"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities" Stephen Cove

I want to kick this post off with a quote from the time audit post, “high performers are aware of how they spend every single second, and they have a sense of urgency with their time. They treat it like the precious resource that it is” I have no idea who said the phrase originally but dang it is good! Also, google traits of high performers and you absolutely will see similar statements made!

So, in our previous post we talked about time audits, now let’s put those to use! Once you have completed your time audit and looked it over, now it is time to start building your schedule. This can be a very daunting task, especially for people that are not schedule people. But guys, I truly believe that you cannot achieve your highest potential without one. Maybe there are people with super memories that will remember everything they have to do on any given day and never miss a beat, but I would wager most of us are not like that. Also, if you’re like me, you often overestimate what you can do in a day. So, having a detailed schedule not only helps keep you organized but helps you create realistic time frames for the things you need to do.

The first thing I like to do when building my schedule, it to get the end caps in place. What time do you need/want to get up, and when is your bedtime? Next, you fill in all the non-negotiables. This includes things like work, picking up kids from school, my daughters therapy appointments, and so on. What are the things that you cannot dictate in your day? Now that you have those in your schedule it is time to look at the time you have and what your priorities are for those time slots.

* While you are building your schedule don’t forget about last week’s blog “It’s Power Hour Time” (And FYI When I say power hour time…and I am saying it in my mind with the perfect MC Hammer voice in time with Can’t Touch This…just thought you all should know that). Anyways, your power hour is a Red Item, it is a non-negotiable and should be added with the other Red Items first. If you are new and just finding this post, be sure to check out the Power Hour post for me specifics there!

The next thing on the list are the things that you need to fit into the day. Not the fluff stuff, the things you should do in the day, these are things like cleaning, cooking, working out and for me lately homework! Lastly, if there is time add some fluff. These are those list items that you want to do if you can, like reading a book, watching television, etc. Some people like to color code their schedules like a traffic light. Red for the must do items, yellow for the should do items, and green for the things you want to do if you can!

Stay tuned next week for a post dedicated to different schedule building strategies! We will dive into Time Blocking, Task Batching and Day Theming!