By Reem Abdulrahman Jassim al-Muftah

In all the articles and research I come across, planning your day ahead is the number one most repeated tip to reaching your daily goals. I personally did not believe in this type of strategy for success but after years of struggling to keep my mind focused and manage my time, work and daily errands I am a firm believer of panning ahead. Now planning ahead does not have to be applied to everything in your life but if you choose, only needs to be applied to your priorities and to your never-ending to-do list that you keep forgetting. I am not a fan or supporter of planning every single part of your day or life and especially not a fan of making a specific schedule you have to follow as I prefer personal accountability and a guide to get things done in a pragmatic and efficient way.
Now to start, first you have to really understand yourself, meaning your needs and wants, your personality and your excuses. Everyone deals with getting things done differently and you will find people of all types with thousands of ways of getting things done but you have to find what works best for you. You have to observe your behaviour and get to the bottom of your own mess, you have to understand why you are unable to get things done. Is it because you are lazy? Is it because there are obstacles or barriers keeping you from completing your tasks? Do you have no time or are you too busy? There are millions of excuses and thousands of people describing the best way to plan your day but stay away from the excuses and especially from people who tell you how to plan your day and know nothing about you.
Sit down and jot down the following in lists: general and non-urgent to-do list, work list and any other grouping you would like to use that helps you organise your thoughts such as an anxiety list (a list that names all the sources of anxiety in your life right now). This anxiety list is not a vent list or a reminder of your woes but acts as a map for you to understand what is causing you anxiety, frustration and/or sadness which might be keeping you from your goals. How? Write down all the sources in one-two words such as: food intake, pending violations, renew passport, work life balance, prepare guest room, etc. Then group them in order of urgency. Finally, next to each, write the first step to removing this anxiety or if there is a solution, jot it down so it is clear what you should do next. Take a few minutes to sit and look at this list trying to understand what points cause your anxiety, see if similar ones can be grouped into categories and which ones can be dealt with opposed to which ones need to be worked on. From that list you can finally start to breakdown your areas of concern and start tackling them with a clear mind.
Back to the main lists, I always love to start from an overall general to-do list and then split them up into the following: quick to-do list, my list, my husband’s list, my baby’s list, my work list and finally my anxiety list. My ‘to-do list’ comprises of quick errands I need to get done eventually and next to each item I have an action point where it says where or how to get it done. My list includes all the urgent matters and priorities to take care of and again, with where and how to get them done next to each. This list serves as my guide to plan my day for the upcoming week. I highlight the matters that I feel I can do this week and start to strike them off my list, which by the way, is extremely satisfying! If I know I have time blocked for running errands, then I will go into a more specific and detailed list with instructions of what to do in terms of time efficiently and locations. My husband’s list is similar to mine where I clearly identify to him what I expect from him in terms of errands and tasks that he is accountable for. He actually enjoys looking at it and laughing but eventually gets them all done because it is right there on the fridge every single morning and he is unable to make the excuse of forgetting and there is no way for him to get frustrated by me and say I keep nagging at him. The same goes for my baby list as it is my errands or reminders for my baby and her needs or notes. Lastly, I have my work list which acts as a summary of what I need to do in regards of work assignments and meetings which I’m sure you have all done at one point.
In conclusion, remember, you get to choose and create the lists that are best aligned to your needs, wants and personality. Also, don’t worry, you can review and update these lists everyday just as I do. I hope you are all able to find your way to focus and getting things done, if not, please do not hesitate to reach out to me on my Instagram handle below and good luck getting things done!


* The author is a wellness advocate and influencer @keys2balance.