Being in a good mood from the very morning, getting everything done and doing it productively, receiving only positive emotions, not forgetting about rest and yourself - this is probably what our ideal day looks like. What about the regular one? Urgent work, rush, a carload of unfulfilled tasks and severe fatigue in the evening. Agree, this option is much closer to reality. What is the problem? Why can't we live according to an ideal plan? What's going wrong?
The answer is simple: incorrect preparation of a plan for the day or lack thereof.
Why is it important to make a daily plan?
Imagine an ordinary morning: you open your eyes, check your phone, wash your face, have breakfast, and drive along your usual route to work. You always have this minimal initial plan that brings the system to life. Thanks to him, you don’t waste time on unimportant things. What if you make a plan like this for the whole day? It is not necessary to write everything down minute by minute; it is enough to make a list of tasks and meetings, plan the important, separate the urgent from the non-urgent. Yes, at first glance, it may seem complicated and it seems that such planning keeps within strict limits. But, on the contrary: the more clearly you see your day, the easier it is to deal with canceled meetings, rescheduled errands and other unpredictable factors. After new tasks appear, you are not lost, but know where they can be inserted without wasting time and stress. In essence, the daily plan is our confidence and fulcrum.
Key benefits of weekly scheduling:
- longer planning horizon compared to one day
- Saving employee time and significant savings of manager time
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Weekly work plan
- How to make a plan?
- Go through all monthly project plans, take from them a list of tasks with a deadline by the end of the week + 5 days.
- Open your monthly work plan and write out some of the work from there.
- Include operational tasks (previously known or set by the manager) into the weekly plan.
- Tasks must be planned for the entire work week, taking into account the time reserve for introductory tasks (determined for each position individually).
- after all, that’s why the tasks and “unforeseen” ones may or may NOT exist.
- if the plan was not completed due to the fact that newly received tasks were being completed, then some of the tasks from the plan can be transferred to the next week.
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Jedi techniques: help in correctly drawing up a plan for the day
If you feel like you don’t have time to do anything, at the end of the evening you feel like a squeezed lemon, and every day you feel overwhelmed both in your work and in your personal life, then something is definitely going wrong. Your day will not be perfect without time for yourself and relaxation, without a feeling of satisfaction before bed.
How to close this problem? There are many methods, one of them is the use of “Jedi techniques”. And this is not about the battle on light beams with disorder, but real working techniques from the book of the same name. Before I discovered this method, I didn’t think about how often we use the expression “not enough time.” Now I realized that what we lack is not time, but intelligence. If we learn to set clear and achievable goals for ourselves, will we really struggle with this?
The main idea is this:
- We take on tasks that “seem to be burning,” but in fact nothing will happen if we postpone them until later or don’t complete them at all
- We do the little things and the routine, but don’t have enough energy for the important things. Perhaps you should start delegating?
- We don’t set aside at least 1 hour in the morning for an important, focused task. I emphasize: IN THE MORNING, before all matters, first of all. Otherwise, the routine will shift it again and the task will remain on your waiting list.
- Be sure to set aside a time when no one should disturb you and vice versa, when you can be available to everyone.
Plans for the week
Compiled on Sunday evening. If you are more comfortable planning in the morning, then do it on Monday before the start of the work day.
What is written in your weekly planner should bring you closer to your global goals - those that you described in your annual plan. Therefore, feel free to cross out from your weekly plan everything that will not bring you any benefit. It is especially important to write down in your weekly plan what you do not dare to do or are lazy. Do you want to run three times a week in the morning? Write down specific days and times in your plan when you will do this. Are you afraid of a serious conversation with a colleague that you still have to have? Set a date for when you will finally do it. Include in your weekly plan any tasks that will take up your time (even small ones) and use up your internal resources.
How to work with “inbox”?
During the working day, our brain effectively thinks no more than 3 hours. And the maximum time to concentrate on information is, at best, only 40 minutes. But there is a state of “flow” that can stretch this time and increase it. What's the point? In energy.
After all, you can do everything on time and schedule, but at the same time feel exhausted and tired. Or you can “save thinking,” and thereby save both resources at the maximum: both time and energy. This is exactly one of the main components of an ideal day - balance.
Probably one of the main sources of such energy-time gaps should and can be called “inbox”. That is, everything that awaits a solution from us: messages in the messenger, unsorted work tasks, unread books, money transactions, unwritten ideas and other everyday tasks. And the most annoying thing is that they need to be resolved a little faster than usual.
And yet, how can you solve them when you don’t want to?
- If it takes no more than 5 minutes to solve a problem, do it right now.
- Work according to the Pomodoro method. For example: 30 minutes of fruitful work, 10 minutes of rest and back to work.
