I have this recurring nightmare about being in college again.
It’s the end of the semester and the end of my four years in school. I’m ready to graduate only it turns out I have failed multiple classes.
How could this happen? What did I do wrong?
In the dream, I show up to my final exams and I have no idea what is on the tests. I’m clueless all because of one huge mistake: I skipped class.
When you are in college and in high school, you have a schedule to follow each day. All you have to do is show up at the designated times for each class, learn, do your homework, and pass the tests. Even in graduate school when I was taking online classes, I set up a schedule for myself to watch the lecture videos at specific times each week. The routine made it possible for me to get things done.
Schedule Your Day Like a Student Again
Earlier this year I started working for myself three days a week.
This freedom was exciting and I quickly found things to work on during that extra time. I was finally able to get past the urgent tasks that needed to be done right away and spend time on the important but not urgent tasks.
As I look ahead to 2018, there are some strategies that I want to spend more deliberate time on. Earlier this year, I kept a post-it note with a checklist of things to do each day.
That didn’t work.
Next year I am going to try something different. I am going to create a recurring schedule for myself as if I was back in college again.
Here is what I will do:
Schedule blocks of time (time blocks) in my calendar on a recurring basis each week to focus on the important, ongoing, and not necessarily urgent projects that I know will help me achieve my mission and reach my goals.
“What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower
