Write it Down. I Mean, Write it ALL Down.
A few days ago, I wrote about how I front load my week, and people commented that they had no clue what I was doing that required this type of to-do list. So I thought I would (1) explain my schedule and (2) explain why I think you SHOULD write down things like “cook dinner.”
So the first part: I’m a contractor, which means I do work for a lot of places. In order to balance all those projects and make sure everything gets done on time, I write it all down. I never miss a deadline because I can pick up my bullet journal (which is where I write down notes from meeting as well as any tasks that isn’t taking place this week) or this weekly paper to-do list and see what needs to get done by the end of the day. I’m not great at keeping things in my head. If it doesn’t get written down, it doesn’t get done.
So there is that: I need this sort of to-do list because I work for many places. I use this paper to-do list in conjunction with my bullet journal.
I DO write down things like cook dinner, go grocery shopping, clean the house, and see a movie. And this is why: I don’t want to put off things so I don’t schedule more than what I have time to do in a given day. I may move things around from time to time when new things pop up, but for the most part, I can look at how full a square looks and judge accordingly before I promise to do something.
So, for instance, I kept last Thursday pretty light because I knew I had tickets to see Hamlet at night, and it’s a four hour play. I was going to have a hard stop by 6 pm at the latest, and I had to pick up the kids from school, make dinner, and eat dinner before the show. So, really, a soft stop by 4:30 pm.
Knowing that, I scheduled as much as I could into Wednesday and Friday because I was trying to be realistic about Thursday, and I bumped a few things to the weekend rather than promising them by the end of the week. If I had just written Hamlet in that square, I probably would have scheduled myself for more things, not thinking about all that goes into getting to the show on time including driving people, making a meal, and consuming it. So I would have probably felt panicked by Thursday afternoon with my to-do list looming too large. Instead, I got everything done because I reminded myself of everything big that needs to get done.
Do I put down ridiculous details? No. But the stuff that will impact how much I can get done goes on the list. Every meeting, every project, every task that other people need me to do, every drive to an activity, every cleaning task that will take longer than 10 minutes; it all goes on the list.
I don’t think I’m abnormally busy, though my work situation means I have to organize myself in a way that I didn’t have to do when I worked for a single entity in a single location. But I think I would still schedule my to-do list like this even if I was still teaching because it means I can visually see how my day will unfold. It helps me to not overschedule myself but it also helps me to not underschedule myself because I do like to be involved in things. And now, when I say “yes” or “no,” I do so knowing how much open time I actually have in my day.
Which means I can host holidays or join boards or get involved in supporting a local campaign and know that I have time to get those things done with everything else that I’m already scheduled to do.
So, yeah, write it down. Write is all down. It will help you rethink your life.
And yes, writing this blog post was on my to-do list as “write daily blog post.”
9 comments
I guess that’s the bonus of having a pretty strict routine. I know exactly what I’m doing Tuesday through Friday from 6:15 am to 5:30 pm, and any adjustments to that are minor and easily accommodated. My work place is pretty flexible, and I have lots of accrued time to take off if I need to. The rest of the time is free to fill mostly as I please (with family input).
In other words, I would not make a good freelancer if I needed to make a living. It would be too stressful.
Oh, also, I think of writing things down as a path to not forgetting rather than as forming a framework for my day. So I’m not going to forget to cook dinner (although I should try that sometime) or go grocery shopping, so it would be weird to write it down.
Same as a.Things like making dinner, showering, exercising that are that routine don’t need to be written down. I’m not going to schedule something for those times unless I absolutely have to and if that happens the routine has to change. What I do have to write down is non-routine things like going to the bank (we have direct deposit plus deposit other checks using our phone camera so we rarely need to go to the bank) which I was supposed to do yesterday and completely forgot. I am pretty good at remembering things like dr appts in my head although I put them in my phone just in case.
Ahhhhh. So it makes so much more sense to know that a lot of what you plan is because of various work/deadlines. I guess for me, I have a calendar with large date blocks. I write down all scheduled appointments/meetings, etc. Before I agree to or schedule anything else I check the calendar and mentally calculate the time and decide if I can make it work or not. If it gets scheduled it goes on the calendar. My husband is terrible at writing things down, and he gets burned with the “Sorry, it wasn’t on the calendar, I didn’t know about it” line. Telling me isn’t enough, because I go by the calendar. Again, I agree with A that I feel like writing things down is more so so if it would be something I could easily forget to do, vs things that can’t be forgotten, like cooking. I, too, have a pretty set schedule and work that won’t ever get brought home due to the nature of it, so it allows me to be more flexible with scheduling. For example, I usually do laundry every other day, but I didn’t feel like it last week so I skipped a day. Which resulted in 2 extra loads of laundry the following day, but I was ok with that because I took a day off from it, so it was to be expected.
I think your method also helps avoid accidental leakage. You are very intentional with your squares, with your time, so you don’t get off track by shiny objects, say, on Facebook.
I also want to add that I am also the person that will use my dry erase board to write in big, huge writing “Pick up kid at 5:30” if my kid is somewhere other than home after school. Because I have such a routine that having my kids anywhere but home is unusual and I have momentarily forgotten that someone is somewhere else. (I have never actually forgotten to pick up my kid, though.😜)
Yes — I’m more like A, though I do keep a work calendar on which I put work stuff, because my work involves meetings and tasks that aren’t part of any easily remembered routine. It’s interesting to me that you mention underscheduled, because at least for me and at least right now, being underscheduled (when it happens) feels like a privilege, not a problem, so I definitely don’t strive to avoid it. Though don’t get me wrong, when it happens there are generally plenty of non-urgent activities with which I can fill it!
Also if you wite it down. You can cross it of! And thats best feeling ever!
I love this, especially for figuring out just how much time you have for things in your day. Even though a big chunk of my day is school (usually 9-10 hours), I always underestimate how much time I have to do things, and I don’t schedule in important things. Which could be “write” or “play my violin” (that one has been sorely neglected since the summer). Even during my school day I feel like writing everything down would help me manage my time better. I love this strategy! I’m going to use it more, and hopefully see my time less wasted, more productive. Thank you!