Time planning and performance curves: Organize your daily routine
// By Simone Janson

If you know the criteria by which you measure the effort required for your tasks, you can devote yourself to the actual time planning. And certainly in writing.

Why does writing help?

Written planning has several advantages: On the one hand, you can visualize your tasks and the time required for doing so and thus better meet your own requirements. Do not rely on the fact that you already have everything in mind. If you have fixed your appointments in writing, if you suddenly have to reschedule, you can set much better new appointments and the likelihood that you forget appointments, is less. But planning does not mean concreting the future. On the contrary, if you also flexibly plan alternatives, you can react better to unforeseen circumstances.

First, set the order of activities. First, orient yourself to the priority that you personally assign to the individual tasks. Unfortunately, you also need to factor in a few external factors, such as when other people with whom you live and work together have time. Think about which factors you have no influence at all (such as school hours of children) - these are fixed. You may be able to change others (maybe you can put colleagues on hold for a better time or ask customers to call again). Create a checklist of what you need to consider when planning your time.

Checklist: Factors that are important for timing

• Which tasks have priority for me? (not very firm)
• When do employees have time with whom I want to work together? (not very firm)
• When do important people have time to reach? (Fixed)
• When does it make sense for me to be easy to reach for superiors or colleagues? (I can specify)
• When must the shop be closed - store closure law) (absolutely fixed)
• When are the children at school? (absolutely fixed)
• ...

Then create a list of your activities. Record the duration of each activity. Here is how long a thing lasts, is not necessarily dependent on the activity. Rather, a thing takes as long as time is available. On the other hand, you can also complete any activity with as much time as you want. For example, giving yourself a shorter period for a particular task will in many cases be more efficient.

How long does which activity last?

Example: Mr. W.'s daily morning meeting with his co-operation partners stretches endlessly: there is already something you can talk about. It would be much more useful to set a certain duration for individual discussion points and then make a decision in this timeframe.

No external influence determines the duration of an activity, but only you! Although it may help to start by looking at the guideline values ​​for others: everyone needs different lengths for the same activity. So if other people tell you that they have organized the entire project in three days and cleaned up the entire office in another or are working 14 hours every day, do not let them push you. You have your own rhythm, because you are somebody else and your business is different. What other people do can be an initial guideline for you. Develop your own planning style.

Planning the daily routine - that's how it works

Do not plan your daily routine too much. As a rule of thumb, plan for 60 percent fix and leave 40 percent of the daily routine free for the unexpected and spontaneous. Of course, these guideline values ​​can vary depending on the tasks, projects and also the form of the day. Nevertheless, they offer a first orientation.

You may not be able to schedule the right amount of time for all activities right away. Do not let that frustrate you. If you realize that you have spent more than the scheduled time for an activity, then just spend a little more time next time. If you do not get back and either have too much or too little time, plan to. You will see, over time, you will gain experience of how much time you will need for an activity and your planning will become more and more accurate. It is therefore important, especially at the beginning, that you plan enough buffer times. This could be an optimal daily schedule:

Stay consistent with the matter

It is important that you remain consistent in the matter: If you plan and sometimes not, you will not get the desired result. You need to be able to rely on your schedule. For example, you have not entered anything in your plan on Monday mornings. Now that you have to think about what might not have happened, you have not applied your schedule consistently enough. It is therefore important: You look into your calendar and know at first glance: Monday morning is still an appointment free! Even if dates and addresses change, you must update the data immediately. This may cost time, but it helps you to avoid planning and organizational chaos. Schedule power curves

Example: Actually, I wanted to do so much,"says Mr. D. in horror after looking at the clock. But the work wants and does not want to go away."And I was so motivated this morning," he gets annoyed with himself.

Continuous work is an illusion

Even if it would be nice: No one can work continuously in one day. Sometimes things are better and sometimes things are getting worse. It depends on the workload, the personal habits, the diet, but also on how you slept and what you did before. The fact is, your body has its highs and lows. And then you should do it, because in the high phases you work better, but sometimes you just do not get anything wrong or make one mistake after another.

But even if, of course, external events can influence your willingness to perform and sometimes even change spontaneously (just think of the adrenaline rush that you receive when you receive a positive message), your performance curve will run in a certain regularity so that you...