Planning day to day activities

Some of the things we need to get on with might not take a lot of planning, but they do need us to take action. We need to set priorities as doing things sooner rather than later can often make life easier. The benefits of setting priorities include:

• avoiding unnecessary cost or hardship – if you need to make a trip by train or coach, booking your ticket in advance can save money
• stopping the situation from getting worse – the sooner you start to address a problem, the sooner you can find a solution
• saving time in the long-term – by planning in advance you can predict where the difficulties or problems might lie, and work out a way to get round them
• staying organised – deciding what needs to be done now and what can wait until later stops tasks building up and becoming too much to cope with.
• a sense of achievement – whenever you complete something you set out to do, however big or small, it gives a sense of personal achievement.

Use the example below to help get you started.

• Now look at your list. Which items are the most urgent?
• Choose three things you need to do now, and set a date when you will do them:

Click here to download a copy of the “Planning day to day activities” table as an editable WORD document.

Tips for planning day to day activities

• Think about all the things you have been meaning to do but keep putting off. At this stage do not worry about things that are going to affect your life in the long-term. Keep your list simple and achievable. Examples could include things like phoning a friend, planning a family meal, or something important but easily achievable like making an appointment with the doctor.
• Concentrate on things that need little or no planning or preparation, but could be done now. Then decide how urgent these tasks are. This will depend on what your priorities are. Making lists can help.