I have struggled with planning since my childhood, my teenage and of course, adulthood. Time management or rather the lack of it – was much discussed and thrashed out issue throughout my life.

I never knew how to make a to-do-list. It took me years to realize that it had to be realistic – with reference to the time I had at my hand, my biological needs – in terms of rest and food plus enough time for family.

So, what ‘time’ was ‘enough time’ – should it be set minute-wise or hour-wise. I read a lot about the planning for a week, for a day from books and various internet sources. Some worked, some failed. In most cases, the way I planned kept changing – with every new planning idea that I read I put it to practice – I never succeeded in implementing anything and often, confused myself – that lead to planning anxiety, that made me feel miserable.

I often, discussed time management with people I felt could help – but none worked. I guess, I always went to the wrong people : I had heard more than a hundred lectures about time management and nobody told me how do I go about it. I received colorful time table charts, to- do lists and lot of printed materials, dairies…. I have never succeeded.

Over the years, what I understood about time management is that it can never be a universal format. It has to be customized based on our priorities in my life. I realized that prioritizing is a big challenge, once that is done- planning for a day or a week becomes easy and execution becomes effortless.

One aspect that I prioritize is my : ME time. That is something sacred and I donot compromise on that. I schedule every other work after that. ME time uplifts my mood before I hit work. So, I never miss it.

ME time – anytime of the day where you reflect, engage in a favorite past time/ hobby or just plan a day. Since it is a top priority – I schedule that on the wee hours of the night – when the entire household sleeps.

I make a plan on a daily basis with 3 agendas per day. Two of them is mandatory – one with reference to my profession and the other with reference to my personal life. The last agenda is with reference to leisure – and it is always marked as optional – more because it involved external factors. Like, I may want to eat out with my child – this would be the third agenda- but then it depends his availability, the weather condition.. so even if I miss it – there are no regrets and it can always be clubbed with shopping at a later point of time that week. This 3 point agenda has worked wonders for me till date.

Happy Planning !