The past couple of weeks I have been reminded of the power of planning a week-at-a-time, rather than just a day at a time. As one week draws to a close, say on a Friday afternoon or early Saturday morning, I have looked at the upcoming week and laid it out … on paper. This works for me because I have a full and up-to-date list of everything in a trusted system … all of my projects, all of the next actions, all of the meetings, all of the deliverables … and so I can take all of that and lay my plans. This is about getting the big things laid out in advance, so that day-to-day planning and responses to change are easier.

This has worked much better for me than relying only on day-to-day planning, say the night before or first thing in the morning. Having a stated plan at the beginning of the week, that goes for a week, has been great.

All I need to do now is get better at following the said plans …