Schedules: Effective ways to manage your time

"Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping," Jordan B. Peterson, author of 12 Rules for life: An antidote to chaos.

Higher education, for me, brought a lot of firsts. My first college class, honor society board position, nursing exam, catheter insertion, rapid response, bedside report, college friend group, girlfriend, and other experiences. On top of these new milestones, I worked a part-time job, helped my family with siblings, and drove a semi-dependable but unpredictable car that left oil stains wherever I parked. Life then, as it is still today, was busy. 

In this discussion, I want to deliver some methods I either used - or wish I had known - as a student. 

These are simple, easy-to-use mechanisms you can use right now for little or no money. All these tips require is a little effort to structure how to manage your time, energy, and effort - instead of wasting countless hours scrolling through Facechat, Instabook, or watching TikTack. I think these tools are helpful to people who want to maximize their time when working, accomplish their goals, and enjoy doing what they love. 

Schedules: Write it down, get it done

Schedules are essential to map out the things that you want done. Below are the tools I recommend to make a planner that works for you and your busy life. 

Happy Planner is a company devoted to all things planning and creativity. Happy Planner can be found on their website, Amazon, or your local Michael's. Their planners are made with high-quality material and offer their users a variety of styles and types of planners, including reflection journals, extensions, stencils, page markers, and more! PLUS - students receive a 15% discount on their main website. 

Pros: fun, creative, giftable, catered to various wants

Cons: price, marketed for feminine styles, might be overwhelming to use 

Nothing hits the spot for me besides a good, old, leather-bound notebook. These things are awesome: you get the luxury feel of leather and the satisfaction of scratching your to-do manifesto into the heavy-made paper made for a king - or a nursing student. Now, there are several ways that I use my notebook when scheduling or making to-do lists - they will be below, but you can follow whatever method you prefer or invent yourself! 

The daily-hourly schedule was my most-used method for tracking my day-to-day to-dos while in nursing school. I typically make this track the night or morning before I start my day. Note: give yourself time to take breaks. If I expected to study for one hour, I would include an automatic five to fifteen-minute break every thirty to forty minutes of intense studying/focus. 

This Benjamin Franklin-inspired to-do list is a slight play-off of my original method. The advantage of this method is that you have two sides: one telling you where you will be and another where you can list specific tasks, lists, or objectives. I have also seen people use one of the sides to write reflection questions, motivational quotes, or simple reminders. 

Weekly master plans are what I currently use today for grad school. I combine this list with another tool mentioned below, but this is an excellent way to ensure you never miss an assignment, discussion post, or project. Plus, you get the satisfaction of seeing your weekly accomplishments every week. 
Pros of the notebook methods: cost is up to the user, highly adaptable, provides physical/mental satisfaction when checking lists
Cons of the notebook methods: always have to have a physical book, uses paper, some people don't like using pen/pencils

"Most people overestimate what they can do in a day, and underestimate what they can do in a month," Matthew Kelly, author of The long view. 

Mobile phone note apps are often a free, easy, accessible alternative if you don't prefer handwritten notes. You can either use the note app preloaded to your phone or download a different one you prefer!

The Todoist app is a free to-do list for mobile phones.

I use this app on and off for days when my schedule is extremely busy and inundated with work. If I need to stay productive on one project or with one day requiring multiple tasks, I use this app. This is good if you are able to get the tasks done without getting distracted. 

Pros: free, simple, mobile with laptop version available

Cons: need to pay for additional features, not many customizable options, sub-tasks are sometimes hard to see/add, does not have an hourly option

Structured is another free app that is my favorite go-to productivity app. A majority of its most useful tools are completely free

The app provides an easy, daily to-do list to help outline your day... 

...and lets you assign specific tasks for each job. 

Maybe you don't need a schedule, just a list of things to remember. Structured also allows you to create projects without designated times or due dates.

 
Pros: free, customizable, mobile, variety of options in one place
Cons: sometimes overwhelming 

Conclusion

"True wisdom does not lie in mere practice without principle," Thomas Jefferson

Being productive doesn't happen by accident. Accomplishing one's long-term goals requires consistent effort. Taking the time to make a schedule promotes reflection, wisdom, and discipline to make yourself into a better student, professional, mentor, role model, and person. 

I hope that these tools, at a minimum, provide you with a template to make this concept of self-scheduling work for you.