How to Schedule and Prioritize Your Day

Let’s prioritize that To Do list

And take back the day!!

Think about the psychology behind a schedule. We live our lives every single day to a schedule. Whether we write it down or have it in our head, we typically have an idea or plan to our day when we wake up. As the day moves on we either cross items off the list or other issues come up that cause a delay in our normal schedule where we have to pivot.

Now, let’s think hard about the days that we do not schedule anything. 

“I am so excited this weekend because we have no plans!”. 

This is something I say often but what is funny is that even though we do not have a plan hard wired in, there is always something that has to get done. Between laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, dinner planning, naps for kids, etc. as a parent you never really have “no plans”. 

When we give ourselves too much time in our day, it makes it more difficult to get our tasks done. If we know that we only have a 30 min window, we tend to crank through what we need so it’s not looming over our heads.

Have you ever done that thing where you said, it’s fine, I will get to it tomorrow, then tomorrow hits and you didn’t do it, then the next day and the next day until that thing is finally due and now you are scrambling to get it done? 

Or almost WORSE…..

Have you ever had something you wanted to do but it was not a must, and you didn’t do it and you felt guilty about it? A good example here would be getting a work out in, reading the new book you just bought, learning something new, etc. The regret and frustration that can overwhelm on NOT doing something can almost make us feel more out of control, less efficient, and overall just feeling a little blue.

If this all resonates with you, I want you to try the exercise below.

1. On Sundays, start to plan out your week and make a list. Look at Monday through Friday with the items that are a MUST to get accomplished. This could be anywhere from your 9-5 job to making dinner, to kids extra curricular activities, to wake up and bed time for you and your kids. This is meant to be your framework to whatever is routine already and consistent, so also include that. You can use a digital calendar or just paper and pen and make it your own. It does NOT have to be fancy.

2. Now write down the items that week you want to do or need to do but are not on the MUST list necessarily. 

For example, I want to work out 4 of the 5 days this week. You might want to cook dinner 4 nights this week. You might want to start a new book or podcast. Whatever, it is, write down the items that are not the MUST, but a need or want. Don't complicate this, yes you have to eat, but you can always order delivery or pick up food, remember that! 

Ok, we have the framework for our entire week. We know what must get done, and then we know what we need or want to get done in addition to make us feel good and/or accomplished.

Let’s break this down further by day now.

1. On Sunday look at Monday and get granular. What times do you have items scheduled in the day? For me it is getting my kids ready for school and making lunches, then I have a doctors appointment, and 3 conference calls. On top of that I know I need to call 3 customers and follow up so those will also be in my MUST category. Start this from wake up, to bed time and use actual times these items need to occur.

2. Now look at what you want to get done in between those times and write those down. Give yourself realistic times. You do not need 2 hours to read a book. Initially give yourself 30 minutes for most of your items in the want list and go from there. 

3. Try this each day of the week. Even on weekends, you can set a tentative schedule if you would like to try and see if you can stick to it.

Try this for one week and modify if needed. Building the weekly framework might seem cumbersome but it helps you look at the entire week on musts and wants and then allows you to get more granular without missing something for each day. This does not have to be perfect and will change over time. Make this fun and put on a soothing playlist while you write everything down. I swear the overwhelm will subside and this will help you feel like you have a better handle on the weeks and days to come.

P.S.  I do want to point out that I love “go with the flow days” and feel like we as humans need those too in order to live in the moment and cherish it. Try not to get too caught up in keeping to a schedule every single day. Since I work Monday through Friday, I try and keep a tighter schedule during the week and then use this framework loosely on the weekends if not at all. The key is: DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!!

Happy Planning!!