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Why is Planning and Scheduling Important?

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Why is Planning and Scheduling Important?

Why is Calendar Planning and Scheduling Important?

Why is Planning and Scheduling Important? The easy answer is we all want to make the “best of our time” and thinking of clever ways to improve in that area of our life is critical. We often feel like we are merely wasting our whole day going about things and not really accomplishing anything.

Does that sound familiar to you? What’s worst is that the items in our “to do” list seem to keep adding up over time and having the opportunity to finish things off just does not come easily. At the end of the day, we do not feel productive enough. This could give us reasons to be anxious about deadlines or end goals that could lead to procrastination and giving up!

Detailed Calendar Planning Produces Success

Like with anything else, success comes with proper planning and scheduling. Couple this with good strategies, then triumph over anything would surely follow. These are just some of the ways to counter unproductive days!

Planning has something to do with organizing or “planning” for something. The definition is quite descriptive, isn’t it? This is closely related to the principle of scheduling. This process takes arranging one’s time to optimize performance and accomplish tasks that needed to be accomplished. When one plans ahead, it is almost guaranteed that anything that must be covered will definitely be covered.

Planning Calendar and Scheduling Consistency

For most, planning and scheduling are daunting tasks. These require consistency and commitment until these processes get incorporated into one’s behavior. Humans are creatures of habits and they do not easily welcome changes. They look at these as tasks and not as something that could help them have a better quality of life in general.

There are two tools that are actually available everywhere but are ignored all the time. Have you ever used your calendar to mark important meetings or commitments before? This application could come in handy in organizing tasks and deliverables.

Believe it or not, the notes feature in every smartphone or laptop could also be very helpful in keeping track of things that need to be done. When both of these are properly utilized, one could easily nail scheduling and planning!

Consistent Revenue is a result of Great Planning

In most businesses, the terms “scheduling” and “planning” are strategies used to improve their business and revenues.

 

In real life, we could learn a thing or two from a business perspective. But what are the advantages of planning ahead and scheduling tasks? Here are some of the good things these strategies could offer.

Planning Starts with the Details of Your Life

The first thing that happens is you take control of your life. Having to worry about overwhelming tasks all the time could take a toll on one’s peace of mind. When your tasks and activities are properly planned and are scheduled accordingly, you can dominate these worries away because you have a clear game plan of what to do last and what needs your urgent attention.

Talk about prioritizing!

No more running around and doing tasks simultaneously. The danger of doing many things all at once is that you lose focus and not accomplish anything at all.

Taking back control empowers you in many ways than one. You get to enjoy “now.” Because your movements are now focused according to a plan, you also stop worrying about the next things to come. Think of having your ducks in a row! You do one thing now and another later. Once you finish tasks for the day, you have time to rest and regroup your thoughts.

You may use this time for other things too. In this fast-paced world, finding time to pause and breathe at the moment is hard. Just imagine how much better your days would be with planning and scheduling wisely.

Planning Reduces Mistakes and Missed Opportunities

You also avoid missing deadlines or events! With the help of your schedule, you can list down activities for the day–or even for a longer period of time. A simple “to do” for the day definitely helps one align his or her priorities and resources.

Once this simple task becomes automatic, bigger steps could be taken by the individual. Scheduling and planning do not only work for work or school situations. Believe it or not, these things could greatly improve one’s life in many ways than one.

Mastering the “to do” game reinforces routines. Routines are encouraged because they give structure. They instill a certain type of discipline in an individual. When an action becomes a routine, the perspective on a particular task changes. This then promotes continuity and a greater sense of responsibility. Imagine not having to cram and panic over the littlest things!

What joy would it be to relax and not worry about missing out on things just because they have become part of your routine!

Proper Calendar Planning Increases Chances of Reaching Milestones

Lastly, because of schedules and plans, your goals become more attainable. They become more manageable! This is the ultimate benefit of these processes. At the end of the day, we all plan ahead because we want to reach our goals! Goals are intimidating but when you change your mindset about goals, they become your weapon for development.

The things mentioned above are very promising. But what does it take to effectively plan and schedule? The first requirement is commitment! Being consistent in this endeavor ensures success. Without consistency, all the effort in planning ahead will be for naught! Planning ahead prepares you for uncertainties or emergencies to come.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a backup plan or anticipate what could go wrong and be prepared for all those? Assessing situations, risks, or even opportunities is also a benefit of planning ahead.

These things allow for opportunities for development to flourish. But again, consistency and commitment are as important as planning ahead. In fact, studies suggest that if an activity is pursued for more than 21 days, it becomes embedded into one’s day to day living.

Calendar Planning is Essential to Time Management

Top commitment with proper time management and success rates go to a higher level. Not many are aware of the concept of planning and scheduling and so they blindly schedule for the sake of just doing it! Laying down a timeline and figuring out the amount of time and energy you should spend over a task or activity redirects you to become more efficient.

This helps remove procrastinating along the way. When one is guided by a schedule, the person develops a drive to finish things off and move on to other tasks at hand. This also sets expectations for an individual.

However, remember that even if the schedule gets delayed or the timeline gets stretched out, it is still fine. Delays are part of the learning process of it all! Backtracking is normal, but sticking to the schedule is as crucial. It will all surely work out in the end because careful planning took place in the beginning.

Why is Planning and Scheduling Important? Planning Should Increase Your Belief and ability to Achieve

Effectively carrying out tasks sure gives a person a sense of accomplishment. Calendar planning and scheduling is the foundation for achievement. Now, this is the rewarding part. This could drive a person to do more and achieve more. This also enlightens an individual of the things to stick to and strategies to avoid! These are just some of the reasons why scheduling and planning are important. Remember, the greater benefit of processes like these is they clarify your goals, allow you to take control of the circumstances, and let you breathe at the moment!

 

Souletics® Life Planning Blog

Planning For Athletic Success @ Vanderbilt University