To schedule or not to schedule? That is the question

Are our lives becoming overrun with schedules or are schedules something that can help us take control of our lives?

I have been look at schedules a lot over the last few weeks, and exploring different ways of looking at my schedule. Anyone who knows me well, will know that I love to have a plan. I love to have everything planned out in advance so I know what's happening that week. Even if it's something that happens every week I still write it down.

For me, writing my schedule down, whether it be on paper or on my phone, helps me stay focussed and allows me to make the most of my week. Yes, that often means I leave a day blank to have some me time, or to have some time to do things I love but it all helps.

In this current society, it can be very easy for our days and weeks to become filled quite quickly with clubs, jobs and social events that we feel we have to do. It can also be very easy to book in too much and double book ourselves. This is why, for me, scheduling is so important not only for my day to day life but for my mental health.

Having everything written down allows me to mentally prepare myself for the day or week ahead. Whether that simply be a week of relaxing or a week of working and catching up with friends. Having that plan written down keeps my mind focussed and helps me to get into the right space for each thing that is happening in my week.

My advice? Do what works for you. For me writing my schedule down on a mini whiteboard works really well, but that's not to say that it will work for you. Our minds all work in different ways and that's what makes us so uniquely special. I would however, highly reccomend trying scheduling out your week if you don't already. Whether you simply add it all into your phone's calendar or like me write it all down on a whiteboard on a weekly basis.

Whatever works for you, stick with it, or try something different. Just because something has always worked in the past, doesn't mean it still works for you now.

I recently read a quote that also got me thinking about whether we schedule too much, and whether it's all worth it.

"Try to imagine a life without timekeeping. You probably can’t. You know the month, the year, the day of the week. There is a clock on your wall or the dashboard of your car. You have a schedule, a calendar, a time for dinner or a movie. Yet all around you, timekeeping is ignored. Birds are not late. A dog does not check its watch. Deer do not fret over passing birthdays. an alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out." ~ Mitch Albom

Why do we schedule? Why do we live in a world where everything is determined by there being 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year? Should we be allowing ourselves time to not have a schedule? Or should we strictly plan every moment of our days?

Are we feared that time is running out? Or are we even thinking about how much time we have?