Does Skipping an Agenda Item on Your Daily Schedule Fill You With Anxiety?

Schedules and positive habits can help us achieve significant goals, but what do you do when something comes up that forces you to skip an agenda item? Do you feel flexible or ashamed?

Choose Grace Over Guilt

You probably agree with us that stress and anxiety are worth avoiding, so we should all give ourselves grace rather than guilt around our daily plans. After all, if something arises that causes a delay, the world will not end, though we may initially feel negative emotions. Those emotions pass.

Remember these reasons to choose grace over guilt when you have to skip an agenda item:

• You’ll be likelier to easily get back on-task tomorrow if you don’t guilt-trip yourself today.
• Grace for yourself is a type of self-care. It helps you reset.
• Many agenda items can typically wait a day without much trouble.

Simplify Your Schedule

Are you trying to do too much? When we can’t keep up with a schedule, we may have jammed too many tasks into it. If you routinely feel stressed about your routine, you would likely benefit from simplifying your daily life.

Here are some useful tips:

• Limit your daily schedule to no more than three objectives.
• Prioritize your tasks. We can’t do everything in one day, so figure out what’s truly important and what can wait until another day.
• Avoid distractions.

Be Flexible and Adaptive

Schedules and routines offer us structure, but being too rigid has its drawbacks:

• We may experience stress, anxiety and depression.
• Our relationships may suffer.
• Valuable opportunities may be missed.

Psychology Today offers an excellent article about the importance of not being too rigid. “Recognize that,” writes author Steven Stosny, PhD, “in business, families, and sports, the teams that adapt are the teams that win.”

We Can Help You Win the Battle With Your Daily Schedule

At American Behavioral Clinics, we help people in Greater Milwaukee address the issues that cause stress, anxiety and extreme rigidity around daily schedules.

Your routine should inspire happiness. We’ll help you get there. Schedule your local appointment today.