A Schedule That Fits

You're listening to Uppercase Life, the show about taking advantage of every one of those precious moments. I'm your host, Joseph Brewster. I love shoes and I can't pass up a smooth pair of kicks. And I was in the van store a few years ago. I saw this sweet pair of yellow floral low tops that I just had to have.
And I know some of you are, like, white, but you should see my shoe collection, and you understand. But it turns out they didn't have it in my normal size, but they did have it in one half size, smaller. And I really, really love these shoes. So I tried on this half size smaller in the store and they weren't a perfect fit, but they didn't feel that terrible.
So I bought them and the first time I wore them all day, I noticed a big difference in that half size. I just did not enjoy the experience. And sure, they looked cool and I could wear them. But over the last few years, I haven't worn those shoes, hardly ever. Probably less than anything else in my closet, because they just don't fit me properly.
Now, when I talk to people about scheduling and I talk a lot to people about scheduling, one of the problems that a lot of people run into is that they can build a schedule, but they don't actually use it very often. And I'll just tell you right now, there is no one size fits all. There is some healthy routines that anybody would benefit from.
But the how, the why, the when, the where all of those things are going to differ from one person to the next. I talk to people regularly who in theory know how to do this. They can block their time, they can set their schedule, they just don't follow through. And there may be several reasons for this. But one overlooked reason, I think, is a scheduling misfit trying to squeeze yourself into a routine that isn't conducive to your needs or to your strength.
So here's a few things to look out for with scheduling misfits. First of all, maybe you haven't taken measurements. You don't understand your tasks or your energy levels or your daily routines well enough to really make informed decisions about how to schedule. You're just doing whatever is thrown at you, and in that case, you need to spend, maybe spend a week just tracking your time and use that to inform your decisions.
I've used an app which tracks my time and I've tracked every minute of my day for a week, just out of curiosity before to see how am I actually spending my time? And then I use that to help inform me on what I'm doing at different times of the day and how I can schedule better. And then sit down and write out some of your strengths and some of your values, your hopes, your short term goals.
Make sure you understand what you're doing with the schedule before you start throwing things on to it. So make sure you take measurements. Another problem I see a lot is over scheduling, creating a schedule that is bigger than your capacity. And that's a really common mistake. But it will leave you constantly feeling like you get done with one thing and you go straight to the next and you're a bit behind all the time.
In any small disturbance in the forest is just going to implode this finely tuned world you've made. So overscheduling. Some things you can do to correct that is make sure you leave some margin in your day. Because let's face it, we got to breathe at some time. We got to come up for air and then expect the unexpected.
There'll be days where you will hit traffic. There'll be days where your food won't be delivered on time. So just make sure that if something like that happens in your day, it's not going to have such a terrible domino effect that you're just ruined for the whole day. And then learn to resist this tyranny of the urgent, where whenever somebody asks something of us, we just put it immediately.
Next in our schedule, we look at the schedule and we're like, Well, I have time at four and we put it there. Maybe it doesn't need to be there. Maybe it needs to be next week. Don't overschedule you can spread things out and give them a little more room and it's much better for your and for your mental health really in the long run.
So. And then third thing I see a lot is task misalignment and this is an interesting thought. So just because there's an open slot in your day, it doesn't mean the best use of that time is the next task on your list because your energy level, your emotions and your attention, they're going to vary depending on the time of day.
So some tasks are going to be better done in the morning when your brain is in a refreshed state from sleep, rather than at the end of the day when you've already made 500 micro decisions and then you're just mentally drained. So you want to align your tasks with the best time to do them. And one of the ways to do that is to consider the surrounding activities and make sure your schedule is giving you the best chance of completing that task well.
So if you have a really heavy, strenuous, stressful activity before that task, just be aware of that and ask yourself, am I really going to feel up to doing that task by the time I'm done with the task before it? And then observe your daily mood cycles, your energy levels. Just be aware of how you can take advantage of your high times and then do less intensive tasks when you're feeling mentally or physically fatigued.
Something else that I see and this one's big. This really could have been on the top of the list is people build a scheduling dictatorship. So some of us hate our schedules because we've given the schedules too much power and now the schedule rules us with an iron hand. And I just got to tell you, you don't live for your tasks or for your schedule.
Those things exist to serve your pursuits and empower you to get things done during the day. Master level productivity isn't about doing everything that's on your schedule. It's about making best use of your resources and flexing that schedule in favor of the highest value actions. So some things to just keep in mind so that you don't fall into this trap is remember that your schedule is the servant.
You are the master. Have you ever felt like it was the other way around? If you felt like it's the other way around, you probably are dealing with a scheduling dictatorship and you are the only one who can put that schedule in that place and take it out of that place. You can delete the schedule, but the schedule can't delete you in.
Even if you don't get it all done, you will survive. And then also, don't be afraid to rearrange your schedule. If you're looking at your day and thinking this is impossible, it probably is, and you need to move some things to a new time slot. Here's another thought. Maybe you're wearing it backwards. And what I mean by that is many people use their schedules primarily to keep track of their obligations and their external demands.
So it's it's kind of the things they don't necessarily love. They just can't afford to forget. And I believe and there are people who disagree with this, but I believe your schedule should be a reflection of your values and goals first. And then you can add in the obligations because your schedule is a reflection of what you're planning to use your time doing.
So make sure you put your high value items on the calendar first. If it ranks above your paying job and tax deadlines or disappointments in your mind in terms of a priority and in terms of your values, it should be on the schedule before those other things are. And that might be something no one's ever told you before.
Have you plan to spend time with family and friends? Have you planned some fun, personal things to do? Time to work on your ambitions and pursue those things that are important to you. Have you planned those first? Because if not, I say you're wearing it backwards and when you're wearing it backwards, it doesn't look right. It doesn't fit right unless you're criss cross.
If you're wearing ...