How To Think On Schedule

1. Schedule about what stresses you.

If it's about finance or something that typically stresses you out, schedule it in. Stop trying to balance your already-stressed-out budget at lunch or dinner. Wait until Saturday morning, when you're well-rested and commitment-free. Or pick one day per month that you focus on financial issues. Then stop thinking about it every day. Start doing the things that make money more often, rather than stressing about it every minute of a day. If you have a thought come in about it during the week, just write it down and come back to it later when you time. Learning to discipline my thoughts has spared me from a lot of useless, non-productive, self-loathing fear and drama, especially when it was about financial issues.

2. Schedule in thinking about things that are bothering you (at unproductive times).  

Things would pop into our head at the most random (and unproductive!) times. If you got stressed out about something on your way to work, you should tell yourself that you couldn't think about until after 6pm. If something was making you worried, you can make a decision to NOT think about it until the very next day, when you knew you would have more objectivity. Don't ever become a slave to your thoughts, make them obey you. Don’t get lost in them. It’s fatal.

Productivity does have a lot to do with time management and prioritizing things to execute. But it is also very important to realize when we are at our best peak flow times during the day and the week. Schedule in or write down when you shall think about certain things that bothers you, both related to personal life and professional, and you will find things don't overwhelm you as much as they used to, and you will actually even enjoy processing some things that you used to avoid, hate or deny altogether.