Trying to understand your life, you are faced with a problem. Or maybe you just want to streamline your day. And this is just a couple of examples when you need a plan. In fact, there can be an infinite number of reasons. At first glance, drawing up a plan may seem very difficult. But a little diligence, a couple of convenient tools, a small amount of creativity, and you can make a good plan for achieving your goals.
Method one. Create a plan for the day
1. Sit down with a sheet of paper
This can be a notebook, notebook or blank document on your computer. Choose what is convenient for you. Make a list of what you need to accomplish in a day. Include in the list every meeting and arrangement that you have. What are your goals for the day? Do you want to go in for sports, or, on the contrary, is it a day of relaxation? What tasks do you absolutely need to finish?
2. Make your own schedule
How much do you need to finish with your first job or project? Write down every little thing, starting with the one you need to do first, then the next and so write the whole day’s schedule. Make sure you do not forget anything. Of course, every day is different, and therefore every day the plan will be different. The base plan may look, for example, like this:
- 09:00–10:00 – get to the office, check the mail, reply to the letters.
- 10am–11:30 – meeting with Max and Katya.
- 11:30–12:30 – the project number 1.
- 12:30–13:15 – lunch (healthy food!).
- 13:15–14:30 – analysis of project No. 1, to meet with Sergey and discuss project No. 1.
- 2:30 pm–16:00 – project number 2.
- 4pm–17:00 – start project number 3, prepare things for tomorrow.
- 5pm–18:30 – leave the office, go to the gym.
- 18:30–19:00 – to go for food.
- 19:00–20:30 – prepare dinner, rest.
- 20:30– … – in the movie with Masha.
3. Reorient yourself every hour
It is very important to take advantage of the convenient moment after a certain time to analyze how productive you have been during this time. Did you do everything that you needed to do? Then give yourself a minute to reset, close your eyes and relax. So you can effectively move on to the next task that you need to accomplish.
4. Analyze your day
When you do away with most of your day, take a moment to see if you stick to your plan. Have you finished everything that was planned? Where did you make a mistake? What worked and what did not? What distracts you, and how can you deal with the distracting factor in the future?
The second method. Create a plan for life
1. Create common goals that you want to achieve in your life
How do you want to develop? What do you want to achieve in your life? Think of this as a “list of life”. Remember the movie “Knockin ‘on Heaven”? That’s it, this is the list of life. It should be precisely those goals that you really want to achieve, not those that you think are necessary. Sometimes it is useful to break goals into categories for better visualization. Categories can be, for example, the following:
- career;
- travels;
- family / friends;
- health;
- finance;
- knowledge;
- spirituality.
Goals can be, for example, the following:
- Write and publish a book.
- To visit each continent.
- Create a family.
- Lose 10 kilograms.
- To save money for the education of my children.
- Finish the institute.
- Learn more about Buddhism.
2. Create some specific goals with a specific implementation date
Now that you have common goals that you want to achieve in your life, it’s time to create some specific goals. And be sure to set the date for the goal. A couple of examples:
- Send the book to 30 editions until June 2016.
- Go on a trip to South America in 2015, and in Asia – in 2016.
- Have a weight of 70 kilograms in January 2015.
3. Evaluate your reality and where you are right now.
Be honest with yourself and really appreciate your present life. Using the goals that you compiled, evaluate the point at which you are right now. For example, your goal is to publish a book, specifically to send it to publishers in June 2016. And now you only have half the manuscript, and you are not sure that you like the first half.
4. Decide how you will achieve your goals
What steps will you take to be able to achieve your goals? Identify the steps that you need to do and write them down. For example, for our book from now until November 2014, we need:
- re-read the first half of the book;
- finish writing your book;
- rework aspects of the book that I do not like;
- editing of grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc .;
- to give honor to fastidious friends;
- find publishers who will review my book;
- send the manuscript to publishers.
5. Write down the steps to achieve your goals
You can do this in any format that you like best – write by hand, on the computer or draw. Congratulations! You just created your life plan.
6. Review your plan and adjust it
Like everything in this world, your life will change, and your goals may also change. What was important to you in 12 years may not be so important when you are 22 or 42 years old. And it’s normal – to change your life plan, because it shows that you are aware of the changes that occur in your life.
The third method. Solve problems with a plan
Part One: Definition of the Problem
1. Realize the problem you are facing
Sometimes the most difficult part of creating a plan is that you do not know what the problem is. Often the problem we are facing creates a few more problems. The trouble, as they say, does not come alone. What you need to do is find the source of the problem. And this is exactly what you need to understand.
Your mother does not allow you to spend four weeks with a friend in a mountain hut. This is a problem, but where is the source of this problem? You got a deuce in algebra. And that is the reason why your mother does not let you go to a friend on vacation. And this deuce is exactly the problem that you need to solve.
2. Determine what result you hope to achieve by solving your problem
What goal do you hope to achieve by solving the problem? Concentrate on achieving your goal. The rest will come by itself.
Your goal is to improve your assessment of mathematics at least up to the fourth. In parallel with this, improving your knowledge of mathematics, you hope that your mother will let you go to a friend on vacation.
3. Find out why this problem occurs.
Which of your habits contributed to the problem? Spend a little time to analyze the causes of the problem.
Your problem is that you got a top three in mathematics. Think about what could have led to this: maybe you talked a lot with a friend in class. Or did not do homework in the evenings because of football training, for example.
4. Consider the external factors that contribute to the problem
Many problems arise because of any of your actions. But do not forget about the external factors working against you. Let’s consider an example. You got a bad assessment in mathematics, which needs to be corrected. The reason for this may be a lack of understanding of the teacher’s explanations on this topic, and not what you said to your friend.
Part Two: Find a solution and create a plan
1. Find several possible solutions to your problem
You can simply write down all possible options on a scrap of paper or use one of the methods of brainstorming. For example, like a mental map. Whichever way you choose, you need to consider both possibilities of the problem: your fault and the factors that do not depend on you.
Solving the problem of communication with a friend in class:
- Sit in class as far as possible from your friends.
- Explain to your friends that you do not learn the information in the lesson and get bad grades. So you need to focus on the lesson.
- If you sit in the place assigned to you, ask the teacher to transplant you so that you can concentrate better.
Solving the problem of an uncompleted homework due to football training:
- Do some homework during lunch or during a break. So you will have less work for the evening.
- Stick to the routine. After training, you must have dinner and do your homework. Encourage yourself to watch TV after you do the lessons.
Solving the problem of misunderstanding of algebra:
- Let a classmate help you, which can clarify all the incomprehensible moments for you.
- Ask the teacher for help. Explain that you do not understand the material and need an additional explanation.
- Do mathematics with a tutor.
2. Create a plan
So, you conducted a brainstorm and understood what your problem is. Now choose the most effective, in your opinion, solutions to the problem and write down a plan for yourself. Hang the plan somewhere, where it will most often come across your eyes. Your plan to improve your level in mathematics should look like this:
Plan for improvement within four weeks
- Tell Katya that I can not talk to her in class. If this does not help, then change from it.
- Every Tuesday and Thursday to do homework during lunch. So I will have fewer tasks to do after training.
- Every Monday and Wednesday visit the elective in mathematics. The goal: in four weeks to improve your level from the top three to at least four.
3. Analyze the first week
Did you do everything that was planned? Did you succeed? What mistakes did you make? Having done a good analysis, you can avoid mistakes in the future.
4. Do not lose motivation
Stick to your plan until you reach the goal. Do not stop halfway. If one day you did not stick to the plan, make sure that it does not happen again. If you see that this plan does not work, think about what’s wrong with it, and write a new plan.
