A while back, Michael Hyatt, author, speaker, productivity expert, and former CEO of Thomas Nelson reminded me that each of us has a choice in life when he said,

“We can either live our lives on purpose, according to a plan we’ve set.

or

We can live our lives by accident, reacting to the demands of others.”

Which Would You Prefer?

If you are “determined” like I am, you likely prefer to set your own plan.  One step towards living your life on purpose is to schedule time to achieve your goals. Here’s how to develop a weekly block schedule that accounts for your priorities in life.

Choose a Scheduling Worksheet for Your Specific Needs

Download a blank Excel Time Block Worksheet

Download one of the following samples as a starting point:

Adult-Worksheet

College Student Worksheet

Middle or High School Student Worksheet

Another Middle or High School Student Worksheet

Schedule Your Established Responsibilities

On your weekly time block worksheet, make sure and enter scheduled responsibilities that cannot be changed.  These could include days and times for specific activities at work, family commitments, classes, or anything else that you are already scheduled to do.  Anything that you have agreed to do at a specific time during the week should be scheduled first.

Schedule Time to Achieve Your Goals

Workaround your responsibilities to schedule blocks of time you will set aside to work toward your goals.  For example, if you are attending middle school, high school, or college, you will want to schedule blocks of time for completing homework, projects, and studying for tests.  When doing so, think about when and where you are most likely to be able to focus on getting the task completed.  For example, when I was completing my master’s and doctorate degrees years ago, I knew I could not concentrate at home, so I had to schedule time on campus either before or after my classes to complete these tasks.  Today, I schedule a time to complete client reports and treatment plans for the early morning.

Improve Your Focus

One way students can improve their focus during the time they set aside for studying and completing assignments is to schedule both a beginning and ending time to do so. If a student has an ending time in mind, they are less likely to get distracted or sidetracked along the way.

Establish Goals for Each Day

For adults, it may be helpful if each day of the week has a goal (or goals) that represents the main things you want to accomplish that day.  Goals might include meetings with associates, meetings with clients, collaborative meetings, days that specific classes meet, or days set aside for labs.  Goals can go at the top of your schedule above the name of each day.

Establish Focus

In addition, each day can be segmented according to specific areas of focus.

• Time devoted to improving yourself (exercising, etc.) might be scheduled in the morning.

• Time devoted to collaborative meetings, clients,  attending classes, completing assignments, reading, etc. might be scheduled at different times during the day.

• Time devoted to your family might be scheduled during the evening.

• Build-in time for projects around the house on your day off.

• Don’t forget to schedule a time for yourself: use this time to read, write or wind down from the day.

• Schedule brief amounts of time to preview your week (30 minutes) and preview each day (15 minutes).

• Don’t forget to schedule a time for rest, relaxation, and time with your family and friends:  Sunday is a great day for this!

Use Color to See Your Priorities

To make sure you are spending your time on what matters most, adults might consider color-coding the following blocks of time.

• Activities that contribute to specific goals and priorities can be set up in specific colors for that goal.

• Those that are not related to your goals should be set up in a specific color (gray).

• Those times that are not scheduled can be simply white. This represents a time to deal with the unexpected.

Once you have done so, you can quickly look at your schedule and tell if you are working on your priorities.

Work Your Plan!

Once you have created your block schedule, you can use this document as a basic plan for each week.  Try it out and make adjustments to the plan as needed.  Know that not everything can be worked into the block schedule and sometimes things have to move because “life happens.” However, having this plan will better enable you to accomplish those things that matter most to you instead of just reacting to the demands of others.

Need Help Putting a Plan in Place?

Contact us to make an appointment.

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(c) 2012-2020, Monte W. Davenport, Ph.D.