Key to time management: Plan your life a year in advance

We all know people who get their Christmas shopping done by September, and those who plan every summer vacation by the previous December.

Thinking ahead is a good way to make life easier, because waiting until the last minute to do everything might increase your stress.

It sounds impossible, but planning your life a year in advance can pay off. Using a yearly planner from a stationery store, you can pencil in everything that’s important to you.

• These tips can get you started:
• Schedule your annual health appointments by the end of January. Be sure to include appointments for your spouse and children.
• Meet with special friends the last Friday of every month. Maybe everyone can’t come every time. That’s OK.
• Designate three days a week to exercise for at least an hour. Write down the exercise plan before something else steals your time.
• Schedule a major grocery store run every six weeks. Try to stock up on products you know you’ll need throughout the year. Make a list to buy laundry detergent, bath soap, dog food, trash bags and other items you don’t want to run out of.
• Plan a date night with your significant other two nights each month. Protect these nights by telling your friends, family and children you’re not flexible on changing them.

“I once planned my life six months ahead,” a young mom said. “It created a rhythm to my schedule that led to new friendships and great family dinners. When I got out of the habit of planning ahead that year, everything went back to the way it was. I need to discipline myself to think ahead again.”

While you don’t want to become a slave to your calendar, you do want to feel important items in your life are receiving attention. Ask yourself, “Who or what am I neglecting?”

A journalist friend said she’s figured out a way to stop neglecting her adult brother. She makes it a point to drive to his hometown in North Carolina every six weeks. “I stay just one day,” she said. “I take my brother, his wife and kids out to dinner. I get a hotel room to make it easier to see them. It’s amazing how well this simple plan works!”

During the past year, Amy has visited her brother’s family eight times. If not for her plan, she says she’d likely have visited them only once or twice.

To figure out what will fit into your schedule, take a hard look at what you’ve been ignoring or neglecting. For example, have you put off a hiking trip way too long? Or would you like to revisit your childhood neighborhood? Put these activities on your calendar.

“My family has stayed close because of my late grandmother’s Sunday family dinners,” an executive said. “Grandma prepared almost the same menu every week, but we never got tired of it. Having those Sundays to touch base with our aunts, uncles and cousins all year was priceless.”

It’s much easier to plan your weekly schedule around your personal goals. It always takes less energy to engage in activities we hold dear. Manipulating time means we have to value it. By planning ahead, we can literally see what we need to do. Not planning means we’re trusting our lives to pure chance.

For more content like this, sign up for the Pulse newsletter here.