Yep! I learned that the hard way.

A good rule of thumb that I ended up following is to “plan for your worst day.” This means that if I were to make a commitment to do something everyday, I should make sure that I can actually do it even on the days I couldn’t be bothered to do anything. Not only does it make sure that I can actually do it (and hence, form a habit), it also forces me to prioritize the things I actually want to do.

Another rule of sorts I picked up is “a moment is roughly 20 minutes.” The way I see it, it means that there’s no use micromanaging my day down to the minute. I‌ normally just divide my day into at most three chunks: morning, afternoon and evening, and then allot at most two things (appointments, errands, etc.) per chunk. That way, I won’t feel hurried or pressured for time.

But yeah, the main idea is not to make a schedule so oppressive I’d actually feel resentful at it, as you’ve said, but to make sure that it has the things I can commit myself to doing daily–even in my roughest days.