Scheduling can save you a lot of time

Jorge Volante
2 min readDec 9, 2019

I’m a bit of a control freak.

Sometimes it feels like I spend too much time planning and far too less executing but it’s something I can’t help.

Even to this day, I keep a small notebook where I write down everything related to my next trip from hotels to flights to car rentals to shopping lists and whatnot.

Being like that is not entirely bad as long as you don’t go too far.

Scheduling helps in many ways. You already know what you’re supposed to do at any given time and you fail to do so, you already know it’s (usually) your fault.

Cal Newport takes it a step further. In his book Deep Work, he recommends dividing the day into time blocks so all activities are giving a time slot and he gets to accommodate a few blocks to do his deep work — which pretty much stands for fully focused and undistracted work.

It all boils down to the kind of activity you do (or want to do) but if you prioritize a bit you can get a lot done in your day.

I have a full-time job and my family to take care of and it gets hard to find time for myself. The best solutions came from waking up earlier. Everyone is still asleep and I get an hour or two to read books, write in my journal, plan ahead and drink a cup of coffee.

Going to bed a bit later also helps because, while everyone is sleeping, you get to devote at least one hour to your side project or hobby. In my case, I wait for everyone to be sleeping to play a poker session.

You need to know what is it you want to accomplish, what is your goal, then you can plan accordingly.

“Time management is all about distinguishing between what is important for you and what simply lures you into useless activities.”― Dr Prem Jagyasi

All it takes is a bit of planning, then it is on you to execute. Why not give it a shot?

If you’re interested in poker and want to follow my journey through the microstakes you can follow me here.

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Jorge Volante

Father, Husband, Gamer, Recreational Poker Player, Mechanical Engineer, Blogger