How To Plan & Schedule Work Effectively

Planning Makes You More Effective & Efficient Every Day

We can name it in many ways: task management, time management, or work scheduling. It's likely everyone has struggled and dealt with getting organized in some capacity or another in their professional or personal life.

Effective planning of work and time is an issue that bothers many of us as we know all experience the exact number of hours in a day. The distinction between those who are using our time efficiently and those who are not is how each of us prioritizes and manages it. Most individuals are unproductive because they haven't made a clear plan for their work/day. This absence of clarity quickly leads to procrastination as the brain doesn't like ambiguity. When you lack clarity on exactly when you're going to do what, your brain will use this point of ambiguity to talk you out of doing the hard work and do something easier instead.

"Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity." - James Clear (The Power of Scheduling Your Day) 

By pre-determining what you need to do, you remove the need to determine within the moment because you have already made a detailed plan. Psychologists call this an 'implementation intention.' A study in the British Journal of Health Psychology showed that creating such an implementation intention increases the success rate of following through with an activity from 34% to 91%. Simply put, you're considerably less likely to procrastinate by planning and scheduling your day, which is a big benefit for such a simple routine. 

Scheduling Removes Ambiguity When you schedule a task or activity, and it becomes real. Now it's not ambiguous 'somewhere today I want to workout/read/meditate/write' - which is usually not done because it is too vague. It becomes a real goal when you give time to a task or activity. Before, it was just a wish.

Prioritizing your work is not that easy. You have to identify the things that need to get done first. It's a necessary process, but once you get used to it, organizing and planning will be less complicated. If you can organize and prioritize your workload effectively, you will learn how to be more efficient and constructive.

How do you organize and plan your work effectively? What are your priorities? There is no right or wrong or any other way to answer these questions. The pattern and style you do things are dependent upon you. People are diverse, so what works for you may not work for someone else. Still, some approaches can help you prioritize your work and answer questions about your time management skills.

Below are some tips to enhance your work planning skills, increase productivity, and prioritize your workload efficiently.

• Build your to-do list. Structure your to-do list considering what you want to accomplish for the day. This is an effective way to remember the things you need to do. The way you create your to-do list can be implemented via a task scheduler, task planner, or weekly to-do list, but daily planners can be more focused and effective. Record your list on any task planner, like DayViewer, starting with the essential tasks and adding the less important ones.

• Prioritize your to-do list. After writing down your tasks on any task planner, rank them from most important to least.

• Focus on the most important. Write down some notes about your reminder in bullet points. For example, you can write down the exact time you need to complete the task, the materials you need for the task or the name of the person you'll be meeting (if the task is a meeting). One can take the help of DayViewer to maintain and organize their tasks. DayViewer is pretty simple to use.

• Avoid unnecessary tasks. When you've finished writing down your to-do list for the day/week, try analyzing the less important tasks to determine if you absolutely need to do them. If so, you may need to adjust your schedule for the day; if not, you can allocate more time to other tasks or take that opportunity to rest.

• Set realistic deadlines. When you are working on something, and a deadline has been established by your boss, set your deadline prior to that deadline to give yourself more time in case of any unforseen circumstances. However, be realistic. Don't try to rush yourself to finish it sooner at the cost of quality or, worse, safety. Setting realistic deadlines will help you structure and plan your time better and balance realism with productivity.

• Set your break time. Working all day without a break is not fun. If you're already tired, take a break. There's nothing wrong with a 10-15 minute break or even a quick nap. Drink coffee or energy drink when needed. Stretch when your body feels tight. Rule of thumb: Take at least ten minutes of downtime after every hour of work.

Tools for scheduling work effectively.

At this time, there are many different tools at your disposal. A simple and easy way to keep a schedule is to use the good old method - a pen and paper. 

If you desire to stay organized and plan your work schedule on the go, but don't like carrying a notebook or diary everywhere with you. It would be best to consider using an online planner app such as DayViewer.

DayViewer is an all-in-one calendar, planner, and organizer that helps you manage tasks, time, notes, work schedules, and more in one place. DayViewer seems to also have a collaborative team calendar function for your business or office. So all you would need to do is to ask your team to plan tasks, meetings, events, and more in the central DayViewer calendar planner. In no time, you will be much more organized and productive using this online planner app. DayViewer seems to be one the best online organizer app out there focused on planning and task management at this time, but there are others available.

You could also use calendar apps and software like Google Calendar. Whatever you decide, choose a scheduling tool that best suits your needs, your personal taste, and your budget.

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