# Ideal schedule for the week Defining an ideal schedule for the week is a very valuable [[Personal Organization]] and [[Time Management]] technique. The goal is to have a clear idea about how you'd like to spend your time. That ideal schedule should be *realistic* (i.e., based on your current reality and known constraints), but it should also be *optimistic*. It should represent the best case scenario. It's important to realize that creating an ideal schedule for the week is NOT about using every minute of your day as productively as possible. To me, an ideal schedule is about *intentionality*, and *equilibrium*. It's about using [[Directed attention]] whenever possible (i.e., working towards your [[Internal goals]]), instead of letting others decide for you. Intentionality is the key word here. You want to spend your time intentionally, to avoid having regrets later. In addition, you need equilibrium between "action", "rest", and "fun". It's all about living your life fully, respecting your body, your family, and following your dreams. To me, an ideal schedule for the week is a key element of [[Zen Productivity]]. In practice, you will rarely be able to respect your ideal schedule. There will often be obligations, distractions and opportunities to seize that will push or force you to spend your time differently. And that's fine. The goal of your ideal schedule for the week is to inform the decisions you make about how to spend your time, and ideally to remove the need to make decisions. ## Example Here's one that I have created for myself a while ago (not up to date): ![[Ideal schedule for the week - example.png]] As you can see, it's full of clearly defined time blocks. [[Time blocking]] is one of my favorite time management techniques. Notice that it's not only about goals. My whole life is in there: work, leisure, family time, rest, etc. ## How to create your ideal schedule for the week To create your ideal schedule, you first need to have [[Clarity]] about your current goals and priorities. [[If you don't know what your goals and priorities are, there's no way you can allocate your time intelligently]]. [[If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you. Not much]] What does that mean in practice? Simply having a prioritized list of projects/goals. You should have a single list covering both personal and professional projects/goals. Whatever is on the top of that list is your number one priority, and is obviously the thing you should spend as much time as possible on. [[Decide how your day is going to go, before your day decides for you]] Second, you need to complete that list with your current and upcoming (within the next 3-6 months) obligations and activities. For instance, if you have kids, then you need to drive them to school, sport, and various other activities. If you want to play the piano, then you need to dedicate time to learn and exercise, etc. Here are some examples from my own list: - Walk/Hike - Run - Swim - Meditate - Drive kids around - Yoga - Play the piano - Play board games - Eat - Rest (yes, that's also an 'activity') - ... Once completed, you should have a full list of your current goals, projects, activities and obligations. That's all you want or have to spend your time on. If you do, and manage to spend time on what matters most, then you'll know you have not wasted it. Everything that's not on your list is "unplanned burden", "distractions" and "noise". The next step consists in determining how much time you have at your disposal. Consider when you usually wake up, when you go to sleep, and count the hours you have at your disposal: ![[Ideal schedule for the week - Time available.png]] Now, you need to allocate time to all the items on your list: ![[Ideal schedule for the week - Time allocation.png]] Doing this exercise is interesting because it forces you to remain realistic. The time you have available is all you have. Putting it all in one list is a great way to choose how much time to spend on each element. And you will be forced to make choices. If you allocate everything to one project or goal, then you have nothing left for the rest. If you don't allocate time to rest or leisure, then you'll burnout quickly. If you allocate everything to leisure, then you won't make any progress and you'll feel bad. Again, it's all about equilibrium. Last but not least, add time blocks to your ideal planning to distribute all the time across the week. Start with obligations and obvious things (e.g., eat, rest, morning routine, etc). Then, add time blocks, thinking about your mental and physical equilibrium. Add focused work time blocks when you know you have the most energy (e.g., early morning in my case), followed by exercise, rest or leisure. While doing that exercise, you should project yourself, and consider how much energy you would have left if you manage to do everything you have planned. If it feels like it's too much, then it probably is. Stay realistic, and respect yourself. Last but not least, don't spend weeks working on this. At most, you should spend half a day to prepare or update your ideal schedule.. [[If you spend more time planning than doing the work, you have a productivity problem]] Once your ideal schedule is ready, print it out or add it to your actual calendar (e.g., using recurring events on Google Calendar) ## Updating your ideal schedule Add reminders to your calendar in order to think about updating your ideal schedule from time to time. I try to update mine at least once a year. Updating it regularly is required, because life is not static. Things change all the time.