Have you ever noticed that the tighter your schedule, the more you get done? It’s one of those work ironies that the busiest people always seem to be the most productive. The problem with this reality is that it suggests that the most productive people are the ones who work the most. And this is simply not true.

In fact, it can be extremely unhealthy, unwise, and unproductive to overwork yourself. It is misunderstanding the principle at work behind the correlation between time scarcity and productivity that causes stress, overwork and inefficiency.

You see, it’s not the people who work the most who maximize their time. It’s the people who maximize their time who get the most done. And people who maximize their time actually work less. Therefore, the most productive people are those who adjust their work schedules, get more done in less time and have plenty of time to rest, relax and rejuvenate.

This is the principle of efficiency. What does it take to make this principle work for you? Here are five steps to creating the efficiency that keeps you productive while feeling your best.

Step 1: Identify your most efficient patterns

The first step is to identify your most efficient patterns. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Do you do your work more concentrated before or after lunch? When do your ideas really flow and when do you tend to slow down? Knowing your internal rhythm is a way to harness your energy.

Once you’ve determined that pace, you can arrange your schedule to fit. For example, a morning person might spend the morning in their office focusing on projects that require their full attention, reserving afternoons, when their energy dwindles, for less demanding meetings and lower-priority activities. A night owl who finds it difficult to get moving in the morning may prefer to tackle team projects early in the day when colleagues can energize him, and reserve his afternoons, when his mind is busiest, to attend to items. . that require more concentration.

Identifying your most efficient patterns also applies to activities that fuel your energy, like sleeping, exercising, and having fun. Just as you can plan your work activities around your natural energy, you can also plan your leisure activities so that they restore you to the maximum. Do you exercise to get going and energize yourself? So your workouts can be more effective in the morning. Or do you exercise to relax and reduce stress? Then after work it might be time to hit the gym. Similarly, you can determine when and how much sleep you need, as well as what kind of entertainment brings you the most joy and satisfaction. These activities, in addition to increasing your overall quality of life, also increase your energy, making you more efficient.

Step 2: plot the ideal

Having identified your most efficient patterns, you can now plan your days around them to put your energy to work for you.

Start by using a blank daily calendar page, perhaps a photocopy of a page from your planner that you haven’t used yet.

On a separate blank sheet of paper, write down all the activities you usually do, or would like to do, in a day. Prioritize items in order of importance. Then, on the blank calendar page, outline activities to create what would be a truly ideal day for you if you could do everything that requires your attention, makes you feel complete, and allows you to enjoy your life.

You will most likely find that all the activities do not fit together. This is what you want to discover. By making sure the most important things get done first, you ensure that you spend your time on the right things. Everything else has to fit around those. This is where the efficiency part comes in: less important things need to fit in less time. Maybe you’ll even identify some things you’ve been spending time on that no longer fit into your schedule. It’s time to let them go, whether by delegating them, finding new systems to make them faster, or deciding that you don’t need to do them at all.

This exercise can be used to map out the different types of days in your schedule, or it can be used to generate ideal versions of your weeks, your months, or even your years, depending on the nature of your job. The clearer you are about what an ideal schedule is for you, the more efficient you’ll become as you eliminate superfluous activities and plan your calendar around what matters most.

Step 3: Make it Real

Now is the time to be real. In this step, you transfer the schedule you mapped out from the ideal you just created to your real schedule. Over the next few days, plan the activities in your planner in a way that comes as close as possible to what you would ideally like to see.

At first, your current schedule may bear little relation to the ideal you have so valiantly outlined. However, as you continue to plan ahead, you will find it easier to be proactive in determining what activities will happen and when. Maybe a late meeting prevents you from getting to the gym tomorrow night like you’d like; however, if you schedule a few yoga trips for the next week, you will be able to organize new meetings around your ideal time.

Some tips to make this step count:

• Put your commitments to yourself in ink. You will be less likely to cancel yourself than if you can simply erase what you have written.
• Think of your activities as dates. If you have a Tuesday morning appointment to work on a big presentation, your calendar is booked. It doesn’t matter that your appointment is with yourself, it’s just as important as if the meeting were with the actual client for whom the presentation will ultimately be made.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate. People will respect what you tell them what you need when the purpose is to give your best. Let them know you want to meet at 9:00 am instead of 3:30 because you’ll be fresher and more effective in the long run, it serves everyone, even if it improves your efficiency.
• They stick to their weapons. Your integrity, not to mention your productivity, is on the line when you’re asked to change plans for someone else’s convenience. Unless the matter is critical, stick to your schedule as much as possible. Some days it will be more challenging than others, and those are the days when your efficiency is most likely to pay off.

Step 4: Evaluate the situation (compare ideal with reality)

Once you’ve completed your calendar, take another look at what you’ve created. How far is your reality from this ideal? And what would it take for the ideal to become your reality? Assessing the situation in this way will help you take steps toward a more efficient and productive way of living.

Admittedly, the process can be daunting. It can be hard to get there and stay there, because life gets in the way.

For example, maybe your ideal day involves going for a walk every morning before breakfast. But it’s hard for him to get out of bed for the occasion, even though he knows he’ll feel better if he does.

Or maybe you know you’re at your best when you’re home all night with your loved ones, not running errands or attending late meetings. But he has late meetings and late-night obligations, so he realizes he’s falling short of his ideal.

Use each day as an opportunity to learn and get closer to the schedule that keeps you at your best. At the end of each day, ask yourself three simple questions: What went well, or how did I keep to the schedule I set? What didn’t go well or what took me off track? What do I want to change or do differently tomorrow? By striving each day to create as efficient a schedule as possible and then evaluating the results each night, you are practicing implementing a routine that will soon feel natural and easy. When you do, you’ll feel comfortable with your own life and won’t feel the tension, guilt, or stress that comes from being overworked, overtaxed, and tired.

Step 5: Be easy on yourself

As you put your plan into action, remember that your ideal schedule is just that: a ideal. It is something to strive for and get as close to as possible. This is not about perfection; It’s not practical or healthy to set an unattainable ideal and then berate yourself for not achieving it. The key is to remember what the ideal is for, that is, to help you choose your activities carefully based on what is most efficient and effective for you.

Working with your calendar in this way is the key to efficiency. Too often, we become slaves to our schedules instead of creating schedules that work for us. By identifying your most efficient patterns, mapping out your ideal, making it a reality, assessing the situation, and taking it slow as you put your plan into action, you can adjust your schedule and become the most productive and efficient version of you.