12 Helpful Steps to Creating a Daily Schedule That Works for You
Following a daily schedule can help you achieve short-term and long-term goals by ensuring you’re actively working toward them. There are specific steps to creating a daily schedule that centers around your life.
What are the Steps for Making a Schedule?
Creating an ideal daily routine depends on your personal needs. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, as we all lead very different lives. First, you need to access your time commitments and other engagements. Then, expand from there. Here are the steps to creating a daily schedule that will work best for you.
1. Use Time Blocking
One of the most helpful steps to creating a daily schedule is time blocking. Time blocking is a time management method in which you divide your day into blocks of time.
Each block is dedicated to completing a specific task. You’ll want to be as specific as you can. For example, you wouldn’t schedule “work.” Instead, you would break the work into digestible time slots, such as checking emails, returning calls, etc.
Again, you wouldn’t label a time block “chores.” You would define the chores as bite-sized, doable actions like sweeping the floor, loading the dishwasher, or folding a single load of laundry.
2. Establish Wake-Up and Bedtimes
The first thing you need to lock into your daily schedule for success is wake-up and bedtimes. You don’t have to get up early to be a successful person. However, CNBC reports, “Nearly two-thirds of successful CEOs say they wake up at 6 a.m. or earlier.”
There is something to be said about early rising and grinding. The earlier I awaken, the more productive I am throughout the day. Have you shared that experience?
3. Determine Your Daily Time Commitments
What are your daily time commitments? You will block out these things to create familiarity and structure in your new routine. Think of daily/weekly work meetings, kid sports obligations, extracurricular classes, bible studies, and any volunteer work. Once you’ve determined your daily time commitments, schedule them with time blocks.
4. Make a Master List
Create a master list to reference when scheduling other time blocks in your day. What things do you need to get done that you have yet to create time for? What new hobbies do you want to explore or passionately entertain?
Is there anything new you’ve been meaning to learn —for example, taking an online course, learning another language, or learning a skill to seek a better career path? Are there repairs around your home, or do you need to tend to vehicle maintenance? Keep a master list of these things, and start scheduling and completing them.
5. Create a Doable Schedule Each Day
Once you have created your master list for reference, you have determined your responsibilities and personal goals. It’s time to add them to your weekly schedule and check them off the list.
Many people advise doing this the night before, but as someone with ADHD and moderate mood changes, I prefer knowing how I feel each day before determining what is “doable” for me. You do what is doable for you to ensure you successfully maintain your new routine.
6. Establish Your Method of Execution
Don’t make a vague master to-do list without equipping it with accommodating checklists (written or mental) for completing non-routine tasks. You need a method of execution. Research, read, watch, and learn. Otherwise, everything will begin to feel like a massive chore. Equip yourself with the knowledge and know-how to accomplish your list.
7. Stop Multitasking
Do you subscribe to the myth of multitasking? The National Institute of Health (NIH) examined the “multi-costs of multitasking” and found that the human brain cannot fully focus on more than one thing.
The inability to focus your entire attention on multiple things means that despite — believing you can check your emails during a work meeting or have your favorite television show running in the background as noise while completing a writing assignment — you can’t.
8. Prioritize Time for Self-Care
One of the more overlooked steps to creating a daily schedule is self-care. What does self-care look like to you? Is it getting manicures and pedicures with your bestie? Perhaps scheduling an hour to play video games or watch a trash TV show better suits you? Does shooting rounds at the range fulfill that need? However you define it, prioritize self-care in your daily routine.
9. Schedule Meal Times
Remember to schedule meal times and establish your method of execution. How often do you not eat all day because you are always on the go? It’s common for people with ADHD. Scheduling meal times ensures that I eat at appropriate hours during the day instead of binging at night.
Implementing meal plans and prepping can also save you significant money. Schedule a several-hour time block on one of your days off, and stock your fridge with healthy snacks and ready-to-reheat meals. This is your first line of defense against making poor financial decisions like eating out at lunchtime or ordering from food delivery apps.
10. Schedule Breaks
Do not schedule every hour without taking breaks throughout the day. Schedule breaks to get up, stretch, and walk if your job is sedentary. Breaks are much-needed productivity boosters. They improve your creativity and prevent burnout. Schedule breaks with nothing attached to them, take a few deep breaths and relax.
11. Set Reliable Reminders
One of the most important steps to creating a daily schedule that works for you is setting reliable reminders to structure your day. Establish what works best for you.
There are dozens of time-blocking apps. You can also set several alarms on your cell phone with reminder tags. Alternatively, you can input your schedule into Google Calendar with reminders.
12. Be Flexible
Remember to build flexibility into your daily schedule. Things like doctor and dentist appointments, weddings, funerals, and other life engagements pop up and need their place on your schedule. Life is full of unexpected interruptions and emergencies.
Give yourself grace throughout the day, and don’t beat yourself up when things don’t go perfectly; they rarely will.
What Is the Importance of a Daily Schedule?
Establishing a daily schedule with prioritized tasks is necessary for optimal time management and helps you maintain a healthy work-life balance. Balancing professional and personal lives is crucial for mental health.
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Elizabeth Ervin helps people embrace a change in money mindset to achieve their financial goals. After struggling for a decade as a single mother, consumed by the American debt cycle, she recognizes the value of financial education and lifestyle changes and aspires to motivate others to make those changes to obtain financial freedom. She heavily advocates for praying about and over your finances and speaking positive money affirmations to manifest abundance.