Plan your week
Make plans that hold up. Guess time honestly, pick what matters over what's loud, give tasks a when and where, and end the week with a clear head.
Start: Why your plans run longAbout this pack
Plan your week is a short pack on making plans that hold up. Lessons explain what published research says about why tasks take longer than we guess, why urgent things crowd out important ones, how to set goals you can check, and how giving tasks a when and where helps them happen. It ends with closing the week with a clear head. It's for students, freelancers and anyone with a busy week.
Best for: Anyone juggling school, work or projects who wants their week to go to plan more often.
Good for
- Guessing time from your own track record
- Picking tasks by payoff instead of urgency
- Turning vague goals into goals you can check
- Writing down a plan so unfinished tasks stop nagging you
Where people slip
- Planning from the best case and forgetting how long similar tasks took
- Letting tasks that only seem urgent push out bigger ones
- Saying yes now because you think future you will have more time
- Believing the famous written-goals study, which never took place
Why do my tasks always take longer than planned?
It's called the planning fallacy. People picture the plan going well and ignore how long similar tasks took before. Thinking about your past tasks makes your guesses more honest.
Do SMART goals work?
Clear, specific goals tend to beat "do your best", and feedback helps. SMART is a checklist from a management article, not a study, and not every goal needs all five parts.
Does putting a task on my calendar help?
Picking a specific date and time helps a bit. In one study, writing down a date and time raised follow-through, while a date alone made no clear difference.
Why can't I stop thinking about unfinished tasks?
Unfinished goals can cause stray thoughts that get in the way of other work. Writing a specific plan for when, where and how you'll do them can quiet those thoughts.
See your week clearly
Guess how long things really take and spot work that only feels urgent.
0 of 2 lessons completeTurn goals into a plan
Write goals you can check and give each important task a when and a where.
0 of 2 lessons complete