I think it depends on what your goals are. I've read quite a few articles and books on meditation from many different sources and they almost all advise that meditation be performed almost ritually where you do it twice a day at the same time. I don't think there is anything wrong with that. Also, having a schedule for specific types of goals works very well, especially when more than one person is involved in working towards a common goal. I'm like you, though, I don't like schedules and goal setting. I prefer to wing it the majority of the time. I know that I am not as productive as I could be, but I'm almost as productive as I want to be. As I get older, I find that more time is desirable for recuperation, relaxation, and reflection. I'm just not in that big of a hurry anymore.

To answer your question, I don't think a schedule is essential, but can be more beneficial to achievement than not using one. I also don't think a schedule needs to encompass our every waking hour. I think it works best as a checkpoint to make sure that we are making positive progress towards attaining a goal that we have determined is worthy of our concentrated effort, whether it's an hourly goal or a lifetime goal.

I found creating "certain rituals" to be very helpful... if you want to call them a schedule then ok... I have a ritual / schedule for the morning, for the evening.. then I have chunks of time divided for things like... work, lunch, work, family.. etc... than i try to devote that time to things related them. works for me.. and yes i agree. most successful people seem to say that having a schedule is almost an essential.

Having a regular schedule is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO impossible for me!! Like Bill I try and I try and I try and I just can't. Well maybe that's not quite the right way to put it. I do find that I tend to prefer to do certain things at certain hours, it's just that they're not the hours you're SUPPOSED to be devoting to doing these things. For example I reeeally like working late at night. It's what is most practical for me anyways seeing as I'm a single mom with little kids and little kids will NOT let you work when they are bouncing around. And when are little kids not bouncing around? Well late at night.

Like someone else mentioned, I find that I do tend to prefer "rituals" (such a great idea, thanks! ). For example it's easier for me to get up if I know what to expect. I'm not an early fast starter-upper and when I get up I have no idea what to do. So having a gettting-up ritual helps me to have a no-brainer rising.

I wish I were more scheduled. Of course having kids and a work schedule that changes constantly also doesn't help the cause! But even without these disruptions, I still have a very hard time making and keeping a schedule.

I do try to have daily goals, = I must produce X amount of work every day and do X, Y and Z tasks everyday. And I find that I do tend to keep on schedule with these tasks that I assign for myself, ie. I do produce X amount of work every day if I tell myself to, and I do accomplish X, Y and Z tasks everyday. But I find it very very hard to do X, Y and Z tasks at the same hour every day.

I find that producing what I tell myself to produce every day is still moving me nicely and steadily towards my goals, even though I don't work on that production at the same hour every day.

So. I DO wish I were a more scheduled person. But on the other hand we have to work with what we've got, I guess, and I neither have a lifestyle that permits me to keep a fixed, rigid schedule (kids are very demanding and capricious, and I have to work at my job different hours every day too), nor a character for that either.