My driving instructor used to say that he could not understand why people went cheap on buying tyres for their car. The tyres are the only part of the car that actually makes contact with the road, he would say. At least, that’s the aim. So, if you buy bad tyres, then that has a massive knock on effect to every other aspect of your car and your driving experience. The tyres you buy is, quite literally, where the rubber hits the road. I feel the same about planning your day. I have written about some of this before. All of your goals and plans, hopes and ambitions, will only ever be achieved one day at a time. Lofty ambitions and high ideals are no match for a good plan for your day! My point remains, no matter what your goals are, if you cannot use your day effectively, you will never achieve them. We have all set goals and ambitions, but without any real thought about what to actually do, in the moment, to take us forwards towards them, they are all just talk. So, how do we go about building a plan for an effective day?
The when?
When should you plan your day? I advocate for a two stage process.
The bulk of your planning should be done the day before. You are holing yourself beneath the water line if you start work each day with no idea what you are planning to do. If you do this, more often than not, you end up getting drawn in to the emails, the communications and to a reactive response approach to your day. So, plan the night before. Set aside 10-15 minutes at the end of your day, to plan the next one.
Every morning, as you start your day, you need to review and reflect on your plan. Double check it is still going to work. It may be you slept really badly and something deep and cognitive, might be better postponed. Perhaps someone has been in touch and you need to rejig things? It is very much a good idea to confirm your plan is still going to work, and to recommit yourself to it when you start your day.
The what?
What makes an effective day? What should you be planning into your day exactly? I would advise, at a high level, that we consider 3 things:
Impact & Maintenance
Some of the things we do are going to have a big impact. Other things will not but still need to be attended to. Somethings you do will develop and grow – they will push things forwards, other things will maintain. Both are needed. Over the course of a longer time period than a single day, you need to consider this. It may be that some days focus more on the big impact and others on the maintenance. That’s ok. My advice is to consider both when you plan each and every day. It might be that you want to focus on the big impact stuff, but just make sure nothing on the maintenance side will bite you through neglect. A day where you just do maintenance stuff doesn’t inspire or motivate you, so ask if there is anything you can do that will have a bigger impact.
Bear in mind that some of things we give our attention to in life that will have the biggest impact, are NOT tasks, goals or projects. And they are definitely NOT work. Call that friend who just lost a loved one. Play a game with your son or daughter. Spend 30 minutes exercising. Take 10 minutes to talk to a colleague about how they are managing their current workload.
Focus & Variety
The big idea that many people are majoring on at the moment is the need to block off time for focussed, undistracted work. I second this. But, I add that deep focus is something you are only capable of for so long. A whole range of factors will impact how long you can focus for, and it will not be the same from one day to the next. So, plan for focus yes, but also plan for variety. For me, if I have just spent 2 hours focussing on one thing, I cannot immediately dive into the next focus block. But, half an hour spent doing a multitude of different quick tasks and I get my focus back. Plan this in.
Rest, movement & air
Most of us plan our day without thinking about these things at all and then wonder why at 2pm/3pm we are totally out of steam and struggling to keep going. A 10 minute break, a 30 minute walk outside, these things are critically important to enable us to keep working well for our full day.
If you don’t plan them, they won’t happen.
The how?
You need to make sure when you plan your day that you cover all the bases that you need to. The way to be sure of this is to use a checklist. So often we just trust to hope that when we do stuff like this quickly in our heads, we will do it properly. But, this is important. A checklist ensures you run through this planning exercise thoroughly and properly.
The Calendar
The first thing you need to do is to review your calendar. The time given over to fixed commitments in a day will affect anything else you plan. Tomorrow I am in meetings from 10am to 3pm. I will not have as much time for anything else as a normal day. So I need to know this before I plan.
The week
Second, you need to consider the shape of your week. I mean things like deadlines yes, but also energy requirements through the week. Whilst we need to plan each day individually, we do not do so in isolation. Each day, is part of a week, and then a month and so on. Considering what is happening and needed throughout the week as a whole is critical when you plan your day. Like doing an exam. You need to know the shape and content of the whole paper, before you decide how much to give to the question in front of you.
The Priority
Third, set some priorities. Honestly, I have all but given up on the dream that I might plan in exactly the right amount of stuff for my day. I always plan too much. Setting priorities within this ensures three things. First, that I consider and make a decision on what is actually most important, second that I actually focus on those things and third, at the end of the day, I know that it has been effective as I have completed those priorities (or something more important came up). I use a version of Carl Pullein’s 2+8 system for this. Others I have come across would be the daily highlight or the 3 big things idea.
The Agenda
Last, I write an agenda for my day. A rough ‘map’ to guide me through my day and keep me moving. I do not time block. My calendar is for things that will happen or must happen. A time block plan, is just an intention. Often it is an intention that is far too ambitious. If I time block plan on my calendar, my calendar become untrustworthy and this is bad. Even Cal Newport, the great advocate of Time Block Planning, writes out a rough time block plan in a notebook and not on his calendar.
The mop up….
Technically this is part of week planning, but it will affect one day plan. Have a slot in your week for mopping up. Why not Thursday afternoon or Friday afternoon? Keep this time clear in your week plan. Anything you have to reschedule from day to day through the week, you don’t have to worry about when to fit it in. Dump it into your mop-up slot.
When it comes to building a plan for an effective day, getting it right is one of the most important aspects of being effective. If we cannot use our day right, then all the goals and ambitions we have are just idle hopes. Using our day effectively, is the only way I know to keep moving us closer to those goals. Building a plan for an effective day, is the only way that I know to give us the best shot at actually having an effective day.
