Does anyone follow a precise schedule? Do you use task lists everyday?

[epath13]

I'm wondering if any of you guys use a precise schedule? Do you use it at work only or for anything? Or do you prefer task lists? or both? or maybe you just go with a flow.
I have realized quite a while ago that I need a schedule but so far I've been struggling to create one that works. Somehow when I look at a schedule, even though I do understand what everything means but somehow it's hard for me to associate a schedule with actual tasks. That's why when children are trained to use organization tools in many cases pictures are used 1st and then they can move towards just words. I know that if I try to use pictures I will get stuck even more. Colors on the other hand seem to work for me...anyway I think that with practice I would be able to adjust. I just don't understand one thing, why when I look at a day on a calendar I can associate it with a particular day easily. But when I see a task... or a routine... let's say I put a time 6:00am and type "wake up" next to it. It means nothing to me. I mean I understand what it means and I force myself to recognize that this is the time when I need to wake up but at the same time it doesn't really have meaning to me. I try to describe how it feels. Let's say you don't know much about neuroscience but familiar with some concepts. You read a sentence: "In addition, over 50 neuroactive peptides have been found, and new ones are discovered regularly. Many of these are "co-released" along with a small-molecule transmitter, but in some cases a peptide is the primary transmitter at a synapse. β-endorphin is a relatively well known example of a peptide neurotransmitter; it engages in highly specific interactions with opioid receptors in the central nervous system." (I just took some random sentence from wiki article pardon me if it's a bit too long) You might understand what it says, more or less but it doesn't really mean anything to you.
Here's my theory: days have "codes", like Monday is a day that comes after Sunday and before Tuesday, and that's it, 1st of September, 2011 is a specific date, no other day will have the same "code". With things like tasks and routines is's different. I can write "wake up" and even though I understand what it means, my brain still gets stuck because it's not "coded". It could be any kind of "wake up"...
I hope I explain all this clearly enough
does it make sense to any of you?
And do you have any issues with schedules?

 

[Occasional_Demon]

Re: Does anyone follows a precise schedule? Do you use task lists everyday?

Yes, I also have a bit of a problem with following schedules. I look at the day, the time, and the allocated task and usually it means nothing to me. If I was to follow a schedule completely voluntary - i.e. there was no consequence to me not following it, nor was it imposed on me by someone else - then it tends to fall apart after a few days. Even with schedules where there are consequences if I don't follow them [i.e. university class schedules], I tend to have to force myself to follow them. I'm getting better at it nowadays. I think being out there in the workforce and a more mature outlook has helped me realise that yes, sometimes I do have to follow with schedules, even if I don't feel like it!

I usually do have a schedule of sorts, but it's in my head. I'll plan out what I'll do for the day, and I'll go and complete the tasks. I don't really stick to a timeline, though - time is rather nebulous with my schedules. I just make sure that I get everything that I wanted done completed. If that means eating breakfast at 3pm and taking until 11pm to start work on an assignment, that's alright by me.

 

[epath13]

Re: Does anyone follows a precise schedule? Do you use task lists everyday?

Yes, I also have a bit of a problem with following schedules. I look at the day, the time, and the allocated task and usually it means nothing to me. If I was to follow a schedule completely voluntary - i.e. there was no consequence to me not following it, nor was it imposed on me by someone else - then it tends to fall apart after a few days. Even with schedules where there are consequences if I don't follow them [i.e. university class schedules], I tend to have to force myself to follow them. I'm getting better at it nowadays. I think being out there in the workforce and a more mature outlook has helped me realise that yes, sometimes I do have to follow with schedules, even if I don't feel like it!

I usually do have a schedule of sorts, but it's in my head. I'll plan out what I'll do for the day, and I'll go and complete the tasks. I don't really stick to a timeline, though - time is rather nebulous with my schedules. I just make sure that I get everything that I wanted done completed. If that means eating breakfast at 3pm and taking until 11pm to start work on an assignment, that's alright by me.

In college I didn't even know what my schedule was sometimes I just knew I had to get there by certain time that's it and then I would just look it up or ask someone... Nowadays it seems it's impossible to keep track of everything without a schedule, but honestly I have no clue how I'm going to do that... But I have no choice I have to figure it out, I have 2 little ones depending on me and people are going expect results business wise as well... Or whatever that venture is going to be...

 

[IContainMultitudes]

Re: Does anyone follows a precise schedule? Do you use task lists everyday?

