Every Day Is Dynamic

One of the things that I’m a huge proponent for, that I see a lot of people struggle with, is creating a schedule for the day.

For many, a schedule is filled with ‘empty promises’. It’s a list of all the things they wanted to do - but there are some things they forget to add, that take longer than expected, that they don’t feel like doing… And before they know it they’re completely off track. 

When your day goes off the rails, it might feel like your schedule isn’t relevant anymore. But that’s only because it is out of place with old information.

As the day unfolds, things genuinely change. New priorities surface, previously unknown information is revealed, and the way you thought you wanted to spend your day doesn’t represent what you actually want to do with your time.

As regimented, organized, and disciplined as I try to be - this happens to me too. But that’s because I’m human and limited by the same constraints.

I've learned that when I make my schedule for the day, I can only do it at the level of consciousness I had when I made it. This means that once you increase awareness on how you actually want to spend your day, which you can’t plan for ahead of time, your plan isn’t designed to accommodate those things.

But that’s not to say it’s impossible to stay on task… What you need to redefine what on task is. In other words, you need to update your schedule. 

Just because you already prepared your schedule for the day doesn’t mean it needs to stay that way. Just because you’ve established your plan doesn’t mean that the plan can’t change. As your day evolves, your schedule must evolve with it if you want it to accurately reflect what you want to do.

One of the best practices I’ve implemented in the last year is keeping my schedule dynamic. This means that I’m constantly making adjustments to my schedule. Moving things around, adding extra time to finish things, removing others. Why? Because when I see the rest of my day through the lens of what I want to do, what I can actually get done, and how much time I have left to do it... I constantly get to make new decisions with new information.

On an afternoon where I’m feeling I’ve had too much time in front of a computer, I add a break I didn’t plan for. When there’s an extra task that pops up that really needs to get done, and I don’t want to compromise anything else on my list, I extend my work day to accommodate it. I change my schedule in real-time so that moving forward my schedule always represents what I believe to be my best intentions.

This practice carves out a clever middle ground between staying disciplined and flexible. My personal protocol is that any time I choose to go off schedule, I must update my schedule to represent the new plan for the day. What this does is add enough friction to spontaneously going off track (because there’s an effort and a cost to it) while also giving myself the ability to change my plans as needed (to accommodate new priorities).

Lots more to say on all of this, but in summary if you know that being more organized and focused about how you structure your day will unlock more productivity and progress in your life, let me help you get in the habit of mastering your scheduling. Detailed scheduling is one of the pillars of the 21 Day Super Habits Challenge - check it out if you’re ready to live up to the higher standard you see for yourself.