If you are having trouble staying focused on what’s most important to you, are you also convinced that a cloud-based, paperless, thumb-driven calendar is the best way to manger your time and commitments? Be convinced no longer! Call me a Paul Bunyan, but I believe you can do it all on with a pencil and one side of one piece of paper. And I challenge you to prove me right.
I just uploaded the Printable Pocket Planner to help you Plan a Great Week in 20 Minutes. It’s based on A Simple System for Everything and is designed to minimize the planning effort and paper real estate required to capture your best chance at making a great week. Try this method for two weeks, using your digital system only for occasional reminders, or better, not at all. The test is not, like with Paul Bunyan, how much can you possible get done; rather, the measurement is based on how well this helps you focus on the most important stuff.
Download the .pdf file is here: Printable-Pocket-Planner.
And watch the video to learn how to get started.
I want to emphasize a couple things:
Carry your Week’s Plan everywhere with you. This little piece of paper is your reminder of what you want to focus on this week, so keep it around. Cross off stuff you finish, add appointments and important Do Items, and, more importantly, keep unimportant stuff off of it. When a change of plans seems necessary, bring it out so you can make a good decision about where you want to put your attention.
DO NOT schedule everything you might want to do into tiny little time slots. It’s a misconception that getting everything done is the goal of time-management. Sometimes that happens, and sometimes, but even less frequently, that feels great. The goal of a Week’s Plan is to help you focus on making a great week. The Week’s Plan, when done well, rules all your other Do Lists.
Once you make your Week’s Plan, also use the it every day to Plan a Great Day in 2-Minutes.
NOTE: Since recording this video, I added a place to write the month and year into the calendar. If you happen to keep these plans around for nostalgia or tax purposes, that’ll be handy. Some people just chuck them when the week is over so they can move on to the next. I like that idea.