How scheduling your time keeps you organized

Recently a friend asked me if I had been doing any writing lately. We had been very busy for the month of February and I knew what she was referring to. "yep. my blog comes out every week and I write for a couple of magazines" I promptly replied. But she was asking if I had a new book I was working on. Everyone knows when I am writing a book. I normally schedule time to write. During that time I schedule at least an hour a day. If it turns into more, that's cool too.

Yesterday a friend asked me what I was going to do when I got home from work. I told her my plans were to grab some food, take a bath and go to bed. I told her I should be in bed by 5:00 pm. She laughed and said she loved how I planned out my time. I had to laugh too. She was right. I do tend to plan certain aspects of my life in great detail. I thought about my daily schedule. I have to have some type of a routine. The way my life is set up now, working a full-time job, running my business and also my non-profit mentoring organization, it can become quite hectic sometimes. Okay, a lot of the time. I admit sometimes when I am really busy, things don't get done and my house looks like a tornado has gone through it. It used to bother me, but now I don't let things like that faze me. I made a decision that I have to work on what is important at the time. And even though I love Wonder Woman, I am not her.

So how do I do all of the things that I do? Well I find that when I put things in my planner and actually schedule out the time, things get done. When things are just in my head, then it is easy for them to be pushed aside. I work with a paper planner and also the calendar on my phone. I will not agree to do anything until I have checked my calendar. And when I make plans to do something, I put it on my calendar promptly. This keeps me from overbooking myself or forgetting to be somewhere.

There are a lot of different scheduling tools and planners. Some people like everything to be electronic. I am old school and I love the feel of paper. I love my planner, I use the Passion Planner. https://passionplanner.com/what-is-it/ I have tried other brands, but I keep returning back to the Passion Planner. I use different color ink for the different areas in my life. At a glance I can tell if I am working too hard (green ink) or have not scheduled any "me" time (blue ink). The colors don't lie.

I actually schedule time to schedule my time. Sound confusing? Not really. I work on my weekly plans on Sunday night. I have a master brain dump list where I put down everything I need to get done. Then during my Sunday scheduling time, I decide what I want to get done for the upcoming week. I schedule those things on the day and at the time that I want do it. I also have a daily "to do" list. When I complete something, I cross it off. If I don't do it, then it goes to the next day, if I start and don't finish it then it gets a symbol and gets moved to the next day. I really love those days when I can cross everything off as "complete"

Bullet journaling uses a key and color coding system that I like. I have not started bullet journaling yet, but I do use the colors and keys. and I think I am going to give it a try. I will be sure to share my experience with you all.

With all of the things we have to do in our busy lives, I think making a schedule of the things that you have to do is a great way to stay organized.

Photo: Photographyiseverything.com