Five essential tips for planning your weeks, days and hours

A common misconception about productivity is that it's synonymous with getting more work done.

Instead, productivity is about accomplishing our goals. It’s about getting the most of what matters out of our limited energy, attention and time.

Planning (and adapting) how we go about our weeks, days and hours is the key to pulling that off. Today I share five essential tips to help you do that.

Like in my earlier wrap-up posts, I limit the tips to the essentials. You can find links to each respective post in the headlines if you want to delve deeper into the specifics. So enjoy (oh, and plan and adapt)!

1) Instead of managing your days with to-do lists, use implementation intentions
Managing our workday with to-do lists leaves us “[…] distracted by the easy or urgent tasks at the expense of the important work”, according to Nir Eyal. It’s much better to use implementation intentions at work – one of the most effective and well-researched approaches for accomplishing your goals. In essence, that entails deciding in advance on what you’re going to do, and when you’re going to do it. 

2) Spend ten minutes to set three major goals for your week
Block ten minutes off on Sunday evenings or Monday mornings for a weekly planning ritual. Start by mentally fast-forwarding to the end of your week, and come up with three things you want to have accomplished by then. Then, estimate how much focused time you will need to get there – and develop a plan for including sufficient time during the upcoming days. Also, consider canceling or rescheduling some of the non-essential tasks to make time to accomplish your three goals.

3) Each morning, spend 3 to 4 minutes to plan your work around these goals
Set aside 3 or 4 minutes before you start working in the morning. Recall your three major goals for the week, and then go through the following steps. First, plan your collaborative work. Start with the meetings on your calendar, and then add email and group chat to your schedule at predetermined times of the day. Second, plan at least one 45 to 90-minute bout of deep focus per day. Third, add defocus bouts to your daily schedule. Have a longer (lunch) break when your mental energy is lowest – and include short defocus bouts every 45 to 90 minutes.

4) As the day unfolds, either stick to your plan or replan deliberately
Whenever possible, stick to the implementation intentions you set in your plan. During your collaborative work bouts, only engage in the specific type of collaborative work you had scheduled for that time. During focus bouts, refrain from collaborative work altogether. During defocus bouts, let your mind recover by staying away from work entirely. Whenever it isn't possible to stick with your implementation intentions, adapt them. Go through the three steps of your daily planning ritual again to change your schedule for the rest of the day. And while doing that, keep in mind your three goals for the week.

5) Capture to-do’s and ideas in a trusted system
Free up your mind for stress-free productivity by capturing to-do’s and ideas as they come up. Either employ a physical notebook such as the Time-Block Planner, or use digital tools. For capturing to-do's across my smartphone and computer, I use Todoist. Also, I have a "Working memory" text file on my desktop. In that file, I capture ideas and other longer information (e.g. meeting notes) throughout the day.

Lastly, systematically review the to-do’s and ideas you have captured to later include them in your weekly and daily planning. A good time to do so is in the evening – as part of a comprehensive “shutdown routine” to call it a day. I'll provide a deep dive into that routine next week.

If you liked this post, please share it with others:

Until next week,
Christian