How do you maintain a schedule?

[Suguri]

So I want to know how you guys maintain a schedule (if you have one or something similar) so I can improve my productivity, procrastinate less, keep track of what I should be doing, etc.

There are a few I know of already and am thinking about BTW:

• Posting your plans in this thread
• Using a to-do list (my friend does that often)
• Planners (used to rely on them in middle school)

I'm also considering reminders on my phone but IDK how to make it so my app repeats those reminders on a recurring basis.

 

[xSuperMario64x]

I honestly don't lmao, I've always been the kind of person to go with the flow and work under pressure. that's the ADHD vibe for you

but in all seriousness, I usually write stuff in my daily planner and set lots of alarms on my phone. my brain is very rebellious and will do almost anything to not work from a schedule, and those two things help me the most, I've found.

 

[cornimer]

I schedule my day in Google Calendar. I don't always follow it down to the minute, but at least it reminds me of what I need to do. If you have the app, Google Calendar sends automated reminders to your phone 10 minutes before anything you've scheduled is supposed to start.

 

[Midoriya]

I'm not the best to ask for advice on this as I basically just keep a memorized list of things I need to accomplish in my head every day. Because of this, however, I never end up procrastinating taking care of important tasks or work. I get the feeling if I started putting all of these things into a journal or some app it'd make me feel very overwhelmed, but that's just me.

 

[.: Meri :.]

I try to aim for a daily "rhythm" over a routine—I've found that trying to keep a strict schedule causes me an unhealthy level of stress, and it's a lot better for me to keep things as flexible as I can. Some things have to be done at specific times, of course, and there's no getting around that, but for what I can control, I try to be loose about. Rather than doing everything at exact times, timeframes like "right after getting up", "in the morning", or "somewhere between late-afternoon and before bed" work the best for me! For things like daily chores, even something as loose "anytime, every Wednesday" is enough for me to keep up with it.

I set events in my phone's Calendar app to keep track of a lot of things, which I love because they can be recurring (and I can set how often they recur, which is veryyyy useful for things I do once every two weeks, because I will absolutely forget whether or not I did it last week), and I can decide when and how often it reminds me.

Another thing I've done, as someone who's struggled a lot with anxiety/depression and burnout, is that I add things to my schedule slowly, prioritized based on importance, and give myself enough time to get used to it before adding in anything else. As long as keeping up with the new things feels like a struggle, I don't add anything. When it becomes a habit and I'm used to it, that's when I take on the next thing(s). Slowly increasing the frequency that I do something also helps; like starting out with doing something every other day, and then working towards making it a daily habit.

 

[WingsofLove]

I go by time and I work my schedule by setting times to do things for myself

 

[Chronos314_XD]

I usually don't have schedules or anything, if I need to remind myself about something I'll write it as an alarm on my phone for the next day so I can remember if I need to do something later.

 

[Croconaw]

I don't use a schedule. I take everyday, day by day. I have reminders on my phone daily reminding me to take my Airpods to work, but it goes off everyday because my schedule could change with each week and I don't feel like adjusting it weekly. I need my music.

 

[bestiepango]

I have a widget on the lock screen of my phone that displays reminders for daily things, like washing my face in the evening for example, and then after I've done that I can just check it off from my lock screen :3 I also use alarms, timers and things like that. I'll maybe loosely plan out what I need/would like to do for the day in my head, either in the morning or before bed, unless its an appointment or event I'll put that in the calendar on my phone.
Also, I completely get if it isn't ur thing, but at least when I was still studying I remember making use of tools like notion (I haven't used it in a long time tho so things may have changed), as well as planning w mind maps if ur like me and find things easier to understand when its visual or like diagrams, I personally found those more engaging for me!

Spoiler: other stuff that might be useful, or just me rambling lol

I also do a few other things that maybe aren't quite routine/schedule related, but I hope some1 might find helpful anyway for just maintaining a clear mind as best as possible, since that will help w things like procrastination; I don't journal but I do keep a note in my phone just for writing down things that I'm worried or frustrated abt, I'm prone to insomnia if I'm upset abt something or anxious, so i'll structure out my thoughts and write them in that note, then try to focus on what I have to look forward to instead (or at least give myself something to look forward to like "i'll watch a few episodes of a show I find relaxing" etc), sometimes I'll also have some kind of background noise or music playing on my phone at a low volume.

Also for me I like to draw and write songs/lyrics, so I've adopted the habit of writing down any thought or idea I have pertaining to those things, anything that pops into my brain, no matter how good it might be, and keeping it in a huge text file folder on my laptop, kind of in the same places I store all my digital art or garage band stuff. I find it helpful to look back at during the times when I don't feel as creative. u can also totally do this with notes on ur phone or a sketch/notebook as well, I just have it on my laptop since that's where I keep my art stuff primarily
all of these things I mentioned I haven't been doing for superrr long but its been good so far for battling procrastination/forgetfulness and my depressive tendencies, for me personally.

Apologies for the long post but I thought I'd list off everything I feel works well for me in my daily life now, since I got pretty sucked into study and productivity stuff when I was in high school haha ^^ wishing u the best of luck!

 

[Corrie]

There's an app called Finch where you raise a pet bird by completing off tasks! I've been using it for the past week and a half and it's super cute! It's supposed to be for a feel good, mental health healing type of thing but I use it for that and to stay productive and on track. If I don't finish all my tasks for that day, I feel guilty cause I just want to make my bird happy lol so it works for me!

 

[Autumn247]

There's an app called Finch where you raise a pet bird by completing off tasks! I've been using it for the past week and a half and it's super cute! It's supposed to be for a feel good, mental health healing type of thing but I use it for that and to stay productive and on track. If I don't finish all my tasks for that day, I feel guilty cause I just want to make my bird happy lol so it works for me!

This is what I use too! To do lists never work for me, they cause too much stress, but finch is much more motivating!

 

[Corrie]

This is what I use too! To do lists never work for me, they cause too much stress, but finch is much more motivating!

100%! To do lists feel too structured and corporate. Finch is like a gentle parent to a kid and I personally thrive better that way.