create and stick with a daily schedule

I’m making progress. What is different is a new job, 90 minutes commuting every workday, a health club membership, and taking two college classes. It’s forced a schedule on me.

Back on track with this goal – I really do find that keeping the lists that I keep reassures me that all my to-dos are in one place, and that I can allocate my time better when I use it. Of course using it sometimes gets tedious, or can feel like overkill, but generally I like it.

I have gone through so many different ways of scheduling my day, and of breaking out of that schedule, and then losing my way, that it is getting crazy.

The most current way I have that had been working recently was to have a master-list of things to do in Excel, seperated into Work, Home and Mixed. ie. Stuff I can only do in work, only at home, or both.

I would then schedule my day with the amount of time I have spread between urgent tasks, then random tasks from the two relevant lists. I would then track the time I actually spent and add more tasks if able, or remove some that I no longer have time for.

Extremely sad maybe, but hey it worked for me.

So far, so good… (it’s 10:00 am).

I’m going to try to do this and report back with how I do. I’m going to try to make progress on my 43T list, too.

This is an important goal because it helps me to make progress on many of my other goals, so as I do this one, I am also able to work on the others. Yesterday I did very well.

6 am – out of bed
6:30 – breakfast, take vitamins, prepare for the day, etc.
7:45 – leave for work
8:00 am-5:00 pm – work (lunch around noon)
5:00-5:45 – gym
6:00 – arrive home, dinner
6:30-9:00 free time, take a walk, update budget (spending record), chores, relax, etc.
9:00 – prepare for bed, pray and read the Bible
10:00 pm – lights out, sleep

It’s simple, but should help me meet some goals:
Read the Bible, pray every day, keep a prayer journal, exercise or walk every day, lose weight, don’t procrastinate, sleep more, spend less time on the Internet, be more organized, and probably a few more. If I eat healthy food during the scheduled meal times, there’s another goal. Of course some days there will be unexpected interruptions to the schedule, but if I go about this with a little discipline, it should work out well.