How to Make Your Perfect Summer Schedule

Summer’s here! Yay! But summer also comes along with a lot of free time and a lack of desire to do anything productive. Boo! 

Some people live for the summer months, when work or school (or both) slow down and get a little relaxed. Even in college, the summer classes were (usually) WAY easier than the fall and spring courses. 

Side note: My secret trick was to take the classes I knew would be the hardest in the summer (so, basically all of the math). 

Even as an adult, summer can be challenging for me. I love routine. I love structure. I love busy days where my planner looks like it couldn’t possibly handle one more thing! 

However, in the summer, I’m lucky if my planner even has one thing. 

So, I’m working on a summer schedule. A way to keep myself as productive as possible while school is out! 

STEP 1 | Decide what you want to accomplish this summer

What do you want to have done by the end of the summer months? What would help you to have in place by fall? What are some projects you would love to complete, but are always too busy for? This is the time for those things! J

Set a timer for one minute and jot down everything you would like to have done by the end of summer. Then rate them by importance. Can you start that one that’s most important to you? Is it feasible to do over the summer? Why or why not? What needs to be done to make it doable?

STEP 2 | Set weekly checkpoints

It’s important to remember that summer is a fleeting season; In fact, probably the most fleeting season of the year. So don’t give yourself an ENORMOUS project that you don’t have the time/resources to complete in the next two months.

How many weeks do you have between here and the end of summer? 8? 10? Set up a weekly progress track to help keep you on pace. Tiny little milestones to work towards each week will make your goal feel more achievable and will keep you on target!

STEP 3 | Block out your time

This is the thing that’s so hard about summer: there’s no restrictive schedule! Days and time are more fluid… that’s why you need to make yourself a little schedule! Nothing crazy hard, just a little time map of your day that tells you what to do and when to do it.

Remember to block out a realistic amount of time for your projects!

STEP 4 | Get started

Of course, the most important step: getting started! Beginning a new project can be overwhelming, so just remember to work toward your weekly checkpoints and they will lead you to your big goal!

How I Learned to Let Go of Perfectionism

Do your work and school life slow down in the summer? What projects do you have planned?