What if adopting just one new habit could double your productivity?
What if this new habit also reduced your stress and improved your work-life balance? One strategy can do all that. And it’s probably the one habit you’ve resisted cultivating.
In over 15 years of coaching hundreds of people, I have observed that the single most effective overlooked habit for success is creating a daily schedule.
Why do many otherwise smart people ignore or even push back against this simple proven strategy?
Writing down a daily action plan creates more momentum and progress than all the other productivity hacks combined.
Failing to Plan Spurs Chaos, Not Freedom
If you are like many successful people, you never needed to write everything down before. You zoomed through school and life relying on your powerful brain to serve as your calendar and reference file.
But professional and personal success gets more complex over time. Furthermore, with age come additional responsibilities at home and work. Your bigger life demands better tools. Choosing to adopt them does not show weakness but rather demonstrates your growing wisdom.
I have met many professionals and academics who create a false sense of productivity by jumping into action each morning rather than sitting down to prioritize and plan. By day’s end, they report feeling frazzled and frustrated from working in this impulsive, reactive mode. Sadly, despite their nonstop busy-ness, they often fail to accomplish their most important work.
Others mistakenly believe that a schedule will hamper their freedom and creativity. However, planning only seems like a straitjacket until you try it—and discover that It actually puts you in the driver’s seat. You wouldn’t start driving from Los Angeles to New York without a map, would you? Devising an overall plan with periodic milestones will get you there in less time with less hassle.
“If you are ready to take control of your life, start by taking control of your day.” ~ Coach Gayle
15 Benefits from Daily Planning
What makes creating a written daily plan such a powerful strategy for success? Let me share valuable insights from research and experience as I invite you to try it.
You waste less time and energy. You no longer dillydally trying to figure out what to do next—you simply consult your plan. Fewer decisions saves brain energy for more important things.
You get more done. Scheduling it makes it twice as likely that you will follow through. Committing yourself to a schedule creates mental triggers, e.g., “Remember your appointment with so-and-so this afternoon at two.”
You drop fewer balls. With a schedule, you will forget fewer things. You won’t forget commitments to others and realize when you need to cancel or reschedule. You will stop double-booking.
You develop your project management skills. Scheduling daily actionable tasks (“get resources for project”) rather than major outcomes (“finish project”) forces you to break down monumental projects into doable chunks.
You stop setting yourself up for failure. You become more realistic about how much you can complete in an hour or a day. You discover how long tasks take--which is likely to be at least twice as long as you predicted--and learn to adjust accordingly.
You feel more motivated. Your brain gets energized when it sees a concrete plan for how to get from point A (where you are) to point B (where you want to go).
You feel more satisfaction. At day’s end, your brain enjoys a good dopamine jolt as you check off completed tasks. You can take justified pride in your accomplishments.
You stop doing things that don’t matter. Once you fill your calendar with the important tasks, you will find it gets it easier to say “no” to things that do not advance your agenda. You realize that saying “yes” to one thing means saying “no” to something else.
You get the right things done. You are not merely busy, but intentional and directed. Calendarizing actions forces you to decide if and where various possibilities fit in your life. You develop perspective and wisdom along the way about what really matters to you.
You maintain better work-life balance. By incorporating your life priorities into your written plan, you are less likely to put them off. You start living your values more fully.
You think more clearly. Once you stop using your mind as an agenda book, you have more mental power for focusing on your work. Intrusive thoughts about incomplete tasks diminish because your mind knows you’ve got them covered.
You become more creative. With a written calendar, you can carve out and protect large blocks of time for “deep work.” To do your most advanced, creative thinking, you need more than random short periods scattered throughout your day.
You experience more inner peace. You will find comfort in knowing the next steps to your goal while gaining a much more accurate idea of how close you are. Looking ahead in order to play your day means you won’t be caught off guard by unpleasant surprises. (“Was that due today?”)
You enhance your personal growth and well-being. When you review your schedule at day’s end, you can take stock what you learned and appreciate what contributed to your wins. This practice creates an upward spiral of confidence and success.
You create a sustainable process for future success. With your new planning habit, you can anticipate a wonderful, rewarding life, one in which you are often at your best.
Still not convinced? Then ask yourself this: “What have I got to lose by trying something new?”
“For the first twenty-five years of my life, I wanted freedom. For the next twenty-five years, I wanted order. For the next twenty-five years, I realized that order is freedom.” ~ Winston Churchill
Just Get Started
You can begin with just a notepad today for listing your next actions, but you will eventually want to get a planner with pages for scheduling into the future. Two popular planners include the Panda Planner (weekly or daily) and the Best Self Planner [my personal favorite]. Both of these incorporate goal setting and motivational features that build energy. Some people prefer digital calendars such as Google calendar, although they lack some of the helpful features of a paper planner.
Or you might prefer a simple, economical planner or download a free template from the resources below. If you like more freedom, consider creating your own bullet journal. The point is to start anywhere today. Be assured that your planning skills will improve with practice.
For more accountability, ask a peer to buddy up with you for daily check ins. For even more support, get your own positive psychology coach, who can help you clarify your priorities, clear your path, create accountability, and build momentum.
In short, daily planning is the single best step you can take towards a successful, flourishing life!
Note: Curious about how positive psychology coaching can lead to more success, joy, and well-being? For a complimentary session, please contact me.
Recommended Resources
Allen, David. Getting Things Done: Mastering the Art of Stress-Free Productivity. For over 25 years, the favorite system of highly productive people. Don’t get intimidated by the details—contact me about my positive psychology GTD workshop.
Bregman, Peter. Eighteen Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done. Great for helping you whittle down your priorities to manageable size and for creating a daily self-monitoring routine.
Halvorson, Heidi Grant. Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals. The full-length book based on her viral HBR article, Nine Things Successful People Differently.
©Gayle Scroggs, Ph.D., 2023