It could have been a cozy Sunday. Actually. I woke up, had coffee, and had a nice breakfast. All was chill. Until my head started shooting at me. It pinpointed wildly to all the To-Dos for the coming week, every WhatsApp message unanswered, and the fact that I still hadn’t called my grandparents or switched my energy provider (as I wanted to for weeks). Immediately, I felt lost in an ocean of open tasks.
At the same time, I wanted to dedicate this Sunday to quality time and not just running over my never-ending To-Do list. I needed to slow down and figure out what to do. So I sat down on my sports mat on the floor. Calm. Grounding. I thought about what would make this day a good one for me.
I found that without thoroughly thinking about how to design this Sunday for me, all would slide down the road and I would land exactly where I do not want to be: Manically completing tasks, feeling breathless. 🏃🏽
If you have a mind like me, you need a plan to escape the mindless run behind to-do’s. Planned leisure is my allowance to jump off the hamster wheel. I need to schedule my free time as much as my productive time.
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Why even planning: The magic of a solid plan
1 Most of my internal stress comes from not knowing what to do next while having 23.985 options on my mind. So first thing a plan does for me is to give me security. If I have a plan in place, my mind is more calm.
2 Also, if I follow a pre-thought schedule (that of course also involves free time) allows for sticking to actions aligned with my goals. Every spontaneous decision is prone to impulses. On the contrary, decisions made in advance are much less dependent on situational circumstances. Consequence: Pre-thinking decisions equals supporting a more direct behavior toward achieving your goals — without being biased by spontaneous needs that are not really well thought.
Let’s take food as an example here: If I pre-cook rice, veggies, and tofu, it is easy to warm up a healthy lunch. On the contrary, if I have nothing prepared, I am much more likely to go for doughnuts from the bakery around the corner or just eat sandwiches. This is a) more expensive; b) less healthy; and c) consumes more cognitive energy in the decision process, as I would have to figure out what to eat first.
3 Moreover, a schedule ensures that I take breaks at specific times. Otherwise, I am likely to just take breaks when overly exhausted. In short: Too late. Having a time plan decreases my risk of burnout. For example, I schedule a lunch break every single day in my work calendar.
4 Also, knowing my priorities helps me stick to them. How often do we say yes to something just because we do not know what to do instead? If we have our own priorities, a no with a clear reason is much easier — and most likely allows us time for things that count towards our own goals.
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How to plan your day, week, year, life
I do not like overly fancy and complex planning tools. Yet I use two basic tools. I do quite well with my simple approach:
First, I dump my thoughts. I write down every single To Do that I have on my mind on an empty paper. This feels like a huge relief as I do not have to hold on to these thoughts in my mind. On paper, all tasks are saved and cannot be forgotten. Shortly, I started using Trello to list my tasks. 📝
After listing every To Do, I cluster these into short-term (within this week) or long-term (somewhen later) tasks. This is my oversight for the week.
Every Monday morning, I have a default one-hour block in my work calendar. I use this hour to work through the weekly tasks and again, classify tasks for the day by means of the Eisenhower Matrix. The matrix allows to categorize tasks based on their urgency and importance. It comes with the categories ‘very urgent’, ‘not so urgent’ and ‘very important’, and ‘not so important’. This framework gives me a solid schedule for my week.
Last but not least, I allocate the most urgent and important tasks that I will definitely do throughout the week to fixed times in my work calendar.
I know my planning is not perfect, but it is a good first approach. And I always allow for improvement and discussion. Next year, my best friend and I will visit a class on how to create a vision board, which I am really looking forward to.
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In a nutshell: Well planned is half done
WHY PLANNING
- Calms your mind
- Fosters decisions that are aligned with your goals
- Minimizes risk for burn-out as you schedule fix breaks
- Supports goal-directed behavior as you know your priorities
HOW TO PLAN
- Write every task down
- Cluster in short-term (this week) and long-term (somewhen later) tasks
- Prioritize the next week’s tasks, f.e. with the Eisenhower Matrix
- Schedule fixed times in your calendar
- Repeat next week
I am always keen to improve my planning — feel free to share your ideas, planning approaches, and/or articles on the topic in the comments! 🙌
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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From The Good Men Project on Medium
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