4 Reasons To Always Plan Your Day In Advance

Over the years one of the daily habits I have come to develop that has significantly helped me stay on top of my day and stay productive is the habit of planning my day.

You can set out a time to do this just before you go to sleep. One thing I have come to discover while practising this is that when I set a plan for myself for the next day before going to sleep, I always wake up in the morning knowing exactly the things I need to do and mentally prepared to do them.

Helps You Allocate Your Time Effectively

You only have 24 hours in a day and can never get enough of those. Planning your day is one way you can help yourself make adequate use of the time you have available each day.

You can determine what you can do in a day and allocate time for them accordingly. In a previous article, I mentioned the Time Management Matrix or Quadrants introduced by Stephen Covey in his book, 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People as a useful approach to allocating your time accordingly.

You are more aware of what needs to be done and will be more driven to get them done than when you have no plan at all, thereby increasing your productivity significantly.

Helps You Maintain A Healthy Work-life Interface

Work-life interface refers to the intersection of your work with your personal life. Planning your day ahead will ensure you do not spend the whole of your day working or the whole of your day attending to personal matters at the expense of your work.

This helps you adequately maintain a healthy balance between these two aspects of your life thereby ensuring one does not suffer for the other. Maintaining a healthy work-life interface has even become more important with the rise in remote work.

Planning Your Day Ahead Is Good For Your Health

Having to go through the day struggling to figure out what task to take on could be stressful and overwhelming. When you plan your day ahead, you can effectively plan in time for rest/nap or even plan in for any disruption. This will help you significantly reduce the stress and anxiety that comes with the daily tasks and also unforeseen disruption.

Imagine what significant positive impact catching more rest in a day and cutting down on stress or anxiety could have on your health.

Concluding Thoughts

Treat every new day as a project in your life. Just as you are aware, no one starts a project without first setting out the plan on how to execute the project. In your life too, always plan the next day and you will enjoy the amazing benefits that come with it.