The Power of Scheduling
“So, what are you doing next week?”
“Well, classes. And then a short paper due Monday, a club meeting at 5, a lab report due the day after, grocery shopping the next morning, interview at 4:30, a presentation on Thursday, movie night with friends on Friday, and…”
“Wait, there’s more?”
“Yeah… You know, there’s just so much to do.”
Life as a college student is fast-paced and packed with a lot of things to do. As the semester is quickly coming to an end, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep track of everything that needs to be attended to especially in the midst of upcoming deadlines and life events. When “there’s just so much to do”, how do we get things done?
While there is no simple answer to this question, one thing is for sure: It is hard to get things done when our mind is packed with the things we need to do. As evident in the opening dialogue, an actual conversation I had with a friend last week, when multiple days of work (despite the mix-in of some fun events) are blended into one never-ending to-do list, the result can literally take our breath away. The list, sometimes stretching all the way to the end of the semester, can overwhelm and discourage us from wanting to take action, even when the tasks themselves, once isolated and broken down into smaller units of work, are well within our capabilities.
Enter schedule, a handy tool for freeing up our headspace and breaking work down.
As an extension of our mental space, a schedule reminds us where we need to physically and/ or mentally be at a specific time. With action items mapped chronologically on the same plane, it provides us a quick overview of our day, week, or month. Tasks previously floating and clashing in our mind can finally each settle down on a designated box and coexist in peace with one another. Now that we know what our day looks like as a whole, we do not need to worry about accidentally skipping a class or missing an important due date. As the schedule takes on some of our mental load of recalling and expecting, we can direct more of our energy to the task we have on hand.
The act of scheduling can also facilitate our decision-making process. It is a good idea to incorporate due dates as part of our schedule since they can guide our actions toward finishing an assignment. For instance, if a challenging problem set is due Friday, it makes sense to attempt it on our own at the beginning of the week so that we leave ample time to ask any clarifying questions during office hours before the final submission. Keep an eye out for the invisible spaces on the schedule as well! The gaps and voids in between occupied boxes reveal the amount of unstructured time on our hands. Being able to identify those time blocks is a critical first step to making the most out of our time. As long as we spend our unstructured time with intention, academic and non-academic tasks are equally worth doing. You can keep yourself in check by asking: Why should I do action/ task X right now? What is the value of doing this over something else? If your honest answers sound convincing, you are likely on the right track.
Here are some suggestions for those who want to make a new schedule or improve their current one:
1. Functionality- Know how to work with it
What would you like to include in your schedule? Would you include “Me time”? How long is a single time block going to be? How much detail is too much? Would you benefit from making multiple schedules that address different facets of your life?
These are some questions to consider before you make your schedule. Set up some ground rules for your schedule, including when you are going to add to it, so you establish your relationship with it early on and know what you count on your schedule to take care of for you. If you choose to not explicitly include breaks or other personal needs for the sake of brevity, remember to leave an intentional gap when you feel like you need a moment, so you are not overworking yourself.
2. Accessibility- Have it by your side
Whether you prefer scheduling with a notebook, a mobile app, a digital calendar, post-it notes, a magnet on your fridge, or other creative means, make sure you can easily pull up your schedule when you need it. You can bookmark the webpage, tape or hang your schedule on the wall, or put it in the first drawer of your desk. The bottom line is, if finding your schedule is already a challenge, you are less likely going to make use of it.
3. Practicality- Make it work for you
Be realistic. Remember that a schedule is visible and meaningful to no one but you. The most effective schedule is one that fits your style of learning, one that makes you want to follow through with it. This is especially important when you are scheduling for your after-class, unstructured time. Do you see yourself, for example, reading and comprehending 100 pages of theoretical text in an hour after a full day of classes? If not, reduce the number of pages or increase the amount of time you spend with the text. Adjust the intensity of the task until it sounds reasonable to your future self at the specific time block.
4. Readability- Keep it neat and personal
After spending quite some time making your schedule, the last thing you want to do is to spend even more time deciphering it. Utilize visual cues (but not too many) to help you quickly identify the information you need on the schedule! Color code assignments from different classes, make important deadlines and exam dates bold, use bullet points to add in extra reminders, or label activities that you look forward to with a fun symbol if you see fit. The key is to make each time block clearly communicate its purpose to you.
5. Flexibility- Leave room for changes
A schedule is not a binding contract. Though it is most ideal for you to adhere to the schedule as closely as possible, it is likely that you will need to alter your plan to account for new needs or last-minute changes. That is okay! The structure of the schedule makes it possible for you to move time blocks around and even create new time blocks at times. If your schedule is not working out as expected, pause, and think about where it began to deviate. Was there enough time allotted to match the task’s complexity? Did you need to take an extra break after spreading yourself too thin? Was there an interruption beyond your control? And most importantly, how would you change your schedule for tomorrow to account for the unexpected challenges you faced today? Revise and experiment with your schedule according to your answer to the last question.
In conclusion, scheduling can be a very helpful first step to getting over the initial concern we have when facing an overwhelming to-do list. Introducing an additional layer of structure to our life, an effective schedule gives us a sense of direction as we go about our day and is compatible with the way we work. If you need a place to start, try unloading your mind by making a reasonable schedule for tonight. It can be a brief one that covers only the next few hours. Then make one for tomorrow morning, and another for the day after… And by the end of the week, you may find yourself looking back at your schedule and be marveled at how much you have accomplished.
