5 Reasons Why A Schedule Is Useful

How often do you write? What about getting in touch with your readers and answering their emails? Are you feeling bad if you try to relax when you know you should write?

Someone once said that we are defined by our habits, and not only the bad ones. There are some benefits of having habits, but before those habits can become habits, there needs to be a schedule in place to ensure the consistency and commitment.

Most people see a schedule as being a prison, but actually, a schedule is quite the opposite of that, so let’s see the actual benefits of having a schedule:

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1) It allows you to have the day you want

Everybody wants a better life, don’t you think? But not everybody acts out in such ways to have a better life. There are always things you need to do, but you don’t want to and also things you want to do, but you don’t need to.

Imagine having a full-time job, a family with kids, meetings you need to go to, things to by and so on. Even if you do really enjoy writing and you want to make it mart of your life, how much within a day do you still have left for it? With a schedule, you can do all of those including writing.

Set up a schedule you are comfortable with that allows you to do both the things you want to do and the things you need to do.

2) It eliminates the guilt

When I didn’t have a schedule, there were times when I was trying to watch a movie I enjoy, but I was feeling very guilty for not working on my writings and whatever it involves (reading other blogs, reading books, researching). So, I was not enjoying the movie because of the guilt and also, I was not working on what I wanted to work.

After setting up the schedule, the guilt disappeared. Actually, the guilt was replaced with the feeling of reward. After doing all the “hard stuff”, I was feeling rewarded for relaxing while watching a movie.

3) It reduces the feeling of being overwhelmed

Does it happen to you to feel overwhelmed by the multitude of things you have to do? Sometimes, when you try to do something, all other things get stuck in your head and you basically become paralyzed by everything and you end up losing precious time. With a schedule, those things “know” when they need to manifest. Just like walking… you cannot walk 100 steps at once. You need to do one step at a time.

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Besides the things in the real world, writing involves many aspects like reading and answering emails, revising your writing plan for the future, keywords research, information research, image research, actual writing and so on. Without a schedule to establish a hierarchy of things, everything will come to you all at once and your brain will freeze.

4) It helps you become more productive

As you noticed, I’m posting twice per day. Without a schedule, it would be impossible for me to do it and keep up with it. I don’t sit down and write all day long (even if I would love to) because I also have that real life I was mentioning earlier.

Here is how my writing schedule looks like:

1. Read the comments on this website;
2. Decide about the one topic I want to write next;
3. Do keywords research;
4. Get into the writing mindset (including writing the title);
5. Write the post;
6. Revise the title (if necessary);
7. Style the content;
8. Search for one (or more) image(s);
9. Add the tags;
10. Schedule the post;
11. Answer the comments read earlier (and the new ones, if any);
12. Answer emails (if any);
13. Read other blogs.

All of his takes me around three hours every day (more or less). And to make it happen, I wake up at 6 AM to have the time. Also, I don’t do it all at once. Answering emails and reading other blogs usually takes time, and I start my work at 8 AM, so I usually do these when I have some breaks, or in the evening. So, if it’s break time, it’s reading time! And if I did my reading time during the day, I can relax late in the evening with a movie or something.

5) It helps you reach your goals faster

If you have a schedule you apply almost every day of the week (if not daily), then you will do more with your time, therefore you will reach to your goals faster. It is just like Elon Musk says:

“If you put in 50 hours of work in a week and someone else puts in 10 hours of work in a week, even if you do the exact same thing and in the exact same way, you will advance 5 times faster!”

So, a schedule is not a prison because it doesn’t stop you from reaching your goals, but it actually allows you to do it. Yes, you will feel constrained at first, but you will feel free in the long run. Also, it is your schedule, so you can adapt it.

Do you have a writing schedule? If so, how does it look like for you?

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