What’s the most CRITICAL thing to include in your Schedule?
I have just been reviewing my weekly schedule, as I have a few changes on the cards. It reminded me of the most critical part to include in my schedule, and that is ‘Emergency Time’. Perhaps a better way to put this is Crisis Management.
One of the most common things I hear when working with people’s schedules is ‘but something always comes up!’ Perhaps it does for you? The ‘something’ that always scuppers your schedule – a client with an urgent need, a meeting request at short notice, a call from school, a last minute deadline.
And there it is – your day, and sometimes week, is then on catch-up and you feel like you are constantly struggling against the tide of work and life outside of it.
I would hazard a guess that not many weeks go by without something unexpected cropping up – it doesn’t have to be a dire emergency, but just enough to knock things off track.
So why not plan it in EVERY WEEK.
Expect the un-expected.
You can’t plan the exact time and day it is going to happen, but if something does crop up at least you are more likely to be able to fit your schedule around it – you will have a couple of hours of catch-up time already planned.
If it gets to your planned ‘Crisis Time’ and nothing has come up, then look at the rest of the week to see if you can use that time for something planned later and get ahead on things. Then if something comes up later you still have a buffer.
If nothing fills it by the end of the week – congratulations you now have some time to choose what to do with – spend it well.
Look now at your weekly diary, and get some ‘Crisis Time’ planned in going forward. When it happens you will be pleased you did.