How To: Plan Your Free Time using the Daily Default Schedule

The other week I wrote about My Mini Daily Schedule that I have added to my A5 Filofax. The idea behind the schedule is to make you more productive during your spare moments.

1. The first step is to work out what free time you typically have in the day to dedicate to whatever productive things you are trying to fit into your schedule.

For example I work 9-5.30 everyday. So I schedule for (1) Before Work, (2) Lunchtime and (3) After Work.

The Schedule is not for what I am doing at a particular time on a particular day – instead it is for “If I am not busy doing a scheduled appointment and I have free time -THIS is what I want to be doing NOT procrastinating.”

2. The second step is thinking about your current schedule and working out what is the appropriate “default” task to schedule.

Take my current April Schedule as an example.

I start my schedule at 6am as this is the latest that I get up. My morning routine happens between 5-7am and during this time I have to get showered, dressed, have breakfast and leave the house at 7AM to get to work. In this time block I will also have switched the computer on and I may have made lunch (depending on my mood). If I get up bright and early there will be free time to play around with and I want to be productive during this free time.The first things I do in the morning are checking my phone, my Filofax and turning on the computer. I keep my Daily Default Schedule visible inside my filofax (usually by the TODAY marker) so it is the first thing I see and it reminds me to be productive. As I normally have my computer on – I will usually try to do something productive on the computer therefore I have written BLOGGING as my default activity.

My 7am to 8am block also includes my commute to work, possibly a trip to Starbucks (AKA some snuggle time with my filofax and a coffee) and I try to do work that I do for various organisations during this time frame as well. If I have any left over time my default schedule then comes into play and it dictates that I should be WRITING my book since I tend to plot this out in one of my filofax/notebook combos and is easy to do while sitting in Starbucks.

And I carry this  step out for the rest of my schedule. I think about what I am normally doing, and what would fit easily into the routine.

3. Use the Daily Default Schedule

Once I have planned out what my default schedule will be I then print it off and fill it in and stick it into my Filofax. You can check it off when you don’t get things done  or just monitor when you do get things done to see how productive you are being.

4. Review

Review your schedule – there is no point in just drawing it up and not getting any use out of it. Change when you are being productive, change your habits and review what you are doing. I now get up an hour earlier because my other half is now doing an early morning workout. Instead of simply dozing in bed, I get up and make more productive use of my time.

Download: Daily Default Schedule