The speech therapist who pointed me toward getting an AS diagnosis told me that time management is often a problem for people on the spectrum and that was likely to be the case with me. I think having some kind of schedule definitely keeps me on-track if I have a set of tasks to perform on a job or somewhere else. I think that if I ever manage to get started with any kind of self-employment, managing my time there is going to be a challenge. Most of the time, I did ok managing my time in college, but I felt like I was always having to finish things up at the last minute and I always wished I was a bit better at budgeting my time there.

 

[Occasional_Demon]

Re: Does anyone follows a precise schedule? Do you use task lists everyday?

Yeah, during my undergrad, I used to start research on an essay on the day it was due, pull an over-nighter to get it done, then submit it one day late. Submitting it a day late was fine by me because they only took 2.5 marks off for every day you were late. The bad thing was, despite doing this **** for the majority of my undergrad, I received generally okay results, which didn't discourage me from the practice. I only stopped doing that in my final year because I didn't like the feeling of being sleep deprived.

 

[kasmanaft08]

Re: Does anyone follows a precise schedule? Do you use task lists everyday?

I have quite a detailed schedule written out and planned daily.
I do this every Sunday for the week. If I didn't have my bigass agenda, my life would be in chaos.

 

[epath13]

Re: Does anyone follows a precise schedule? Do you use task lists everyday?

I have quite a detailed schedule written out and planned daily.
I do this every Sunday for the week. If I didn't have my bigass agenda, my life would be in chaos.

Do you have just a regular schedule with times? Do you color code? Do you use images? any apps?

 

[kasmanaft08]

Re: Does anyone follows a precise schedule? Do you use task lists everyday?

Do you have just a regular schedule with times? Do you color code? Do you use images? any apps?

It's divided by time and time clusters [free time / work time ] in ten rows of key time allotments. Time starts from when I should wake up to when I'm done with all responsibilities or appointments. Each hour in between has at least one designated task I need to do at the start, if I finish early than I can mess around somewhere else. When I am less busy, it was divided in 2-3 hour groups instead.

The task can be anything from something important, to reading a chapter of a book, to "morning coffee".

It's an old school agenda, so it's handwritten and crossed out when the days are finished. No colors, just black or blue.

 

[epath13]

Re: Does anyone follows a precise schedule? Do you use task lists everyday?

It's divided by time and time clusters [free time / work time ] in ten rows of key time allotments. Time starts from when I should wake up to when I'm done with all responsibilities or appointments. Each hour in between has at least one designated task I need to do at the start, if I finish early than I can mess around somewhere else. When I am less busy, it was divided in 2-3 hour groups instead.

The task can be anything from something important, to reading a chapter of a book, to "morning coffee".

It's an old school agenda, so it's handwritten and crossed out when the days are finished. No colors, just black or blue.

That's cool. I'm trying to come up with something similar but with conditions, color coding (I've color coded intuitively, if I do it other way it doesn't make sense, and it seems that my colors indicate how stressful each task is) and success monitoring otherwise I'm not going to make it
But it's nice to see that somebody's actually doing it.

 

[kasmanaft08]

Re: Does anyone follows a precise schedule? Do you use task lists everyday?

But it's nice to see that somebody's actually doing it.

It's nice to speak to people who don't think I'm weird for doing it. ^_^

 

[IContainMultitudes]

Re: Does anyone follows a precise schedule? Do you use task lists everyday?

It's divided by time and time clusters [free time / work time ] in ten rows of key time allotments. Time starts from when I should wake up to when I'm done with all responsibilities or appointments. Each hour in between has at least one designated task I need to do at the start, if I finish early than I can mess around somewhere else. When I am less busy, it was divided in 2-3 hour groups instead.

The task can be anything from something important, to reading a chapter of a book, to "morning coffee".

It's an old school agenda, so it's handwritten and crossed out when the days are finished. No colors, just black or blue.

Maybe I need to give something like that a try sometime. I always feel slightly lost when I have big chunks of free time I'm not quite sure how to spend.

 

[kasmanaft08]

Re: Does anyone follows a precise schedule? Do you use task lists everyday?

Maybe I need to give something like that a try sometime. I always feel slightly lost when I have big chunks of free time I'm not quite sure how to spend.

It sounds cheesy, but I try to designate the awkward free time as "constructive" time: read, watch a documentary, research, take a walk, something. My do-anything free time is usually designated for the night to whenever I stay up. Then, even if I'm technically not doing anything, I feel productive and like things are in order/in a positive direction.

 

[Droopy]

Re: Does anyone follows a precise schedule? Do you use task lists everyday?

I don't have any schedule that I follow but everyday ends up being a similar routine. I have a number of things in my head that I want to do but never seem to get around to it. I sit on the computer, TV or games console for most of the day and before I know it, the day has gone and I still haven't "achieved" what I wanted to. I don't think I could stick to a timetable though.