Have you ever had a day where you stumbled out of bed, late, only to be met with that all-too-familiar sinking feeling after remembering a task or assignment that you forgot was due?
Your GPA never seems to emphasize with your routine blunders, and the world never seems to lighten the load of your burdens to allow you time to get caught up on the things, perhaps, you should have already taken care of. This cycle can be an all-too-familiar foe. A cycle in which a person allows themselves to perpetually operate on defense, in a never-ending game of catch-up.
The nights get longer.
Your sleep suffers.
Your mood becomes erratic.
Efficiency and effectiveness take a sharp dive.
You quite literally become a lesser version of yourself, and if this cycle continues for long enough, it becomes your new normal… starting out every day on defense, and with the game stacked against you. This is the typical cycle of a student who hasn’t prioritized their day.
The weight of stress that sits on your shoulders is lifted by the assurance of your days to come. Remember how you felt walking into a test that you knew you weren’t fully (or even slightly) prepared for (calling back the stomach pit from before)? Not the best feeling in the world, right? Versus how you felt walking into a test that you were fully prepared for after hours and hours of studying. A little more swagger in your step, huh? Now let me ask you, would you rather walk through your days with a pit in your stomach, or a swagger in your step? Easy choice, right? Well, good news, you can walk through every day with that swagger given only 10-15 minutes of consistent prior planning and preparation.
College is finally an opportunity to experience the freedom of creating your own schedule, and ability to do the things you want without parental intervention, only to learn the hard way, those new-found freedoms are met with an equal amount of responsibility. Most students entering college today have never been given the tools, let alone the practice of prioritization, in order to achieve their desired results.
So, you’re probably wondering, “How do I get out of this cycle?” or even, “How do I prevent myself from getting in a cycle like that in the first place?” – The answer? PREPARE YOUR DAY. Those that don’t plan to succeed, are by default, planning to fail.
“The noise of the urgent creates the illusion of the important.”
Planning & preparing for your day is important because it allows you the freedom of starting your day on the OFFENSE. When you know what you have to do, and when you have to get it done, a systematic structure is created that allows you to attack your day with a game plan. Every day is your gameday, and in order to WIN your day you need a winning plan. With practice, a solid plan can be formulated in 10-15 minutes, maybe even less.
First things first – know the difference between PRIORITIZATION and PLANNING. Prioritizing means basing your schedule on what is most important to achieving your goals, not what is most urgent. To figure out what your priorities should be, write down everything you do in a day and rank them from most to least important. Your day-to-day may vary, but the priorities should stay the same regardless. For example, a daily list may include: Attending class, studying, completing homework, working out, eating, sleeping, and hanging out with friends. If your goal was to be a straight-A student then your prioritization may look like this:
1. Attending class
2. Completing homework
3. Studying
4. Sleeping
5. Eating
6. Working Out
7. Hanging out with friends
Now, with your priorities in order, you can move on to the next step – planning. The way you plan should be structured around the way you prioritize. For instance, if your goal is to be a straight-A student you wouldn’t allocate most of the time in your schedule to “hanging out with friends,” right? You also wouldn’t want to schedule “hanging out with friends” before completing your homework or studying. Put the most important things first and allocate more time than you think it will take for them to be completed. When you plan your schedule based on your priorities you start your day by accomplishing the biggest tasks. This builds momentum for you to carry throughout the rest of your day. Planning a schedule with the previously mentioned priorities may look like this:
7:30-9:00 AM – Attending class
9:10-9:50 AM – Completing homework
10:00-11:30 AM – Studying
11:40-12:20 PM – Lunch
12:30-2:00 PM – Attend Class
2:10-6:00 PM – Completing homework/Studying
6:10-7:10 PM – Working out
7:20-8:00 PM – Dinner
8:10-9:30 PM – Hanging out with friends
9:40-10:00 PM – Read
10:10 PM – Sleep
What Are the Benefits?
What happens when you plan out and prepare for your day? Your confidence will go through the roof. After you’ve planned out your first day and stick to it, you’ll feel pretty good. After a week, you’ll feel even better. After a month, you’ll feel like a champion. Beyond that, you’ll have shed that lesser version of yourself and transformed into a habitual winner. A part of the <1% that live in cycles of success achieved through the consistency and persistence of their daily actions and habits. People will notice and you will reap massive rewards, both internally and externally.
On top of all of that, this practice gives you the opportunity to, maybe for the first time, prioritize, and determine, what is truly important in your life. You’ll start to realize how much wasted time was being spent on menial activities, and how you now have the chance to reallocate that time towards the things that really matter.
Tips on Planning and Prioritization
Remember you won’t always get everything done!
Start your day off with what’s most important
Keep your top list of actions that align with your priorities, even if they aren’t the easiest to accomplish!
Written Lists are best (whiteboard, paper, etc.)
Having your day planned out in more than one place (phone, journal, etc.)
Stay consistent
Consistent preparation leads to constant confidence
Stay accountable
Have someone in your life that can provide you honest feedback and accountability for those actions you said you would complete for the day or week
Expert tip: Add the tasks to your calendar and give yourself more time than you think it will take
“Successful people never get everything done, but they ALWAYS get to their most important tasks.”
MEP 