Planning a week in ten minutes
Most calendars are used as a log. Ten minutes once a week is the difference between recording your time and directing it.
What most people assume
That planning requires a system, and systems require maintenance nobody sustains.
The whole routine
Open the week. Look at what is already fixed. Place the two or three things that matter and would otherwise slip. Check anything outdoors against the conditions. Close it.
That is the entire method. Its value is not sophistication; it is that it is short enough to actually happen every week.
Why it works
Things that are not on a calendar happen only if the week is quiet, and weeks are rarely quiet. Placing a commitment is what converts an intention into a decision that has already been made.
Doing it against the forecast means the outdoor half of the plan survives contact with the weather rather than being renegotiated on the day.
What it looks like
What to do
- Same slot every week — Sunday evening or Monday morning, it matters less than the repetition.
- Place at most three discretionary things. More than that and none of them survive.
- Check the band before placing anything outdoors, and pick the drier of two candidate slots.