Keeping a Tight Schedule vs. Going with the Flow

Part of the family’s Holiday vacation is going on a road trip. And this year, the itinerary is to Baguio on the 27th, Sagada on the 28th, Thunderbird on the 29th, then Subic on the 30th. In an ideal world, this could indeed be a holiday. But in reality, we are bound to encounter issues with the time, that will definitely affect or change the schedules, and that can spell disaster instead of a holiday. In order to make this trip fun, should we keep a tight schedule or just go with the flow?

We are also familiar with the term “Filipino Time”. You give a call time of 7:00PM for a dinner party, people come in at 8 or 8:30PM. I have to admit, there were times that I came to a gathering on Filipino Time. (But for the longest time I had some of my watches adjusted 40 minutes in advance.) So do you still stick to the schedule when you know some people adhere to this practice?

Here’s another funny example. Traffic Lights and Traffic Enforcers. You already have the traffic lights on and they follow a time on when to turn green and all that. But then you have the traffic enforcers doing their thing. Cars pile up on one end while the enforcer literally lets all the cars in the opposite lane, cross the intersection on to the other side. Why don’t you just shut off the traffic lights then? Well, I guess they have an intelligent reason why they keep it on.

Just like other aspects in Life, how do we keep things in order and make use of the time we have. I’ve tried a couple of times to punch in a schedule in my hand held device so that I know what time I should be doing things. But then later on I found myself always adjusting the time lines, because I had to prioritize something else or what have you. So then I got tired of switching on the calendar tool because I know for a fact that something will pop up and mess it all up.

A simple “after work” timeline that I plotted is this;

11:00AM – 11:30AM Lunch
11:30AM – 12:30PM Browse the Net / Download stuff for iTouch
12:30PM – 1:30PM Play PS3
1:30PM – 3:00PM Watch a DVD
3:00PM – 5:00PM sleep
5:00PM – 5:30PM Jogging
5:30PM – 6:30PM Play with Kian
6:30PM – 7:00PM Dinner
7:00PM – 7:30PM Listen to Music / Play games on iTouch
7:30PM – 11:30PM sleep
11:30PM – get ready for work

(Yes I play a lot of video games because it takes the stress from work away, so let me be)

But I don’t really get to follow this. Sometimes when I get home, I’m too tired and sleepy I go straight to bed. Or sometimes I’m close to leveling up in a game that I’m playing so I can’t put down the controller. Or for some reason I just couldn’t sleep. One time I came home so sleepy and I wanted to follow the schedule, I literally fell asleep on my computer chair while updating my NBA Fantasy League roster. Even on weekends you try to plan something but sure enough there would always be changes. And it will only frustrate you whenever things don’t go according to the plan. You wanted to go here but ended up going there, etc.

So would it rather be better to just scrap the schedule and just go with the flow?

I believe it’s still good to have a schedule mapped out. Proper time management may be a challenge, but at least the schedule keeps you on track and it teaches you how to prioritize things.