If you’re anything like me, you wake up, blink, and the day is over!

Did you get everything on your list for that day done? Probably not …

According to a blog on Huffpost.com, forty-one percent of tasks on our to-do lists are never completed. Ouch!

And according to another article (this one in Forbes magazine), to-do lists are a major contributor to our stress. OK, the Forbes article said “contributor”; but let me tell you – from personal experience, I would humbly suggest “major contributor”. After all, how many times this past week alone have you thought to yourself “jeez, look how long my to-do list IS and all the things I have to get done! I am never, EVER going to get all this completed in time”. See? Major Contributor.

So my brain started ticking, wondering what trick or hack I can use to better manage my time, increase my productivity, and galvanize myself to über-accomplished chickdom – you know, the one who eats healthy, sleeps eight hours every night, and gets S#&t done? I’ve always aspired to be that chick; it’s on my bucket list after all. But alas, our paths have yet to cross.

I have used so many different apps over the past several years to help me get better organized and work more efficiently. They all worked. But at some point, I just stopped using them. Some time later, I read about another app, get excited and the cycle starts again.

This time, I am going to simplify and try a new approach.

This time, I am going to run a small experiment.

Starting tomorrow, yup 7/1/2019, and for the whole month of July, I am going to rely on my calendar, and nothing but my calendar, to schedule my days and see how I come out at the end of the month. If something needs to get done, I will need to put it on the calendar and schedule the appropriate amount of time to get it done.

No more to-do lists.

No more post-its.

My mantra in July will be “that which is scheduled actually gets done” (thanks Forbes)!

To do this, I am going to follow these four simple rules:

First, I am going to set the default event duration in my calendar to 15 minutes. I read somewhere that shorter time slots helps you stay focused and conscious of, well, time.

Second, I will resolve to use one calendar and only one calendar to schedule EVERYTHING. Right now, I am using three calendar – one for work, one for the family, and one for my personal use. This has driven me batty in the past, let me tell (try cross-checking everything across three calendars on three different platforms) …

Third, I will wipe the calendar plate clean – or as much as I can at this time since some projects and meetings are already on my July calendar.

Last, I will begin to block time off for the most important things first. By knowing what my priorities are, professionally and personally, I can schedule “sacred time-blocks” for specific items that I usually try to “fit in when I have time”. As if! I’m talking about scheduling time with my hunky husband to learn salsa dancing; time for that hot yoga class that I have been meaning to take; time to take my son to MagFest; or time to read about that new widget I wanted to research and see how we can apply it at work. You know, the things that you never get to because they are on your to-do list but they never got scheduled and so (drum-roll please) they never got done.

I don’t know what the outcome of my experiment will be; but I am excited and cannot wait to see what unfolds in the next 31 days. My heart is racing with anticipation AND anxiety just thinking about it.

OK, deep breath and repeat …

That which is scheduled actually gets done!

That which is scheduled actually gets done!