Don't Prioritise Your Schedule - 7 Steps To End Overwhelm

”Does it ever end?! I’ve totally lost the control of my calendar” a friend confessed.

Then she showed exactly what she meant.

First two weeks of December full of back to back appointments.

No breaks.

”Besides, when will I deal with all the todos I have here?” she showed the list.

Have you ever felt that way?

I know I have. Too many times.

I had to go through the burnout to learn.

”If you don’t take CHARGE of your calendar, who would do it for you?” I asked my friend

”Yes yes, I know” she replied ”That’s a great idea, but how do I do it, if I don’t have time?”

The truth is that everyone has time.

The same 24 hours every day.

The thing is that your calendar and to-do lists are an unbeatable game.

Deal with one thing and more will appear. Email, Teams, Phone and Meetings, all make sure you can’t beat the game.

”So how do you play an unbeatable game then?” the friend asked me.

The trick is simple. If you always play and never pause to plan, you will lose. Guaranteed.

This is what seperates success from failure in time management.

For years I was buried by my calendar and to-do list. I desperately tried to figure out how organise it all. How to gain control of my life and work.

I kept waiting for the perfect moment when the calendar would have space to hit the gym or start the book I hoped to write.

The moment never came.

Until I crashed.

My recovery accelerated after understanding the Triad of Time.

Soon after, I learned the unlock to everything else in time management.

The key is not to prioritise what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. This 7 step exercise completely changed how I manage time and feel about my daily 24h.

1. Take out pen and paper
2. Make two lists by answering - What’s most important to you in professional life? How about your personal life?
3. Score each item on your lists 1-10 (10 for most important)
4. Pick top three items from both lists and circle them. Now you have a draft of your priorities. How do these priorities show up in your calendar at the moment?
5. Open your calendar. Scroll forward and find the first 2-3 hour slot. Make an appointment for yourself titled with your biggest priority. Mark the appointment as ”busy” so that nobody else can claim that slot.
6. Observe. How do you feel about this priority showing up on schedule?
7. Repeat steps 5 & 6 for each of the 6 priorities you have on paper.

”Is this something you could do?” I asked the friend.

And she did.

What she said in her last message to me tells the story better than I could.

”If I don’t schedule things around my priorities first, someone else will book me!

Then I can be sure that it’s their priorities that appear on MY calendar, not mine.

I’m so grateful for this shift. I can now enjoy life again!”

So now it’s go-time for you.

Sit down for 15 minutes and do the work.

Put First Things First and reclaim your calendar.