Do I Really Need A Daily Schedule?

[Saad Khan]

Ok, I'm going to admit that I'm a lazy person. I lose track of time very often and I've been recently working on fixing it. But then my mind tells me, "Do you really need a daily schedule? You don't even use it".

Ever since I started working as an intern I feel like I'm working the whole day and working when I should be giving time to other things like studies, meditation, etc.
I've been sleeping and waking up early, but that didn't last long. With my so-called online friends, I've started playing games again after like 10-11 pm and end up playing till 3 am.

Question is:

Does a daily timetable really help? Is it a guide that you're supposed to structure your day around? I'm really inefficient with my time because I spend 2 hours working on something that should take 30 minutes.

 

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[gryfny]

Yes.

 

[AceVentures]

Monthly/Weekly goals derived from 1-5-10year goals.

Daily list of most important tasks and most important practices.

Keep an activity log in front of your desk and note the time and event for each thing you do -- this'll help you notice how/when you get distracted and will help you maintain awareness while you work.

 

[Itizn]

Personallly I try getting everything I need to get done, done, but first thing in morning.

Not really a schedule guy

 

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[Kid]

Yes.

To balance the sides:
No.


My experience is that scheduling will make you do action fake.
"30 minutes done - I'm happy" regardless of what you've done and if you really progressed.

Also its awful waste of energy to take breaks/change taks every 1h or so just b/c you've planned to do so.
Most of the time i happened to be deep into some topic and alarm was going off for a break.
Getting back into that state is not so easy and for sure its a waste to go on and off on schedule.

My guess is that being good at doing things on schedule is feature of good employee.

 

[Metz]

It's about finding a system that works for you. I know a bunch of people who thrive with a daily schedule where they block off time and they constantly nail it. Me, if I get distracted with something (whether it's a useful activity that came up or not), I feel overwhelmed with everything else getting derailed and then nothing gets done, regardless of how valuable the random thing that popped up was.

For me, I like writing a daily to-do list of eight things for the next day before I go to bed. This way, I don't wake up and ask "what do I need to do today?" since I already have my list. I'll color-coordinate the tasks depending on what they're for: if it's for my main business, they're in light purple; my side gig is brown; chores are orange; skill-learning is green. I'll then tally completed tasks off to the side for the week so I can see a breakdown of how I spent my time (if it's too heavy in one color, I balance it out for the next week). I'll also use the Pomodoro method of 25 minutes of really focused work followed by a 5-minute break. That also lets me measure how long it takes me to do a certain task (like writing a 1000-word article for a client) and I can estimate my time that way.

But I find rigid or block schedules too restrictive and it's one of the reasons I wanted to get out of the 9-to-5 work. Plus as a writer, I do some of my best writing either late at night after everyone's gone to sleep so I can just listen to lo-fi and write a ton.. or early in the morning before people wake up (depends on the season since I live so far north that right now, our summers get 16+ hours of daylight so I'm up way earlier than in the dark winter months). I also struggled with insomnia for most of my life though now with how busy I've been and just finding the right flow state, I pass out shortly after my head hits the pillow.

So yeah.. it's all about finding a system that works for you. See what feels natural, start small (my to-do list was originally four daily tasks and I want to expand it out to 10 maximally), build habits, and remain disciplined. I understand the allure of late nights gaming with the boys™ but you gotta ask yourself: would you rather get more sleep to be more productive to build a system and retire early so you can game whenever you want.. or enjoy a little pleasure now at the cost of a lot of it later on? That said, take breaks, don't burn yourself out.. but having a decent window for bedtime (for me it's anywhere between 11p and 1a and then up again between 8a - 9a) is gonna help you with time management too. Being a zombie isn't fun nor useful for building an entrepreneurial life.

Hope this provides some things to think about.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

Personally, I don't like things to be too rigid. If something valuable comes up that I didn't plan for, I want to be flexible enough to jump on it.

I keep a monthly calendar and mark important dates and deadlines. That's about it.

Sometimes I write down what I need to get done for the next day, which is actually a very good thing to do.

I definitely can improve in this area.

 

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[ZackerySprague]

I would say Yes.

Though I am in no position to give advice. I am an ENTP and working just off of routine is very bad for us. But I am in the process of figuring out my schedule.