How to Plan Your Day

On average adults sleep for 7-8 hours a day and16-17 hours spent being awake. You would think that these 16-17 hours of being awake in the day would be enough time to get what you need to do done and sorted? Well for many of us this isn't the case and in fact is very easy for us to not get what we need to have done. Often we start with the intentions to get a lot of things done, but as the day passes us by and we keep delaying to do what needs doing, at the end of the day it feels as if we have wasted our time. It's having the self-discipline to go through with what needs doing and the sought after skill of being able to manage your time effectively that you will be able to produce productive days.
This is where a daily plan can be of use and of help to you to assist you with your daily-life, and is something that I would strongly recommend.

1. It may seem like a plan is a waste of time but it isn't.

It's no good deciding to make a plan if you think it's a rubbish idea and is a waste of time because you are more than likely not going to be able to properly commit to it and not be so strict upon yourself about sticking to it. If you are wanting to set-up a daily plan then make sure before you start it that you know the reasons why you want to have a plan and how it is going to benefit you - this will help to keep you focused upon sticking to your plan and following it through.

Having a daily plan will mean that you will never forget what needs doing, whether that's get some milk from the shop or to put the rubbish out, you won't forget as it will be laid out for you to see - so you will never have any need to remember what to do either.
You will also be able to sort through your tasks and decide which ones would be more effective to do at certain times and how they would be of better use of your time. Another thing is that you will often get through your daily jobs/chores/commitments etc a lot quicker than you usually would as you have everything laid out for you to see, you know exactly whats needs doing at any given moment.

2. Write your plan the night before

It's no good writing out a plan for your day on the day because you are using up valuable time when you could be being productive. There are people who do do this and can still make good use of there time, but creating a detailed plan taking 30 minutes or so is best done the night before. Evenings are also at the end of a day when more people have some a little extra free-time.
If you are not able to do it the evening before then do it at another part of your day when you are free, as long as it's the day before.

For me personally mornings are when I'm feeling the most productive and so I like to get up and get straight-on with the day and am not wanting to sit down and plan what I have to do for the day during my most productive time. Also if you start the day getting straight onto what needs doing chances are you will be more likely to continue as you are in that frame of mind to get things done.

3. Be strict about what you need to get done

Be strict with yourself about what needs to get done and write down all of the tasks that are a MUST for the day. These become your no.1 priority jobs to get completed. Next write down tasks that need to be done but aren't quite as important as your priority tasks.
Doing your priority tasks is of importance as they are things that you NEED to get done, other less important tasks that need to be done aren't as important to get done but are nice to see completed. Doing what you NEED to do and not what you want to do will lead to more productive days and you will be thankful for it.

4. Set mini plans for individual tasks

Once you have your plan set in place for the next day, try expanding upon it and going into more depth with each task, creating a sort of miniature plan for each one. This will mean staying productive and getting through each task will become all the more easier for you. 
An obvious example is with shopping - creating a shopping list. This will enable you to go through the store at a quicker rate and also helping you to not forget the things that you need to buy. 

Now I'll give you a personal example. I use my phone to help schedule my daily events and plans, on which I put most things. One of the things I put on is 'work' and also 'prepare for work'. I schedule in time to get myself ready for work and also have a further list which tells me exactly what I need to do. So for instance I have listed: get dressed for work, name badges, pen, bottle of water, wallet, etc. I do have more things listed on there that I do but it gives you an idea. I've seen an improvement to the time it takes me to get ready for work since following a list, allowing me to go from one thing to the next with ease and never forgetting to do anything. :)

5. Chunking

This is an effective technique that a lot of schedule-users like to implement as it allows you to make better use of your time. Chunking is where you group tasks into groups where you can then get them all out of the way at once. For example: You may need to go food shopping (with the help of your list) and you may also need to pick up your children from school which is near to the shops. So you could go food shopping and then pick up your children saving you from having to make two journeys. I also put shopping before picking the kids up as I know shopping with children can be a little stressful sometimes. :)
So have a look through your daily plan and see what you could chunk together to get out of the way on one clean swoop.

6. Plan larger tasks over a longer amount of time

Now you may have a large task on your plan that you know is going to take a lot longer to complete. It may be a task that will take over your day and prevent you from being able to complete your other tasks. Something you can do to make these larger tasks more manageable and still enable you to carry on with your other tasks is to split it into more manageable pieces, spread out over maybe a few days, or longer. You will have more energy for when you tackle the task each time and will be easier for you to stay motivated towards the task.