If you are ready to get more of what you want out of your career and life, then take control. It’s time to be accountable for your actions. Here are some simple tips that can help turn things around.

1. Write down everything. Stop trying to remember everything as if it is all equal, hoping it comes to mind exactly when you need it. Writing down everything you need to do allows you to prioritize. But then it has to be planned out. A “to-do” list without a calendar doesn’t help you get it done. The same is true for personal and professional activities. So the next step is to:

2. Use a calendar. Your calendar is an important tool to use for more than planning your vacation. Fill in everything that is already expected to happen. With major known dates plugged in, you can use what’s left to backfill with other required tasks. By planning around the big things, you are making sure the important things get done. This means calendaring your interviews/meetings/presentations and the time it takes to prepare and follow up. It means setting timelines for milestones so you are not caught with an incomplete project and an overshot deadline.

Scheduling is … far more important than having good intentions.

3. Look out, not down. Stop getting caught up with little, unimportant things because they are easier. Pushing a less critical project to a specific future date allows you the time to get to more important or pressing issues. Not everything is an emergency, although leaving things to the last minute can create one where none existed. Scheduling is a critical piece of planning and is far more important than having good intentions.

4. Be realistic. Everyone has 24 hours in the day. Pretending there will be time “later” is only a form of procrastination that prevents optimal outcomes. Look carefully at what you have committed to and make adjustments before things go south. Reprioritize and reschedule every day. Planning out projects (again, personal and professional) and examining every step allow you to block the right amount of time. Coming in ahead of schedule or getting a running start on a project allow you to free up more ‘fun’ time later. Don’t wait until everything snowballs at the end of the week.

5. Make time for what is important. Plan around what has to be (work, school) and MAKE time to do the things that are most important to you. Don’t wait until some free time miraculously appears to take that canoe trip or revise your business plan. Schedule the time and stick to it.

Get out of your own way. Stop blaming everybody else for not getting things done. Problem-solve. Delegate. Rethink your processes. Say no. Say yes to the right things. Stop procrastinating and take action!