A year or so ago I came across something called The Old Man Schedule. It’s a time management system based on Benjamin Franklin’s daily routine. He divided his day into blocks of time allocated to getting up, eating, working, reading, diversion and sleep.

Key to his schedule are two questions: What good shall I do today? and What good have I done today?

I have been pondering about making my own schedule for a while. But I keep getting distracted with the amount of time I want to allocate to each task in the day.

Looking at Franklin’s schedule again I now realise I am missing the point. It’s not so much about when you do things, it’s about starting the day asking yourself what you want to achieve and at the end of the day you reflect on that.