If you do not plan to use it you will lost it. What I mean by that is there is a fact of life that cannot be proven scientifically but is certainly known by anecdote and that is that time that is not pre-planned vanishes without trace. In fact a famous quote from the Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger confirms this – “Part of our time is stolen from us, or else we are cheated out of it, and whatever is left over seems to disappear unnoticed” and that was written 0ver 2000 years ago.
Why does this happen? It seems to be based on our levels of awareness. When we are doing something planned we are more focused and as a result the task becomes more memorable and the level of enjoyment or accomplishment is greater. When we just pass the time, unplanned, we are very unlikely to create lasting memories, unless something memorable takes place. How many memorable things happen to you in a week? Hence we tend to forget how we used that time.
The Cure
However, we don’t just want memories that come by chance. The cure therefore is to plan your time in advance and not leave it to chance. I certainly am not advocating planning down the level of minute by minute. That could become a destructive tool where you beat yourself for failure to achieve what may have been unrealistic expectations. No the idea is block out portions of time, as far in advance as possible.
It is August, yet I know that my brother in law will be visiting in the first weekend of December. How can I be so sure? It is because he has blocked it out in his diary at the beginning of the year to ensure that by the end of the year he has visited all his relations at least once (we get two visits a year!). Some might feel he was over the top in his planning, but then again, how many of those manage all the visits they should in a year?
You may not want to be that extreme, but planning ahead will ensure you achieve more. You may want to start by just planning the weekend ahead, then the week, which in turn could lead to blocking out some time in the month ahead.
Whatever level you start at I can guarantee that you will achieve more and make more memorable moments in your life.