How do you organize your life?

[SimplyWandering]

I waa talking to my Boyfriend today and he is getting to know me little by little, he is NT by the way...

As i was explaining to him my day, I made sure to mention that I place everything in my calender, from brushing teeth , to washing face, to taking a shower, and going to appointments,etc.

He looked at me incredulously and said
"WHaaattt do you mean?"
"Don't you just automatically do those things in the morning?"

I said no, if i dont have each and everything in my calender I won't remember to do them at all.

Dumbfounded as he is... i start to feel embarrassed.

 

[the_tortoise]

I use a combination of routine and visual cues for things like brushing teeth. If I do anything out of order, or move things, or add things, then it all falls apart.

When I plan my time out, I have to write down literally everything. If I plan errands, for example, I have in there things like, "1:00pm - 1:15pm walking" except it's not a line of a page of writing, it's a a doodle of a stick man walking with the times in a box somewhere near the stick man, and this sits between the places I'll be walking from and to, with directional arrows connecting them.....all of it on a page that looks a bit like a child's treasure map (the spatial layout usually has no relation to where things actually are, though, as far as different physical locations may be involved.)

 

[Jorg]

Uugghh I struggle with my daily organization every 6months. Every semester I have to think how the f__ I organize my day, lectures, study time, fun time, etc.

I started getting very organized when I began college around 7 years ago and sometimes the schedule is just a mess filled with holes.

This week I started a new semester, I enrolled 5 courses, I try to study betwwen 10-12h per week each class, the labs take a little more and I have to try to match the work time with my colleagues. Plus, I have to take a coouple of personal projects like programming and music.

Having exercise is a really important part of my life, I re-experienced all the mental benefits from running or going to the gym so I try to excercise at least 3 times per week.

In all of this, I have been dealing with my schedule these week, I use google calendar to organize myself with all the activities but so far I've done like 4 schedule attempts, right now I'm doing the fifth and hopefully definitive calendar.

Sometimes I have something planned and it irritates me if I can't do the thing when I schedule. Lets's say for example I have X class at 5:00 to 7:00, if the lecture is canceled I'm like "So wtf do I do now?I could study the subject at home, but this was lecture time, not study time" or "I can't do anything else because I had that time for an specific action".Sometimes is really stressfull, probably my OCD making its magic there.

Well, see you around, I gotta try to make a definitive schedule hehe...

 

[Progster]

Things like brushing teeth, checking email and showering are well-ingrained routines which I'm not likely to forget to do - I feel strange and uneasy if I don't do them, like something's missing. If I need to remember to do something that's not part of my routine, then I need visual cues, like post-it notes or items placed round my computer to remind me. Remembering to pay a bill comes into that categegory. I also have a diary in which I write my weekly appointments and schedules.

 

[Major Tom]

I keep a mental schedule of my whole day, week, and monthly plans. Any interruption in these schedules or routines cause me great anxiety. For example I need to know weeks or even months ahead of time of special events or changes in routines, so that I can mentally prepare, or everything falls apart. Ask me to do something that I am not prepared for throws me into an often angry panic and will ruin whole days for me.
Thankfully my wife caught onto this, and for the most part let's me know well ahead of time.
I do not need to schedule some of the baser things in life like hygiene, but that doesn't mean that I don't ALWAYS follow a particular routine.

 

[WereBear]

I have crafted the most efficient way of getting up and getting out, and if I get derailed I forget something important

Because, really, keeping track of this isn't the most efficient use of brainpower, is it?