- Disable unnecessary notifications while working.
- Keep everything around you in order: chaos is very distracting and prevents us from focusing on one thing.
- Separate “thinking” from “doing”. Think only at the moment of making a decision, then do it and not think at this moment.
- Set minutes for rest or to “go have tea” as a task, limited in time and requiring completion.
Planning for the year
Every December, make your plan for the coming year. It makes no sense to do this before, and if you draw up a yearly plan in January, you will waste time, since the year has already begun. Planning for a year is the recording of the most significant goals and events for this period of time. Write down in your plan those activities that you are already doing and are just going to do. Indicate dates that are important to you, not only in your career and work, but also in your personal life.
Also record all the big events that will play an important role for you - a trip to Europe, your child’s 5th birthday, the launch of a new project. Indicate the start and end dates for all such events. Include your dreams and values in your annual plan. This does not mean that after making plans for the year, you should not change them when the year has already begun. At least once a month you need to review the list you have compiled to supplement or adjust it. Or maybe it’s just to remind yourself of something that might have been overlooked.
Schedule
There is an opinion that after graduating from university, the daily routine disappears from a person’s life forever. This is partly true, but in a good way it is useful not only for schoolchildren or students. Of course, you shouldn’t maniacally schedule every action you take in seconds, but ideally you should still have some time boundaries.
For example, you need to pick up a tax certificate. Look at the operating hours of the desired department and schedule yourself approximate hours at what time it would be best for you to be there. Or another situation: your boss asked you for a report urgently, today. Review your actions in your head and objectively set yourself a deadline, then it will be much easier for your brain to complete the task.
Attention ! Try to objectively estimate the time spent on tasks. It is better to plan it with a reserve in case of unforeseen circumstances.
How to make a plan for the day: example
Let's jump right into an example. I repeat that you can keep a daily plan either schematically or in great detail. I’ll show you my version, which is easy to customize for yourself and, if something happens, change plans without harming your time and nerves:
From 8.00. until 10.00. My morning begins. Mandatory items: checking messages on your phone and quickly responding to messages (no more than 5-10 minutes), time for yourself (15 minutes in the bathroom), breakfast (no more than 20 minutes), some activities (no less than 15 minutes), selection outfit + light makeup (no more than 20 minutes), urgent matters (no more than 20 minutes). That is, in essence, these are all the morning rituals that need to be done for a good start to the day.
From 10 to 10.30. Time spent on transport. Be sure to include it in your plan for a complete vision of your day.
From 10.30 to 13.00. Brainstorming: I solve the most important work issues, get creative and completely immerse myself in work. If you are making a plan for the day, it is better to write in more detail, entering each task. For example: call a printing house, write two posts, make a video about a new glider, etc.
From 13.00. until 13.40. Dinner time.
From 13.40. until 14.00. A short walk or chat with colleagues.
From 14.00. until 18.00. Immersion in work: here it is better to write down every task and meeting again. Don't be afraid to get a little hung up on the little things, it will be useful.
From 18.00. until 19.30. Training/English courses/other useful activities.
From 19.30. until 21.30. Time with family/friends/outing. No matter how introverted you are, always leave room for a fun part of the day. At least an hour.
From 21.30 to 22.00. Preparing for tomorrow: write down tasks for the next day, summarize in your diary, think about what to wear to the meeting tomorrow and what to take with you.
From 22.00. until 00.00. Rest and preparation for bed. This includes nightly beauty treatments, showering, reading books or watching an episode of your favorite TV series. Anything that will help you relax and get ready for tomorrow.
Of course, if you are a mother on maternity leave or a student who combines study with work, you won’t be able to stick to this schedule. In this case, draw up a rough schedule for the day the day before, taking into account at least the most important and priority.
Recommendations for organizing daily planning: ready-made regulations for implementation
Systematization allows you to move from chaotic actions to organized and scalable technology
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Organizing the process of processing the incoming flow of tasks on the part of the employee
- As soon as a task appears, it is entered into the work plan for the current or subsequent days (regardless of the form in which it was set) with an approximate date of planned completion.
- If a task belongs to the “non-urgent and unimportant” category, it is entered into the so-called STACK task storage. An employee turns to STACK when planning his next week, or when he has downtime at work.
- The assigned task, which takes more than 3 hours (except for participation in events and meetings), is divided into smaller ones, which are assigned the original one as the base one.
- For each task from the standard list, a priority is selected and set
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Bonus: example of a table with priorities for employees
To get an example of a priority table that helps employees cope with self-scheduling, follow 2 simple steps :
1) Write a detailed comment on the article (the comment form is located at the very bottom of the article, see screenshot https://disk.yandex.ru/i/i0xklaGVfl3zFg). Share your experience of implementing planning for subordinates (not necessarily successful). What worked, what didn’t work and for what reason.
