I am a big proponent of scheduling. Without a schedule, I would not be able to accomplish all my tasks whether for business or family. In the past I’ve wrote about my approach for scheduling for fall. There are a number of factors that go into a great, productive schedule, such as, collecting all your tasks and activities, prioritizing, blocking off time, etc. There was one factor, though, that I hadn’t considered.
Scheduling Frustration
I had my time blocks planned. I was following my schedule, trying to complete my tasks. But I found that I really wasn’t getting as much done as I had in the past. I had made a commitment to exercising every morning – and had that a part of my schedule. And while I added time for showering and getting ready after my exercise, and eating a healthy breakfast (my superhuman breakfast) I was then not able to focus on my priority task of the day. I was really frustrated and couldn’t complete the task in a timely manner. Time was flying by without little accomplishment. For quite some time I was mad at myself. I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t more disciplined. I berated myself to work hard, be more laser focused, disciplined, etc.
Energy-Scheduling Alignment
I decided to review my schedule and check how I was feeling while working. Previously, I always had high energy in the morning, and therefore was able to get a lot of important tasks out of the way. I realized, though, that with exercising in the morning, my energy wasn’t high right afterwards. I felt a little foggy or hazy. Maybe it’s due to all the great endorphins you get from exercising, but it wasn’t helping my business productivity. I realized that my issue wasn’t lack of dedication, but instead that my energy was not aligning with my tasks. Since I am determined to exercise in the morning, I would need to revamp the order of my time blocks.
I decided that I would do some testing. I would have a trial schedule for the next two weeks. I decided to dig a little deeper into my time blocks and tasks. I noted that some were very detail-oriented, such as, my patent administration work. Others were more creative like writing blog posts, or creating website copy. Others were more automatic, like creating invoices. I adjusted my schedule to find out what tasks I could easily complete at what time during the day. After exercise, I could easily accomplish the more administrative tasks like invoicing, scheduling social media, updating website, etc. I would wait to do the tasks that require more focus until I’ve recovered from my exercising. After these tasks, then I was able to do my detailed patent work. I found that creative tasks worked best after lunch. Hopefully that will allow me to complete my tasks and feel better about myself. I tested and tweaked my schedule until I felt comfortable and accomplished.
It’s easy to be hard on yourself. It would be easy to give up scheduling because you think you’re not a “scheduler”. Instead, try to diagnose why you’re having trouble. It could be lack of sleep, nutrition, exercise, etc. – a variety of reasons. Before your throw the baby our with the bathwater, try changing some things around to find out what works best for you. We all can become Scheduling Superwomen!
Back to You
Have you had some difficulty with your scheduling? What have you noticed about your productivity? What about your energy levels? Does the food you eat have an effect on your productivity? Let us know where you’re succeeding and where, perhaps, you need more work.
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