How to plan, schedule, and manage your life (planning pt 2)

Yesterday I went over why you should plan and schedule as much of your life as possible. Let’s talk about how to do this. I’m starting with a major question: how many hours are there in a week?

Answer: 168 hours.

How does that number hit you? 168 hours. That’s a lot more hours than I used to think I had each week.

Everyone has the same amount of time as everyone else. Some people get more done than others. The good news is you can become more like the people who get A WHOLE LOT done (I’m hoping after this post I’ll go from getting a lot done to getting A WHOLE LOT done). Here are the things I have learned and done which help me stay on top of my life.

1) Write everything down. I mean it! Jot down every idea, appointment, deadline, book to read, and new place to try out for lunch. If I’m driving I record thoughts onto my iPhone using Evernote (I stop my car to push record, really!). Don’t have a pen and paper or Evernote? Leave yourself a voicemail.

2) Make a list of everything you want to do in life. Go over the list at least once a week. Modify the list at least once every three months. These are your reasons for doing (insert crappy task here).

3) Plan major goals out. What do you want to do? When do you want to do it? How are you going to get there? If you can answer those three questions you’ll get a lot more major things done.

4) Make a task list and prioritize it. Until you finish all your top priorities, do not bother with lower ones.

5) You can only do one thing at a time. Do the most important thing you think you should be doing at all times. Complete it, or the part you are working on, if at all possible to scratch it off the list. If you do not think a task or goal is important, cross it off your list and forget it was ever there.

6) Manage a calendar. The only reason people waste time is because they do not schedule their time and stick to it. Use all 168 hours each week the best you can.

7) Focus on the important things, not the little things which pop up. It’s easy to get sidetracked during the day. If you keep putting out little fires all day find what’s causing them and deal with it so you don’t have little fires anymore.

8) Handle everything once, if at all possible.

The more planning and scheduling you do, the more you will get done.

Wednesday I will go over what to plan and what not to waste time planning. On Thursday I will close with the outside forces that you may not realize are getting in your way.