How Can You Plan Your Days?

There are two kinds of people, first ones are those who like to plan their days and the other one are those who like spontaneity. Being spontaneous adds a level of excitement to your life because you don’t know what you are going to do next. This behavior is good when you are enjoying leisure time. But if you are a working professional or a student it is necessary to have a schedule drawn up so you know how to proceed with your day without wasting time. Scheduling brings a certain discipline that certainly makes your life easier.

Planning helps you get control over your life. If you are a serious procrastinator , planning is exactly what you need to make you more productive. If you are not much of a planner, the below mentioned tips might help you understand how you can plan your days.

• Start with planning your week: For a first timer it is advised that you start planning for a week rather than a day. For example, a student can plan to study a particular subject for 5 hours that week. This gives them room to decide what day they want to study that subject and in how many shifts. Allot your time in hours rather than days. Planning for a week takes the pressure off your daily commitments. Once you are able to complete all your tasks for the week, you can start planning for each day.
• Plan your day the night before: It is always a good idea to plan the next day, the night before. This helps you make room for your professional as well as personal commitments. You can allot time to any plans that arise suddenly and also plan your work commitments around that.
• Plan at the same time: It is advised to plan at the same time everyday. It will act like a closing task for the day and will make you feel a lot better about everything that you have accomplished that day.
• Prioritize your tasks: Planning is done so you can finish the important tasks and everything gets done on time. The activity would only be successful if you prioritize your tasks and perform them starting from most important to least important. People are generally productive in the morning and thus it is beneficial to get all the heavy tasks done during the day so the rest of the day feels lighter and the pressure is off.
• Take regular breaks: It is very important to take breaks between your work/study sessions. Plan to make a wiggle room for rest after a number of hours. Plan in a manner that your day does not only involve tasks. On the other hand it is also important to keep in mind that the breaks must not be too long. This will reduce your overall productivity.
• Follow through: Planning your day is easy but the challenging task is to get through with it. Display the timetable directly before your eyes so that you are constantly reminded of all the things you need to get done. If you slack off, don’t give up on the whole constitution of planning. Make room for the left out task the next day. Think of planning and scheduling as developing a habit and do it regularly for 21 days before it becomes a conscious part of your life.

Planning breaks the streak of unproductivity. Once you plan and go through with it the, you won’t be asking yourself “What did I do all day?”. Instead You would be proud about how much you got done. As an added bonus, planning helps reduce the stress quotient and you achieve peace of mind because you framed a plan with all the goals you can attain and there is no room for procrastinate. If this article fails to convince you on planning your day, why don’t you give it a try and experience the results yourself.