How I'm Scheduling for a Productive 2021

For most of my life I've enjoyed pursuing a variety of interests, and it isn't uncommon for me to have a sizeable collection of projects on the go all at once. I like it that way. As projects became larger, commitments increased, and life became busier overall I realised I was spending time and mental energy keeping everything organised that I would've preferred to spend on the projects themselves. I also found that I would get excited about one thing at a time and have lots of ideas for it. Forgetting the plan once I shifted my focus to something else seemed like a waste of time. How could I use that time of intense focus to lay out effective plans that I could follow regardless of where my focus lay and the number of commitments on my plate?

Five or so years ago I began this system for keeping myself more organised and staying on track. I've refined it over that time and am finding it successful, so I've decided to share it. 

I got started on this before the bullet journaling craze, so I just purchase a standard diary every year. I find week-to-view the most useful layout, and always spiral-bound so I can turn it back on itself. Aside from that I look for a diary with plenty of additional blank/notes pages, and then choose my favourite cover from the remaining options. Then when I'm ready to set it up, I find myself a ruler, and three pens: blue ink, black ink, and one for fun, in this case purple gel. Ultimately this would work with as many colours as you like, and colour-coding could provide added organisational benefit. Personally I find the more colours and other details I add the more I think the page looks cluttered, and I don't want to spend a whole year looking at them. I try to go for a fairly minimal, clean look to my pages so I'll enjoy looking at them regularly. I set up my pages with black ink, purple for the odd touch of pretty in headings, and standard blue for filling in and marking everything off.

Most of us have things we would love to learn, do, or experience and it's easy to think, "oh, maybe one day I'll give xyz a go." But someday and one day are a bit like tomorrow; they never come. 2pm next Wednesday will though, if time doesn't end first, so schedule that thing you've always wanted to do for then. Turn those hopes and dreams into goals with a place in your schedule and watch them become reality. 

I like setting aside some time around the end of a year and beginning of a new one to refocus and consider what I need to work on over the coming year and make sure I know what are priorities and what are not (at this time). It feels like a natural time to reflect, assess, and set goals.

First off let's take a look at how I make goals for the year. For easier reading I've divided the page into categories, but choose those based on your goals--don't make a list of categories and then fill in goals that really aren't your goals at all, just for the sake of filling in the page! In a year's time, what would you like to have done/tried/learned? This is the spot to record those things. These could be big things (like a year-long course) or small things (like visiting that coffee shop you've always meant to try and never have). Include anything here that you just want to do once at some stage during the year. That bucket list? Pick one or two things and make them happen this year.

(Fill goals in with blue ink)

Next we move to a smaller scale. Monthly goals are anything that you want to do (at least) once every month. Are there any big projects on your list of goals for the year that should be divided into smaller goals for each month? Otherwise what habits are you trying to build that should be included here? Is there a space you always mean to clean or tidy each month? Include that here. Again, decide on your goals first, and then sort them into categories. Some diaries have graph pages included at the end, and these are perfect for this chart. I added dividing lines to make everything tidier. In a diary without these handy graph pages I would do the same set-up, and rule the graph myself so I still have all the boxes where I can tick off my goals as I complete them.

Of course, there are some things that need to be done more regularly than monthly, and some habits I want to build into my life on a weekly basis. Due to the graph measurements I currently have three pages titled "Weekly Goals." Some business diaries have a "Staff Annual Leave" chart which is perfect for this! Otherwise, I am back to ruling everything out again. (Maybe one day I'll end up doing all the design and printing my own diary huh!) This works the same way as the "Monthly Goals" page; goals down the page on the left, and time periods along the top. In this case the dates can be read as "week beginning . . . " Around our place a lot of household chores are weekly activities, so they fit perfectly into this spread. Other things began as monthly goals in the early days of this system, and once they became easier I shifted them to my weekly list instead.

I actually do also have small daily goals, but since there are nowhere near enough blank pages to record them in the same format as above I'm still doing it the slow way for now. My section for each day can end up with a lot written on it, so I came up with a format for that as well so I know exactly where to look for each type of task. 

Any event with a specific time commitment or involving other people goes on the left, and those get sorted in chronological order; early events at the top of the section, working down to later events further down. For a while I used a different pen for commitments at set times and that was visually helpful, but since it's only the one pen that I usually carry around I'm using only that one at present for simplicity's sake. 

On the far right of this day's section, imagine a column; that's for all computer-related tasks. Having my computer set up uses space that could otherwise be useful for plenty of other things, so it's easier to get everything completed at once and then pack up again. I also find it's easy to "just quickly check something" and all of a sudden hours have flown by, and/or I'll turn everything off and then remember something else I was supposed to do. So I find it most practical to create a list of everything I want to do while my computer's on, and then work through that all in one go and pack up again. 

To the left of that there's another imaginary column; this one's for those daily tasks/goals that don't require my computer. These are a combination of habits I'm building and household tasks I'm responsible for. 

Other tasks specific to the day and not recurring belong anywhere on the remaining space to the left. Usually I try to place them closest to where they're likely to happen relative to specific-time events. On my example day I had dishes to do, and I needed to make dinner. I planned to sort the dishes before my 3:30 booking, and dinner after it, so I placed them on the page to reflect that.

Sometimes I work on my weekly and monthly goals as I find myself with a free moment, but other times I look at my goals and assign them to specific days, in which case I'll write them somewhere in this section as well. On the graph pages I can see what I completed in a week or month, and by looking back over each day I can find the exact day each thing was done. This particular layout also includes tracking space for water intake and while I initially wasn't interested in that, I ended up giving it a go and have found it incredibly beneficial. I now have a far better idea of which days I will easily stay hydrated, and which ones will take more effort and may be worth having a bottle with me.

It is true that this takes time to set up, but after several years of doing so I conclude without any doubt that it is time well spent. Making time to plan like this enables me to keep everything heading in the right direction later in the year, through the incredibly busy times. I haven't perfectly met every goal and ticked every box, but I've definitely made so much more progress on the things that are important to me than I otherwise would have. 

Usually as we reach the last few months of a year I'll begin thinking ahead to the coming year and listing goal ideas on a fresh page at the back of my current diary. Then when I draw up the new one I can include them in the correct places straight away.

Ephesians 2:10 is a good reminder: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Are we making time to search out what these good works are? Do we prioritise walking in them? Is that something we consciously make time for? Putting pen to paper and scheduling and setting goals are methods I've found incredibly helpful for maintaining focus on the import things, regardless of how busy I am or what is going on around me. 

I enjoyed this podcast by Leslie Ludy on Godly Goal Setting a few weeks ago; give it a listen if you're into podcasts.