Scheduling
If prioritising is deciding what to do, then scheduling is deciding when to do it. Planning to fail is failing to plan, as the old saying goes. One of my first Sales Managers indoctrinated me into the world of planning. The reason is that once Monday morning arrives, you are already into your week. You will be pulled in all directions unless you have a plan of what to do and when to do it. This is where scheduling comes in.
The Calendar or Diary
I am assuming that if you have a career or are in business, you will be making use of a calendar or diary to record your appointments. So it is not really important what format this is in; it is more important that you use it correctly.
The first principle in the use of a calendar or diary is that whatever you record in it, is a commitment to yourself that it will take place. The calendar is not the place to record your to do list, or reminders for things that spring to mind. It should also not be a place for things that might get done. If you are not sure if something will get done, avoid putting it into your calendar.
Ideally you will have different views in your calendar; this is why I now use the calendar in Gmail. I only have to add an entry once and it shows in all views. I can view my calendar by day, week or month. You will see later how this is useful. So what should you be putting into your calendar?
Appointments
Any appointment or meetings you are committed to attending, by time.
Time bound tasks
Record any task that has to be completed at a certain time on a certain day. This is not the same as a task that has a deadline, but could be completed at any time. For tasks like this, I would add these to your single action list or project list (if it’s part of a project). You could also include tasks that need to be done on a particular day, but at any time.
Recurring tasks and appointments
Add any recurring tasks that need to be done. Your daily review meeting should go in, as it needs to be done every day; likewise your weekly review. These are two commitments you are keeping with yourself, so I would treat these like an appointment with your boss!
Regular daily routines
Now you may not want to fill your calendar with such mundane things as meals and travel times and I can understand that. However, as we will see later when you start scheduling, it is important to block off the time that is otherwise being filled by everyday stuff.
In Google calendars, you can have a separate calendar called the Unschedule, which can be merged into one view. You can switch on/off the calendars, which means that when you are planning your time, you have a clearer picture of what is actually available.
Once you have planned your time, you can switch off the Unschedule, to view only your main calendar. I got the name Unschedule from Neil A. Fiore’s Now Habit
Don’t overfill your calendar. It’s better to have less in your calendar and get into the completion habit, rather than overfill and be disappointed in your failure to complete.
The Weekly Schedule
Now that you know what you should be putting into your calendar, it’s time to get down to scheduling. At your end of week review you will set aside some time to plan your upcoming week. Here you would look at the Week View in your calendar to give you an overview of your week.
If you use the Google Unschedule calendar, this will show you where you might have overcommitted yourself. Make sure you are leaving time for meals and travel. Also make sure you have left time for preparing and debriefing meetings. Have you left enough time for exercise, family time or “me time”. If not put it into your unscheduled calendar. Once you have done this, you might be surprised at how little time you actually have left to work on your goals and projects. Now is the time to make some adjustments.
Weekly Goals
Look at your weekly goals. With your free time available, do you really have enough time to achieve what you want? If not you have two options – downgrade your expectations or remove something from your calendar. This means saying no to somethings that are not moving you towards your vision of the future.
Can you forgo an hour’s worth of TV, to go to bed an hour earlier? You could get yourself up earlier the next day and use this time productively. By the way an hour in the morning is worth two in the afternoon.
Once you are happy with your weekly schedule and goals list, it’s time to get back to the here and now.
The Daily Schedule
“Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.” – Thomas Carlyle.
Dale Carnegie in is timeless classic How To Stop Worrying And Start Living
If you have done your weekly scheduling properly, whatever turns up in your calendar today was totally planned for. What this concept means is that you have certain things you plan to achieve in a day and you will also have stuff happen. As you can only deal with what is in front of you, it is important to focus just on today. This is the art of working effectively.
As we discussed in the prioritising section , each evening you will plan out what your most important tasks are. Now you can assess your daily schedule, which will already include your appointments and any recurring tasks and appointments.
Daily Calendar Print Off
As I said before, my schedule lives in Gmail, so it automatically syncs across all my devices. Everyday, however, I print off my day view calendar. This is where I write in my most important tasks, preferably as early in the day as possible. This daily calendar print off is the document that runs my life. It details everything I am committed to achieving, doing or attending that day. There is nothing tentative in here and I will do my damnedest to finish everything on it. Once the day is complete, I file that day’s sheet, ready to start a new days’ sheet.
Finally I will finish this section with one of my favourite poems, which I think sums up why we should bother scheduling – so that we are free to enjoy each day.
Salutation of the dawn
Look to this day!
For it is life,
the very life of life.
In its brief course
lie all the verities and
realities of your existence:
the bliss of growth,
the glory of action,
the splendour of beauty,
for yesterday is but a dream
and tomorrow is only a vision,
but today well lived makes
every yesterday a dream of
happiness and every tomorrow
a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day!
Such is the salutation of the dawn.
Ancient Sanskrit poem by Kalidasa