A New Way to Plan 2022

Is there a better way to plan your time?

I think there is.

I'm always telling you, "tell your time where to go, instead of wondering where it went."

You want to live proactively, live intentionally, and don't want to live reactively.?But sadly, a lot of people are living reactively, and they're just saying, "Well, if I work on something, I work on something; if I don't, I don't." And it would be best if you didn't do that.

Please think of me?like the crash test dummy when planning your time. I've tried most of the planners out there, certainly not all of them, both electronic and print. I've used a whiteboard, and I've even used a legal pad.

And then I?discovered?a way that you can plan your time, where you can tell your time where to go instead of wondering where it went, that I?found served me?very well but?at the same time is also freeing.

First, some background. Until about three months ago, I would plan my time directly on the calendar on my iPhone. I already had items on my calendar and needed to fill in the gaps, and I was at a loss as to what I should put on my calendar.?

I'm not alone.?Many people sit there with their phones in their hands, wondering what to put on their calendars.

But let's say you craft some plan. When do you do when?you get in?a groove, and you've allocated 30 minutes for the activity, but then your calendar?tells you, "Hey, time to move on to the next task." But you don't want to. You're in the flow.

Instead of micromanaging your time, 12:00 to 12:30, 12:30 to 1:00, etc., I want you to think?in terms of blocks of time. For example, 6 am to 9 am, 9 am to noon, noon to three, three to six, six to nine, nine to midnight.

Instead of setting a specific time for an activity, I want you to think about the activities?you're going to do in whatever block of time you choose. Specifically, what needle-moving activities are you going to do? The options are endless:?write a blog post, create a podcast episode, spend 30 minutes adding value on social media, go for a walk or run, or do some personal development.?For these activities,?you're not scheduling specific times, and you're just saying some time in the three-hour block,?you're going to do these activities.

Then?do the same thing for the other time blocks you chose: six to nine, nine to noon, noon to three, three to six, six to nine. It doesn't matter what you put in there. And don't worry about if you don't get to everything. There may be times where you schedule a block from, say, noon to three, and you don't get to anything because maybe you are working on something in the morning and you're in the zone. I don't want to get out of the zone to do these other things that you're filling your schedule up with. Stay in the zone.

When I started planning this way, I found my stress level went down a lot. Why? Because now I'm not focused on noon to 12:30, 12:30 to one, one to 1:30, 1:30 to 2. Now I'm focused on what?activities will fit in the three-hour windows, and I permitted myself that if I don't get them all done, that's okay. I felt such a relief; I felt much of my overwhelm leave.

If you've never tried planning your day this way, you don't have to buy a fancy planner. I use and recommend Grant Cardone's?10X Planner.?You don't have to use that planner. All you have to do is get up a legal pad and write in the date and whatever time blocks you want. Don't overcomplicate this. Don't complicate this at all.

I'm confident that this way of planning will help you free your mind because now you're not getting caught up in the minutes, hours, or numbers.?It's so easy to get caught up in having a perfectly aligned schedule.

Planning your schedule and telling your time where to go is essential for being the most productive version of yourself possible. But it shouldn't cause you undue stress. So if you've never tried approaching your planning this way, I encourage you to try it out. And if it doesn't work, you can go back to the way you were doing it before.

I encourage you to?this way of planning your day for 21 days. And make sure you're planning seven days a week, even if all you're going to do is binge-watch TV all day on Saturday.?It's essential that?you consciously write down "binge watch TV all day." Because when you don't do that, you're going to spend a lot more time doing foolish activities or non-needle-moving activities than you would if you wrote down what you're going to waste your time on. I don't have a problem with you wasting time as long as you're wasting a minimum amount of time.

Try this new way of planning. Get a legal pad, a planner, and do?some time blocking. Just write?the?activities you're going to do in that block of time.

You will have some actual appointments, coaching calls, podcast interviews, webinars, stuff like that. When you fill in the gaps, throw them in the block, and see what happens.?

I’m Mister Productivity , founder of The Productive Life Membership and host of The Mister Productivity Podcast . As a #productivity coach, I work with busy #solopreneurs to support and teach them time-saving strategies. Because we both know you have better things to do than trudge through a never-ending list, sign up for the 21-Day Productivity Challenge.