LEARNIG OBJECTIVES: 1. To understand why we need a calendar. 2. To learn how to plan time well.
Stop Managing Your Time. Start Managing Your Focus
Robin S. Sharma
Do you love life? Then do not waste time, for that is what life is made of.
Benjamin Franklin.
Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present
Albert Camus
Hello, guys!
My name is Andrei Shcheglov, and in our first bonus lesson, I will tell you about the importance of managing a calendar. One of the fixed tabs in my browser is a calendar. Every morning, including today's, I plan and prioritize things (categories of importance - A, B, C) and regularly check it during the day. It helps to remind myself of my priorities and plans. And the time is monitored by either a countdown or Pomodoro timer.
Why is the calendar more effective than to-do lists?
When you make a to-do list, it's very easy to fall for the urge to include as many tasks as possible. Keep in mind that each of us has only 24 hours. If we realistically check everything we need to do against the time we have left after ACTUALLY filling out the calendar, we see that we have very little time left in your day, from 30 minutes to 1-2 hours. What does it mean to fill the calendar COMPLETELY? It means to fix time in it for sleep - 7-8 hours. I have “sleep” on my to-do list that way. And a reminder that I'm going to bed in half an hour. Next - set aside time (at least half an hour) for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In the first lessons we explained the importance of sleep and eating healthy foods. Now allocate time for transportation - to school, work, workout, meetings. Time for sports (fitness). Time for household chores - ironing clothes, washing and hanging laundry, walking the dog, helping other members of your family. Only after that, put in meetings and important appointments. According to Dan Ariely, professor of psychology and behavioral economics, "In practice, we tend to ignore things that are not fixed on the calendar. As a result, our lives don't match our goals and desires.
If something is really important to you, put it on your calendar. You are much more likely to get it done. In addition, you will reduce nervous tension by reducing the significance of the paradox of choice.
Don't put tasks right next to each other. There is always a risk that the meeting will take too long or that you will need to take a break between tasks. And keep in mind that 80% of the time we tend to underestimate the amount of time it will take to complete the task. This cognitive distortion is called the Planning fallacy. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planning_fallacy). That is why it is more practical to make plans on the basis of time rather than on the basis of tasks. That’s why the calendar is useful.
How does prioritization work? Every task you need to accomplish should be prioritized from the most important (highest priority) to the lowest priority. I use the Latin letters A, B, and C. You should ALWAYS start with the highest priority tasks and move on to the lower priority ones. Moreover, there is the illusion that you have "done something" or "accomplished something". It is important to fight this temptation and to do the most important things first. In Part 3 of the Core Lesson №10. Habits. How to build good habits and break bad ones? I talked about the connection between energy and habits. And if you start with small things at the beginning, there's a high risk of spending all your energy on them.
https://medium.com/@kunalyadav/why-put-first-things-first-1ef8aa841df2
Below I gave an example of my calendar - take a look and based on what I just told you, find mistakes and clashes in the schedule.…
Try to compare it with this one (below). What has changed?
