If you’re looking for a surefire way to boost your productivity, it’s hard to beat the power of scheduling. This article looks at why productive people often use scheduling as a secret weapon and ways you can take advantage of scheduling yourself.

Longer Hours Don’t Help

By helping you prioritize tasks, scheduling helps cut down on overwork. While working long hours may seem like a good way to boost productivity, the reality is that mounds of research say otherwise, according to Sarah Green Carmichael at the Harvard Business Review. 

An often-overlooked part of scheduling is that you can schedule downtime as well as productive time. That is key to avoiding overwork.

Scheduling Helps Make Promises Accurate

Scheduling will give you a more accurate picture of what you can actually accomplish. That, in turn, will prevent you from overpromising results. Additionally, the schedule forces you to focus on tasks that will really help your company. Without a predefined schedule, it becomes easier to begin projects that won’t actually provide many benefits.

How to Use Scheduling

Wondering how to use scheduling to boost your own productivity? Alex Iskold at Entrepreneur.com has put together a list of tips. One step Iskold recommends taking is creating a routine. Plan tasks in your calendar, and also be sure to build in time for breaks and relaxation. Calendar apps can be very useful for this step.

Iskold also recommends keeping similar tasks grouped together. For example, if you keep your calls and meetings lumped together, large stretches of your day will be free to focus on other tasks. Additionally, Iskold points out that you will continually need to monitor where your time is being spent and adjust your priorities as necessary, but the effort is well worth it.

For more tips on getting the most out of your workday, take a look at Nations Capital Financing’s other blog posts.