I really didn’t think I would ever be writing about having to schedule or plan tasks when I retired. Or if anything, I thought I would be scheduling outings each week!!! But sadly the pandemic has meant that most of our time is spent at home and we find it increasingly difficult to schedule anything as days turn into weeks and then into months and you just wonder where you are!
So we have had to develop a few tricks to get us up and going each day and planning and scheduling is a very big part of it!
One of the most important aspects of successful time management and planning is to understand yourself i.e. how quickly you complete various tasks, your motivators and your key distractions We are all prone to procrastination – especially when we need to take on unpleasant or large jobs.
The thing is if we are not aware of how we operate we will either over or under plan our days and weeks. And trust me both of these approaches will mean that we get nothing done. If we over plan we will never finish our to do lists, become despondent and just give up. If we under plan our days we will also become despondent because there will be so little progress and we will rust out!
So here are some ideas to help you planning
Identify whether or not you respond well to detailed plans or whether you like the big picture approach to planning. Both are fine if they work for you. Don’t try to be what you are not!!! If your plan says paint your bathroom and you can fill in the gaps in your head then go for it. If you need more milestones then write them down. Personally I need a bit of detail but am fairly self driven and I hate mess so I would be motivated to get the bathroom job done even if I hated painting.
Think about planning out a week or a month rather than a day and spread out your tasks across the week or month at a rate that suits your level of activity or motivation. What do I mean by that? Let’s say you really do need to paint your bathroom but you hate painting and you have to remove wall paper first. It is very unlikely that you will have it all done in 3 days because there will be lots of prep required etc. But on the other hand, you don’t want to give yourself 4 weeks to do it because your bathroom will be a complete disaster zone for a long time and you may lose all your desire to paint it over that time…. Get what I mean?
Know yourself, be honest about your strengths and weaknesses and plan realistically. If you can’t get a handle on your procrastination habits or distractions then try recording your time usage over a week or so and think about where your time is going. IDon’t just write down what you do write down whether the task/activity was important or not. It could be that you get out of bed too late each day or spend too much time watching TV or it could be that you really do need to rest while you are doing heavy jobs – and that’s ok, just take this into consideration when planning your days and weeks.
Develop a ‘to do’ list for the week and include fun things in it as well as the jobs that must be done. I did this during lockdown and it was helpful. We tried to get out for a picnic on a Wednesday ( if it was allowed), we walked morning and evening, I got up each morning to do a yoga class, we scheduled two – three days each week to work on long term plans etc. It was a bit vague but we put it up in the kitchen and it was a visual reminder that we had things to be achieved!!!
And finally, when you get the job done, celebrate with a coffee, a long walk or a rest and watch a movie – or whatever you love doing best!!! Remember you are Keeping it Fresh!
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Until next time,
Gillian (and Andrew)
