The Power of Scheduling

When it comes to goals and making something happen, don’t underestimate the importance of a calendar.

There’s something powerful about committing an action to your calendar. conejota/Shutterstock

If you were given a blank piece of paper and asked to jot down the tasks, goals, or dreams you’ve been meaning to or wanting to accomplish, how long would your list be? Whether there are nagging tasks that you’ve been procrastinating on or big dreams you’ve resisted pursuing for one reason or another, could you fill that piece of paper? A lot of us could.

Why don’t we take action toward the things we know we should do and actually want to do? Life and business strategist Tony Robbins has said, “If you talk about it, it’s a dream, if you envision it, it’s possible, but if you schedule it, it’s real.” Too often, these hopes and dreams remain just that—vague ideas that would be nice, but who knows how or when they’ll ever get done. We just never seem to get around to it. If you want to move your goals into reality, you need to schedule the work that’s necessary to get them done.

Schedule It

There’s something powerful about committing an action to your calendar. If you’re like most people, when you make an appointment with someone else, you probably won’t fail to show up, or you’ll at least reschedule or cancel the appointment if you can’t make it. Having an appointment gives you a great sense of obligation and accountability to the other party, and you don’t want to disrespect their time, offend them, inconvenience them, or cause them to form a poor opinion of you. Whether your appointment is a phone call, a meeting, a doctor’s checkup, a haircut, or a friendly visit, once it’s on your calendar, you’ve committed to it.