2) Send a request for an example of a “priority table” through my personal accounts on social networks (via a private message) + attach a link to this article (so I will understand what bonus you are talking about):
vkontakte: https://vk.com/eugene.sevastyanov
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eugene.sevastyanov
Requirements for the format for entering tasks into the plan
- Each employee adds an indicative list of his tasks to the plan (brief description of the task + planned time for completion). The plan includes the following tasks:
- Planned within projects;
- Previously received in the form of individual tasks (orally, by mail, Skype, etc.). If the task is in an external task setting system, then you need to add a URL link to this task; When you receive a task (orally, by mail, Skype), you must add it to your work plan yourself. In this case, all requirements for the format of entering tasks apply.
- Planned by the employee for implementation on his own initiative.
- Task name . It should reflect what actions need to be performed with what object. For this purpose, it is advisable to use the nominative case and the imperative mood of the verb for nouns. This greatly simplifies the subsequent search among all tasks. Example: Develop regulations: planning (“develop” – imperative mood; “regulations: planning” – nominative case).
- Planned completion time . Example: Make a commercial offer: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Deadline (the deadline by which the task must be completed). If you cannot determine the deadline for a task, contact your immediate supervisor.
- A brief plan for completing this task . Add links to the algorithms you plan to follow and/or a short action plan. The absence of a brief plan in the body of the task gives rise to a bunch of questions when discussing the work plan and the risk that the task will be done in an ineffective/suboptimal way or not done 100% and/or will require rework.
- A priority . The performer determines it independently according to separately formalized rules. If you can’t determine it, you need to contact your immediate supervisor.
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Daily work plan
- The plan must be created based on the weekly plan and incoming operational tasks (before implementing weekly planning: based on the tasks known for that day).
- The plan for the next day is drawn up before the end of the current working day.
- The planned time for daily tasks is calculated:
- for office employees based on 8 hours minus the usual time for solving operational and force majeure tasks (for project managers: 7 hours - planned; 1 hour - for solving incoming tasks). The time planned for tasks may vary depending on the day of the week and other conditions.
- for freelance specialists - a daily time limit agreed upon when discussing the terms of cooperation.
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Example of a daily plan (screenshot from Bitrix24)
The example shows a plan that an employee creates in the Bitrix24 system. The screenshot shows only the first six tasks, the rest did not fit on the screen. Selected columns: 1 - task name; 2 - deadline; 3 - planned execution time.
Ideally, use one system for planning, end-to-end time tracking for tasks and reporting
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Important tips for creating the perfect plan to get everything done
It seems that we already know everything about the ideal plan. Not really. There are several important details that will help make everything even better and more productive:
- Plan your day the night before or in the morning. This is the most optimal time, when ideas are still relevant and, if possible, it will be easier to make adjustments.
- Don’t forget to mark each completed task with a tick or marker, and also summarize the results.
- Every evening, analyze the past day, what caused difficulties, why you couldn’t do one thing and why another didn’t cause such problems.
- Remember to separate important tasks from unimportant ones, urgent from non-urgent ones. This can be done with special symbols directly in the diary.
- Distribute your tasks evenly throughout the week.
- If you couldn’t complete one of the tasks, don’t worry. Reschedule it to another day convenient for you.
Print weekly planner template
Well, we have learned the basics of planning, time to expand our capabilities. This time we will try to plan the entire upcoming week at once. Yes, it is difficult, we don’t argue, but the skill is very useful and necessary.
In general, we would recommend putting a piece of paper next to the weekly planner template and writing down all the main tasks for the next 7 days. Directly in a row without breaking them down by day. Then determine which of these tasks are urgent and important and try to get rid of them right away. They are counterproductive, as many time management experts have been saying for 100 years or more.
By the way, the distribution of your tasks according to such parameters is very competently implemented in the time management tool “Eisenhower Matrix”. I won’t go into too much detail about this technique—it’s better to read about it separately at this link.
This is what a template for printing a weekly planner looks like:
Download it in Microsoft Word or PDF format. If you need to place the planner on A5 size paper, then select the appropriate option when setting up printing.
Want this printable template? Click on the “Download template” button:
Where is the right place to make a plan for the day?
You can plan your day anywhere you want. But if you want it to be truly detailed and functional, then it is better to opt for a diary.
Diary notebook
Binding:
gluing
Designed for:
3 months
Price:
590₽ View
Diary on a spring
Binding:
spring
Durable:
4 months
Price:
990₽ View
