Creating Schedules so You Stay Ahead of the Game

Are you the kind of person who likes to plan your day down to the minute, or do you wing it and deal with things as they arise? I fall somewhere in between. I like to stay organized, and blocking out my time helps me do that. However, if I were to plan out every minute of my day, I would end up overwhelming myself with deadlines. If even just one task took longer than I anticipated, my whole day would be thrown off, and that would stress me out. Too much planning can be just as detrimental as not enough planning.

When creating a schedule, the goal should be to organize your day in a way that you get the most out of your time without overloading yourself. Scheduling some downtime throughout the day is beneficial because it provides an opportunity for you to relax and recharge or to work on something else during that free time. Tasks are often assigned as they come up, and it can be difficult to work them into your already busy schedule. But if you have time blocked off for miscellaneous tasks, then you don’t have to worry about it.

Having a schedule is also helpful for the division of responsibilities when you have multiple people working on the same project. You can outline who needs to work on which tasks and at what time. I once worked in a department that did not separate out roles, and therefore no one wanted to work on this one specific task. I recommended to my boss that we divide that responsibility by time blocks on the schedule so that it would actually get done, and it wasn’t just falling to the same person every time. This kept things fair and boosted our productivity because everyone knew what they needed to be working on based on the schedule.

Creating a schedule keeps you on track for accomplishing your workload by ensuring that you allocate the necessary time and resources for each task, preventing last-minute scrambles or missed deadlines. Not only does this increase productivity and motivation, it also helps prevent burnout by keeping a well-balanced schedule. Take some time at the end of each day to look ahead at what you have going on the next day, and create a schedule that will help you manage your time the most effectively.

-Meghan Slaughter