I have my whole life organized on an 11x17-inch tear-away weekly calendar.
I have a timetable, but no routine.
I plan my life in 15-minute sections.
I keep a journal/day planner, which really helps me stay organized and focused.
For me, using a notebook every day keeps me on track! Some people use planners; those are great, too.
The night before, go over your schedule and see what you're going to do and what the purpose of what you're doing is. I advocate having a two-column schedule. On the left, put down all your appointments and phone calls. On the right, put down what the purpose is.
I have too many friends who tell me that they spend the first hour of every morning going through their e-mail messages. I'd like to use my time more carefully.
I'm all about time management. I have gotten my makeup prep in the morning down to, like, four minutes. There's just not enough time in the day.
Schedule your time. People always ask, 'How do you do it all?' I'm like a walking calendar. I literally make my snacks on a Sunday if I'm traveling on a Tuesday, and I'll pack them before I leave.
I used to tape over the top corner of my computer screen so I couldn't see what time it was. I like the idea that I'm just with the words and not knowing what's going on with the world, when it's lunch or dinner.
A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time.
I've never tried to work chronologically. I don't think I have the discipline to do that.
I'm very organized. I have my day-to-day schedule, every 15 minutes, written out.
Just a few words on time management: forget all about it.
I never got into using my phone's calendar. It's easier to write in my Tiffany day planner. There's something charming about having a datebook.
I have a hard time with scheduling, and with hunkering down and planning. That's always been a struggle for me.
I have found that if I spend the first hour of my day at home, I get more done, and less people steal my time.
As for my schedule, I tend to go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time every morning, and I try to be as productive as possible. Some days, I can devote to one specific thing. Other days, it's a catch-all day.
Time perception is very much about how you sequence your activities, how many activities you layer overtop of others, and the types of gaps, if any, you leave in between activities.
There's always so much stuff to do. I work best when my diary just says 'MNEK, MNEK, MNEK.'
I try to block a couple of hours of unscheduled time every day so that I can work on the day's most important projects.
One of the big secrets of finding time is not to watch television.
I can't even carpe 15 minutes in a row. So a whole diem is out of the question.
I am anal about my Gmail calendar. It's my life. I put everything in there - my to-do list, or even if I want to do things.
I'm very rigid about my schedule. I sit down at 8 A.M., and the Internet blocker goes on. My standard time is 120 minutes. I'm a compulsive writer, so it reminds me to stop writing... If I write more than that, I turn into an ogre for my kids.
