The idea of actively working up a schedule for your week, with every hour accounted for, might give you school timetable flashbacks. And for that, we are sorry. But here’s the thing: mapping out your week could help you to spend your time better – and feel happier in each moment.

However, don’t think of it as a boring agenda made up only of meetings and appointments. Instead, suggests Cassie Holmes, a professor of marketing and behavioural decision-making at UCLA and the author of Happier Hour, we should view our week as a beautiful mosaic. That’s how we stop feeling like we’re rushing through life, flitting from one task to another. It’s also how we wrestle back some control over how we spend our time.

“Take a step back and look at your week as a whole,” Holmes tells Stylist. “Think of each hour as a tile, which, when pieced all together, forms the beautiful and colourful mosaic of your life.”

How to create your ideal week with the mosaic exercise