Transcript:

Regardless of the type of work you’re doing from home, the most important job you will have to do is to create a schedule for yourself that represents your values and life rhythm. Ideally, it’s best to have a version of this plan laid out before you even start taking on projects, so you could use it as a template with must-haves, and adapt it with minimal changes to your work-rhythm. If you have plunged into work already, no worries, it’s never too late to do this exercise. But it is vital to do so! It will create the framework for your lifestyle that you can keep yourself accountable to and steer away when needed. But your schedule is the anchor to your boat, what keeps you from drifting away aimlessly into the abyss.

To create your schedule, use the method you are most comfortable with. You can use your regular paper-based journal, but we recommend using your e-calendar which has the built-in feature to remind you of upcoming events, for example via your mobile phone, so you’d never miss a beat. Divide your day into a regular set of intervals for both your work and your personal events, and set them to reoccur daily or weekly, as needed. Go as specific as you can, and use different colors for each type of task or event. If you can, prepare your daily schedule on the week before. But mostly you will specify the sections day by day. If your work includes a lot of meetings that inherently tend to be cancelled, delayed, prolonged, don’t sweat - this is why you need to review your schedule every day, so you can make your modifications.

Think of your schedule as your friend not an enemy! With clear compartments for your activities it will be there for you to make it easy to manage your time when things fall out of place.

It’s not only our experience, even studies prove that not having a schedule planned out can lead to experiencing greater conflict with your work and family, much more work-related stress, and it also means you probably have a messy, fluctuating sleep pattern which leads to health issues. You can find out more from the article about Irregular Work Scheduling and its Consequences on the Economic Policy Institute website.

In later chapters we will go more in-depth into the details of creating your schedule. You’ll work through checklists and worksheets that will help you set it up step by step. To lay the foundations, let’s map out your life at the moment. Take the ‘values review sheet’ and write in everything you feel is important to dedicate time to in your life right now. Don’t leave out anything at this point, you’ll have the chance to re-evaluate later.

The PDF below is editable. Download it and fill it in electronically! No need to print it, unless you really want to.