Needless to say the last year hasn’t gone as planned. A trap that I fall into is to not bother being as productive when things go off track. It is a bad habit to fall into, because things often do off track. This is where we are faced with a choice as simple as whether we are to be productive or not. There are many things that get in the way of things going in as planned, so we can still choose to be as productive as we can be. Here are a few tips that I find helpful.
Keep updating your schedule. We can make a schedule for the whole day, week, month, etc. Especially longer term schedules are likely to change. Even a schedule for the day will change. When things go off track, it's best to adjust it to get back on track. As a caveat though, It may be counterproductive to constantly update your schedule obsessively.
Build in flexibility. Plan for things to change. Build in extra time here and there. No matter how good you are at estimating time for tasks and planning, things will go off track. Don't expect things to go exactly as planned.
Don't give up completely. When things go off the rails, don't throw up your hands in the air and just give up. Even if that means just crossing off or rescheduling tasks. One of the biggest temptations is to just give up and do whatever until the next day. That will almost never be the best solution.
Re-evaluate your method. If you find yourself going off track frequently, it may be time to consider another method. It is possible that you are just planning too much or too rigidly. Give yourself some room to have some fun and for things to go off track.
I know the past year has been even more difficult to stay on track. As our lives adjust and change, we should update our methods to best server our circumstances currently. It will be more helpful to stay on track the best we can than not at all. That is the method I can take now.