What is the best schedule for a day? How can you build that best schedule?

I’m sure you have been working on the best schedule for a day for years now. I’ve been trying to figure it out for a long time.

I’m not sure there is a best schedule for a day because no plan survives first contact with the enemy. But you know what does survive contact with the enemy? SOP’s (Standard Operating Procedures) and Immediate Action Drills both survive contact with the enemy.

In the Marine Corps, an SOP is how we do something: how we move, how we communicate, how we shoot, and how we do almost everything. Our Immediate Action Drills (IA Drills) are an SOP we execute if a certain thing happens. The one most people military members remember for the rest of their lives is an ambush. If you are caught in an ambush, take cover and return fire. There is no thinking or changing that programming.

So if some plans actually survive the first contact with an enemy, can’t we use that in our daily lives to beat our schedules?

For me, I noticed this when I started going to the gym in the morning before work. I just made it a habit and it worked great. Years ago my habit was to go straight from work to the gym. Doing either of these ensured that I got my workout in.

So why can’t we put the most important things we need to do every day in our lives on autopilot so that they always get done?

In the book Atomic Habits James Clear talks about having a trigger for doing something. Why can’t we just use our habits every day to stack on each other and make each thing that happens our trigger for doing something else. It becomes our SOP to do this than that.

My SOP for the gym is to get up at 5 AM and then be out the door by 5:15 to make it to the gym by 5:30. I also use another trigger at night before I go to bed, and set up my workout bag and gear for the next day. So I can get up, get dressed, have a drink of water, and head out the door for the gym.

Once at the gym I have a schedule of workout things I’m working on. The day of the week becomes my trigger and I just keep working on it.

Can you set yourself up for success by stacking habits to create the best schedule for a day?

Ben Branam

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