By no self-destructive means am I a busy person, nor do I boast about it. In fact, being busy is something I detest. There are few things I want more than to knock off work at five, indulge in something unsavory, then pass out on the couch at two. Fortunately, let's say, I have a little project to co-run, grad work to complete, and an activity tracker beeping at me every hour. Alas, having goals can be really unfair.

But that's what led to giving myself a week off. A week off setting to dos, being beeped at and tracking progress, that is. It was like being on probation, I imagine. The initial idea was to see how I'd fare without clearly defined tasks. How much exercise I'd get in without the criminal-esque wrist bracelet having to remind me. Would I forget what needed to be done? Would I squander away my hours procrastinating? Not at all.

the mind really does tend to wander when there's no roadmap

The first day felt good. I even got in some purposeless fiction reading as a 15-minute break. (I know because I actually did have to write a summary at the end of the day or this article would not exist. I also allowed myself to write down things that would need to be done at some point.) On the Tuesday, urgent work matters forced me to focus for most of the day, though I managed to hit the gym again. By the third day, the paranoia had set in.

Freestyling each day was worrisome. Despite having a schedule mentally imprinted through years of virtually the same routine minus project detail, I took more breaks to get in more steps, I knowingly switched tasks or re-re-re-checked what was in the pile of papers on my desk, and I'm still debating whether there was something I missed...

What I learned from that week was there are positives to freestyling your day, but for the most part, it's negative, negative, negative. Whether you have one thing on your plate or ten, the mind really does tend to wander when there's no roadmap, so to speak. The distraction that persisted most was my mind thinking about what had to be done, flitting from task-at-hand to task-maybe-next. Not knowing what had to be done when and therefore how much time needed to be allocated drove me to do more without any regard to level of priority. The only positive effect was on exercise. Having become accustomed to ‘the beep' and sporadic step checks, I believe I walked and trained more than I needed.

So, would I do it again? Absolutely. When it's late or I have a deadline looming, the last thing I think is going to help is taking time out to plan. But the benefits became apparent very quickly and I return to planning with a renewed appreciation for its impact on productivity, particularly focus and time management.