How to Plan Your Day
When it comes to time management, you can think about it in big long-term chunks, or you can think about a very simple question, “How am I going to plan my day?” And planning your day well is essential to getting good at time management.
Let’s go through the who, what, why, when, where, and how—all those good questions when it comes to planning your day.
1. When is the Best Time to Plan?For a lot of people, consolidation and being able to work with a lot of information happens while we sleep. When planning your day, it can be valuable before you close your day to think about what’s on top for tomorrow, what you need to be thinking about, what’s the day going to look like, and what’s coming at you.
First, that makes you feel a little calmer when you disengage from work since you know what’s coming at you, but it also helps you do that consolidation. Your brain’s working away while you’re sleeping—which might give you some kooky dreams! But then, you can revisit it in the morning. Things change, priorities shift, and sometimes, an email comes inbound at 6:00 AM, throwing everything up in the air. But having this double bounce—thinking about your day both the evening before and in the morning—will help you get on top of it.
2. What Should You Plan?It’s important to answer “What?” What is the most important thing you need to accomplish today? Or what three things do you need to get done? Also, it’s important to ask what can wait because we have thoughtload—this is the term I use to describe all that stuff that weighs on us, that we’re thinking about, worrying about, and fretting about, even when trying to work on something else.
When we’re thinking about a day and our plan for the day, it’s important to not only think about the most important things you need to do—and at max, you probably only want two or three most important things—but it’s just as important to ask what are you not going to get to today? And it’s okay that you’re not going to get to it.
3. Why Are You Planning Your Day?When you get to answering the “why” questions, it’s about the purpose of these tasks. What are they in service of? What is the outcome that you’re trying to create that is the most important outcome?
This isn’t just about what activities you are going to do. It’s not just what outputs you’re trying to deliver. It’s what change you are trying to create. And that—reflecting on things that are beyond your control but are the most important reasons why you’re doing something—gives your whole day more meaning. Make sure that you ask the why questions, not just what.
4.Who Plays a Role in Your Plan?Of course, “Who?” plays a big role in planning your day: Who do you need to talk to? Who could be helpful here? Who is counting on what you’re delivering today? All of those sorts of who questions to know your most important stakeholders.
Stakeholder management is sometimes important because, just like in the what section, knowing who you want to engage with and who you don’t want to engage with is really important. Who are you going to keep at bay today? Who are you going to have to ask to wait? Who will try to interrupt you, bother you, and take you off track, and how will you manage that?
5. How Can You Build Your Day?When you’re in the clear on what you have to do today, why that matters, and who will be involved, then you can get to the how. How do you build out that day using time blocks? Because we know that set time blocks are much more efficient than if we try to do a bunch of things at once.
How do you get some 90-minute blocks of time? Where are you putting in rest? In between your blocks, what are you going to do? Will you walk to another department and have a 10-minute coffee with a friend? Will you get outside and get some oxygen, do a quick lap around the block—what will you do? Where are you building in your buffers? Because if a day does not have a buffer, it’s going to be stressful and probably not very productive.
And last thing, how will you recharge your batteries during the day today? Where are you going to eat? What are you going to put in your mouth to fuel your day? Where are you going to move your body? If you’re somebody who gets energized by social things, where is that time for you to connect with your clients, your customers, and your colleagues? Think about how you’re going to put those things in your day.
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Most of the time, we plan our day on “what, what, what?” We have a to-do list of 15 things, and we start working through them, and that’s not an optimal way to plan our day.
We need to consider when is the right time to think about our time management? So yes, what are we doing, but more importantly what will we not get done today? Why, what **are we trying to accomplish, how are we trying to change the world—even a very small version of the world that these tasks will add up to. Who is involved, and who needs to stay uninvolved? And how. How are we going to optimize that time with periods of focus, periods of rest, and periods of rejuvenation? That’s a great way to plan your day.
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