Introduction
Did you ever come back from school and have no idea what to do?
Or, you got a day off from work and have no idea what hobbies you should do, or what you want to be studying?
Well, fear not, because timetables are the best way to completely revolutionize your productivity. They allow you to structure your day in an orderly way and allow you to create a routine. Furthermore, timetables allow you to sneak in time for your habits by nature of how timetables work. They basically lay out all of your day in front of you, and you decide what to do at each moment
So, without further ado, let’s get into it
Understanding the Benefits of Timetables
Timetables have several benefits and overall just boost your productivity.
The first and most obvious benefit of timetables is the goal setting nature of them. You can consciously decide what tasks to do to benefit your goals while doing them. In addition, you can create new goals centered around your timetable, which we’ll talk about later.
Just like habit trackers boost accountability, timetables boost accountability too. They allow you to see your progress throughout the day, and to see if you’ve met certain goals. For example, if you set that you want to exercise between 5-6, and you don’t actually do it, your timetable will keep you accountable. The timetable also shows you progress, so if you do exercise between 5-6 you’ll see that progress on the table.
Timetables are key in organization and improving efficiency. First of all, timetables allow you to organize your tasks throughout the whole day. In turn, you’re able to lower your stress and keep your eye on the ball in terms of focus. You know what to do and when to do. The increase in focus allows you to be more efficient in everything you set out to do, and you may usually finish early in the beginning.
Eventually, you’ll learn how long it takes you to finish your work as your schedule becomes more refined.
Designing an Effective Daily Schedule with Timetables
Now, it’s time to actually create our timetable, which is actually the easiest part of this whole process.
First of all, let me give you a quick summary of an Eisenhower matrix. The Eisenhower matrix allows you to sort your tasks into 4 quadrants. Urgent and Important, Urgent and Unimportant, Important and Not Urgent, Not Urgent and Not Important. This is a great way to sort your tasks and base them around your day
Next, I want you to take this quiz on sleep chronotypes. Now, you might be thinking, “How does sleep effect this” (Trick question, sleep effects everything in your life, so get a good nights rest). However, in all seriousness (not that i’m wrong), your chronotype will give a rough estimate of when you have the most energy in focus in the day.
Once you get your chronotype, you’re going to assign your Important and Urgent, and Important and Not Urgent tasks to whenever you’re most focused. For students, it could be hard, so you should just try to place them as close as possible to when your chronotypes are.
Scheduling your Timetables
The next step is the easiest, now you actually schedule your day. Use your previous information and what you know about your body to schedule the best possible day. Make sure to specify habits (even short ones), and to include breaks throughout for down time.
Another important time to schedule is buffer time for unexpected delays. Pick 1 or 2 tasks that you could go the day without just incase something unexpected happens.
Weekly and Monthly Planning Techniques
One of the best parts of timetables is the goals that spawn upon using them. The primary goal system that comes with them are weekly goals. Weekly goals are usually small, but achievable, goals you can do each week. The important part about them is creating goals that will push you to work harder, but aren’t unachievable.
At the end of each day, check your timetable and see what you were able to complete and what you weren’t. Remember, assuming this is your peak day, even only doing half of it is great. However, if there’s something you literally could not get to, you should remove and change it.
Another recommendation I have is to set certain days as “focus days” where your primary goal for the day is a certain task. For example, let’s say that Tuesdays are for studying for the next upcoming tests. I might replace a few tasks with studying for the test because my focus day is coming up. Focus days are great for when you’re not studying enough, or doing enough work, etc. Having a day you can dedicate to one cause is really important
Using Timetables for Monthly Goals
The second type of goals that’ll be born from timetables are monthly goals. They’re like weekly goals, only harder and revolving around a bigger picture. For example, if my focus is school and not the gym, I could still set a weekly goal to get into the gym 4 times for my health. This is because weekly goals can revolve around any task that you need to put focus on. On the other hand, if my focus is school, my monthly goal would be related to school.
The reason your monthly goal should be related to your main focus is because the monthly goals are supposed to add up to your yearly goals. If my goals for the year is to get all A’s, having a monthly goal of going to the gym 20 times in the month doesn’t add up to it.
Tools and Techniques to Stay Consistent
The best tool you can incorporate are habit trackers. They allow you to track your habits and other activities on the timetable, and give you constant reminders about what you’re doing right or wrong. In fact, habit trackers may be the best tool for consistency and discipline. You can use apps like Notion or Trello, or just use regular paper. Check this article out for more depth into habit trackers.
If you’re an artsy person, or just like to use colors to organize everything, consider using them on your timetable. For example, assigning each section of the Eisenhower matrix a certain color, and then using that color on your timetable can work really well. I’m not an expert in using colors to organize (I hate drawing), so I can’t give much advice.
Using reminder apps like Notion can help keep you on track with specific reminders at specific times. For example, if you’re supposed to start studying at 5, you should have a reminder on your phone that goes off at 5. Sometimes, all you need to start is a little reminder.
Another great way to build accountability and consistency is with an accountability partner. You should tell one of your friends, family, or colleagues about your schedule. This’ll keep you on track since, in my experience, you wouldn’t want to lie to them. Especially if they follow you up and ask something. Check out this article for more depth on accountability partners.
Conclusion
Timetables are the best way to organize your days and make sure you complete every habit. With the introduction of timetables into your life, you have to add weekly and monthly goals to the list. Weekly and monthly goals allow you to work harder towards something achievable, and allow you to reach success almost every week. Timetables are great, however, you should remember that
Nothing changes if nothing changes
