you down. To build your time awareness, try this time estimating exercise:

• Note how long you think each item on your to-do list will take.
• Pay attention to how long each task actually takes, and jot the actual time down next to your estimate.
• As you amaze yourself with how much longer things may have taken than you estimated, determine if it’s because you were simply an inexperienced estimator, or because problems, interruptions, or procrastination made you less efficient than you could have been.
• Use this information to find ways to work more efficiently, as well as to remind yourself to allow more time to get things done in the future and to schedule less each day.

Best wishes as you move towards filling your day with things that leave you fulfilled.

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