Scheduling time to get things done indicates commitment
Here are a few suggestions to consider when scheduling appointments and activities in your planner. Start off the New Year right by scheduling your goal-related activities, as well as appointments, directly into your planner. "To do" lists will prevent you from forgetting all the things you have to do, but they will do nothing to further their completion. To be effective, you must schedule time to actually get the work done. The reason that New Years resolutions usually go right in one year and out the other, is that people commit them to memory, but not to paper. What gets scheduled usually gets done. What gets postponed usually gets abandoned.
1. Place deadlines on all appointments and meetings. If you call an open-ended meeting, how can the attendees schedule the balance of their day? And what do they bring with them, a box lunch, a toothbrush or a tent?
2. Make appointments back to back. If you have an appointment to see someone from 9:15 to 9:45 a.m., and someone else asks to see you at 10 a.m., see if they can make it earlier at 9:45 a.m. This will add strength to the first appointment's deadline. It's easier to stick to a deadline when another person is waiting to see you - and it adds credibility to the comment that you'll have to stop on time since you have another commitment. A fifteen-minute period between two meetings is rarely productive even if it does materialize.
3. If the appointment is with yourself, to work on a task, schedule a definite time period, say 9:15 to 10:15 a.m., but in this case, don't back it up with another appointment. If someone asks for 10:30, see if they can make it 10:45 or 11:00. This will allow you to continue with your task if you're on a roll. It also allows space to schedule last minute priorities.
4. Always schedule tasks to be completed ahead of the deadline date. If a project is due Friday, if possible, schedule it to be completed by Wednesday. This allows for any unseen problems, emergencies or the possibility of missing the deadline through illness.
5. When scheduling time for a task, always allow more time than you think that portion of the job will take. If you think it will take you one hour to complete it, schedule an hour and a half. If you plan to work on an ongoing project for an hour and a half, schedule two hours. This will provide time to accommodate those interruptions that invariably occur when engrossed in a task.
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6. If you have many tasks to be scheduled in a week, always schedule the priorities nearer to the beginning of the week. Time is less available as the week passes. Also schedule the important tasks during your prime time - when your mental energy is at its peak. For most people, this is in the mornings.
7. Don't over schedule. Try not to block off any more than 50 percent of your week in advance. Leave plenty of free spaces to accommodate priorities that emerge during the week.
8. There is no limit as to how far in advance you can schedule; but blocking off time for priorities only a week or two in advance is usually sufficient. People rarely ask for appointments beyond a week or two in advance. Major activities can be blocked off years in advance. But don't schedule anything for the year 2015 if you're already ninety-five.
9. If you're serious about getting things done, schedule the time in ink rather than in pencil. Pencil cries out that it's only tentative, and you're more likely to change it if it's more convenient for others. Have as much respect for your time as you have for everybody else's time. It may be messier to make changes to ink, but it's better to be a messy doer than a neat procrastinator.
10. Don't limit your scheduling to business-related activities. Evenings and weekends are fair game. Make commitments in your personal life by scheduling time for family, friends, and yourself.
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