Discussion Forum > Plan/Forecast tomorrow's activity vs actual activity
I have tried it, yes. There are even programs which will do the scheduling for you, such as Above & Beyond - there's some discussion about this on this forum and the blog if you want to search for it.
Remember that we consistently underestimate how long it will take to do something so it is important to leave plenty of buffer time. If you keep comparing forecast with actual time you can get much better at this.
We also consistently underestimate the number of interruptions we are going to get, so leave some unscheduled time for this.
Even allowing for these, you will be surprised how much you can fit into a day if you really schedule well.
The downside? If it works well for you to start off with, you will be tempted to schedule more and more into your day. Resist this at all costs. Otherwise you will build up so much resistance to your schedule that you will abandon the whole thing.
Remember that we consistently underestimate how long it will take to do something so it is important to leave plenty of buffer time. If you keep comparing forecast with actual time you can get much better at this.
We also consistently underestimate the number of interruptions we are going to get, so leave some unscheduled time for this.
Even allowing for these, you will be surprised how much you can fit into a day if you really schedule well.
The downside? If it works well for you to start off with, you will be tempted to schedule more and more into your day. Resist this at all costs. Otherwise you will build up so much resistance to your schedule that you will abandon the whole thing.
October 18, 2012 at 7:50 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Mark - thanks for responding. Great to hear your voice/wisdom.
October 18, 2012 at 12:39 |
avrum
avrum
I think that such scheduling is worth a try, but my mood always went down when I saw how little I accomplished vs what was scheduled.
So now I just schedule 4 hours of my work and leave the rest 4 for stuff beyond my control.
I am also glad to read Mark post!
So now I just schedule 4 hours of my work and leave the rest 4 for stuff beyond my control.
I am also glad to read Mark post!
October 18, 2012 at 15:25 |
Navigare
Navigare
To implement the above, I've created a journal page with two columns: FORECAST | ACTUAL
I'm going to give this a shot i.e. planning your day the night before, and track what I actually do with my day.
Thoughts?