From the course: Gretchen Rubin on Creating Great Workplace Habits

Schedule with intention

From the course: Gretchen Rubin on Creating Great Workplace Habits

Start my 1-month free trial

Schedule with intention

“

- To a crazy degree for most people, if something actually appears on their schedule, they are much more likely to do it. So if during the course of your workday you want to go to the gym, don't just say, sometime today I'm going to go to the gym, actually slot it into your calendar. And you might have to slot fun things into your calendar too. You might intellectually say to yourself, I think it's important for me to get out of the office for a half an hour and eat lunch outside, you know, away from my desk. But then day after day you find yourself right there eating your sandwich right at your desk. So write on your calendar, go out to lunch. There's something about the power of seeing something on the schedule that allows people to work. Now, if you struggle with procrastination, scheduling is the answer. Let's say you've got to work on an annual report and you're dreading it and you keep putting it off and putting it off and putting it off, put it on your schedule for two hours every morning, work on the annual report. If it's on your schedule, you're more, much more, likely to do it. Once you start, you're going to find it much more easier to keep following through. But here's the key thing about scheduling. If you're scheduling working on the annual report, during those two hours you do nothing else because it turns out that working is one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination. You are not doing research. You are not answering emails. You are not filing. You are writing the annual report or you're staring into space. And out of sheer boredom, you will start working on the annual report. And once you start working on it, it will get much easier. So the strategy of scheduling is excellent for people who struggle with procrastination. However, if you are a rebel, there are not many rebels, but if you are a rebel and you, if you are, you know it, scheduling does not work for you. The minute something goes into your schedule you don't want to do it. Do not try to use scheduling if you are a rebel, because you will resist it. And even something that you might choose to do, you won't do it if it's on your schedule.

Contents