Scheduling one's time

[justhopingandsearching]

I know if I just sat down and scheduled out my day/week/month, I would become so much more productive. I could be ''finished'' with two of my classes if I better scheduled my time because I could do the homework and assignments ahead of time, and simply just need to show up for class discussion and quizzes/tests. However, I really struggle with the idea because it makes life seem so monotonous to me. To me, it's saying your life is so predictable that it can be written and followed. Whenever, I write down a schedule, I kind of get depressed just looking at how boring my life is. Does anyone have any tips or solutions to how I can overcome these feelings, so I can be even more productive and efficient?

[Logodae]

Schedule fun things too. Scheduling should make your life more interesting, not less, because you can make sure that you have time to do the things you're most interested in.

[nziller]

Yeah I agree. Maybe just schedule your work times but have blocks of free time. Fitting everything you want into a day is almost like a new kind of freedom in a way because you are in control of your day.

Like for example, if I plan out my day I will accomplish everything alot faster because I want to finish up my work because I know what to look forward to. If I don't have anything fun planned or anything planned at all after a task it can drag on because I have no incentive.

[blacksofa]

My answer is pretty much the same as nzillers...but...

I use 'time-blocking.' I will block out an hour or so for work, and then take 30 mins to do whatever I want [and then go back to work, and then reward, then work..etc.]. I feel that it breaks the monotony because during your free time you get to do anything! And you're also guaranteed to get some work done because you 'have' to work for the full hour or however long.

I don't schedule my whole week though, I just do it day by day. That way everything is 'fresh' and somewhat new. I also don't think too far ahead, and try to only focus on what I need to get done that day.

[Kindred]

You might have to get out of the habit of subconsciously thinking this is a schedule written for you by someone else and into the habit of knowing this is a schedule creatively written for you by you.

If your schedule really is boring, then change it. You're in complete control of it. You can follow it whether you want to or not. No excuses.

[ThisMoment]

Hey justhopingandsearching,

I like that username. Perfectly defines what we are all doing here.

Anyway, I think it might be a false assumption to say planning is boring. Now if you were to plan 20 years in advance, i might agree with you.

But if you're planning your day or week, you might be pleasantly surprised to how much more time you'll have to not plan.

To get alittle deeper, it's a duality right? You couldn't plan if you didn't not plan...

Cheers,
This Moment

[theorique]

Originally Posted by justhopingandsearching

I know if I just sat down and scheduled out my day/week/month, I would become so much more productive. I could be ''finished'' with two of my classes if I better scheduled my time because I could do the homework and assignments ahead of time, and simply just need to show up for class discussion and quizzes/tests. However, I really struggle with the idea because it makes life seem so monotonous to me. To me, it's saying your life is so predictable that it can be written and followed. Whenever, I write down a schedule, I kind of get depressed just looking at how boring my life is. Does anyone have any tips or solutions to how I can overcome these feelings, so I can be even more productive and efficient?

You could try the methods suggested in "The Now Habit" by Dr Neil Fiore. These are mainly aimed at opposing procrastination, but could help in your situation as well.

The method there involves an "unschedule" where you deliberately block out times during which you are permitted and encouraged to do non-work fun activities.

The mantra of the book is "I choose to start on one small imperfect step, knowing that I have plenty of time to play.

-jack

[justhopingandsearching]

To all of you who have suggested scheduling some fun stuff and free time, thank you so much. I've clearly been looking at this scheduling thing completely wrong. When I first tried it, I tried to schedule every hour of my day because I believe I read it somewhere. I hated it with an absolute passion for the reasons I previously stated. Recently, I've tried just scheduling what ''needs'' to get done in a day for an entire week. This time the problem was all I saw on my schedule was work, work, and more work. I became slightly overwhelmed just looking at it, and so naturally resisted the idea of even living my life following that schedule. So, tonight thanks to you all, I'm going to write up a new schedule that includes some work to get done, but also include some specific fun stuff I want to do like going back to drawing everyday (I haven't done any drawing in over a year, so it's going to be interesting to get back into that).

In regards to time-blocking, I really like the idea and will be sure to try it. I'm going to have to push my work time up to 2 hrs though because I've noticed it seems to take me about an hour just to really get into my work, you know get into ''the zone'' where you are totally focused. Likewise, I think I'll do an hour of free, fun time because after being in ''the zone'', I kind get of exhausted and need a break.