3 Ways to Stay on Schedule

Write It Down

Life can be busy, overwhelmingly so, which means if you don't have a schedule (and stick with it), you can easily find yourself wallowing in a sea of misdirection and incompletion. The solution starts with making a daily schedule and writing it down. Putting together a To-Do List on paper means it's tangible; it stares at you all day and reminds you of what needs to be done next - and what hasn't been done yet. It can also be fun; who doesn't enjoy crossing off items on a list and seeing how close they are to completing it? So write down your daily schedule and stay on schedule.

First Comes First

If you don't have priorities, it's difficult to get anything done because everything is considered equally important - or equally unimportant, depending on your point of view. When you're creating that daily schedule, think for a minute about what needs to be done first , second and so on. This isn't strictly chronological prioritizing, although that can certainly be a consideration; after all, you probably shouldn't pick up the dry cleaning before feeding the kids and getting them off to school. Decide what needs to be done and in what order, and then start getting it done!

Always Tomorrow

You stick to your schedule, day after day; but what happens when life throws an inevitable wrench in your "perfect" plans? People have a hard time staying on schedule because their schedule can suddenly change, leaving them with a To-Do List overflowing with scheduled and unscheduled responsibilities. The key to staying on schedule is realizing there's always another day (and another list). Of course, that doesn't always mean you can avoid rearranging today's schedule at a moment's notice; it does mean you should avoid overloading today if you can push a few things off until tomorrow.