The Goldilocks Approach to Planning Your Week

What happens when planning gets in the way of our work? I have found myself in this position so many times where I really should have been doing anything except planning. But, you know, we have all fallen into that trap where we get caught up in the planning process. And while I love a good spreadsheet, a good to do list, a good plan, we have to talk about the times where it gets in the way of our progress instead of helping us get there. So today I want to talk a bit about that.

share some of the downsides of planning and then some ideas to help you right size your planning process so that it fits your job, that it fits your work day, so that it fits your life. You know, when I was getting ready for this episode, I was thinking back over the years and how I used to plan in different ways. And my God, have things changed. You know, when I was in more junior roles, I barely had a plan. I mean, like the plans were done for me. Then as I moved into

project management. And then as I moved into project management and operations, more senior roles, I was the one planning not for myself only, but also for other people. And it could take up a good part of my week. And now, because I have so much control over my week, I have to have a plan. Otherwise, honestly, I could end up doing anything that takes my fancy. And so it does evolve over time. does depend on the work that we do.

But when I was thinking about it, was like, wow, there has been some times when I really should not have been planning. You know, I definitely have been doing the work. So let's have a look at that. Let's have a look at, you know, some of the ways that planning gets in the way of our day, as opposed to helping us move forward. And I kind of found or settled on three different scenarios. And I'm sure like me, you will find yourself in one of these, if not more. So the first is this idea of procrastinoplaning. I love that phrase.

It's the idea that we would rather plan than do anything else. I think it was another alternative to procrastinating where you would rather go baking cakes and doing what you need to be doing. So I would often find myself procrastinating planning when I was facing a really challenging task. You know, I remember my first job after college, I was put into an IT team and I fell into the project management role and there's this really big project, which is really, really cool.

Niamh Moynihan (02:38.477)
But I knew nothing about the technical side. Like I really didn't have a clue. And so instead of taking a wrong step or making the wrong decision, I just kept on planning. You know, those plans got...

Niamh Moynihan (02:52.928)
You know, those plans got more and more detailed, more color coded, more dependencies, more everything. And I would do all of that rather than give direction, make a decision and try to move things forward. Now, the thing about that is like it did look like I was making progress, but sure, know, I wasn't. And inevitably management started asking where is the project like why isn't the work happening? And so my procrastinator planning put a huge amount of pressure on me in the later stages and on the people who I was planning for.

So definitely I find if work is very, challenging or if we're worried about doing the wrong thing, we can find safety in the planning stage. But I also found that We procrastinate planning when things are boring. I'm talking about updating those big spreadsheets. I'm talking about having to our expenses. I'm talking about those tasks that just, I don't know, they just drain our brain, you know. And we would again, rather, you know,

color code a monthly plan or find a new system for doing something. We'd rather do anything novel than the tedious task. But look, the expenses have to be done at some stage. The file has to be updated at some stage. And again, I found myself so many times being under silly pressure, you know, to update and do these tasks when they could have easily been done earlier in the week. But I had been too busy planning. So procrastinate planning is definitely a trap I find lots of us fall into.

if you're a planner by nature like myself. And so if that resonates with you, I'd ask you just to kind of check in with yourselves next time you're planning to say, is this the best use of my time right now? Now, the second reason we plan and I suppose it's linked to that in the first, could be just to feel productive. You know, like when when there's a lot going on, maybe we want to feel like we're making progress. And again, like if you spend the time

to take a look at the goal you're working towards, or maybe it's just your regular working week or working month, and you create a good solid plan, then you've created a document or you've updated the system. And so, yes, you've done something tangible, but you haven't actually done the work. And, you know, I was in a role a good few years back. And to be quite honest with you, I wasn't really contributing to the team. My project wasn't as visible as I wanted it to be.

Niamh Moynihan (05:11.179)
And I just felt like I wasn't making that contribution. so doing the planning, making the plans helped me feel like I was doing stuff. I was doing something and I could then share that plan, you know, and that's about all I could do in that stage. So it gave me a superficial sense of progress, as we'd say. So again, you know, if things are stalling in your work, if you're spinning your wheels in your business, you know, maybe you find yourself planning and over planning so that you can feel you're doing something.

But that stops us from doing probably the harder work, asking ourselves the harder questions around, why do we feel like that in the first place? And that's a tricky one to answer sometimes. mean, I know that. But again, we have to draw ourselves to it because planning for the sake of it, it doesn't get us any further. know, all we have is a few nice plans or spreadsheets or whatever it is you use. And the third reason I thought of when it comes to, you know,

when we're over planning and when we're planning and we don't need to is planning to feel in control. And so what I mean by this is there have been times in my career, I'm sure there are times in your job and your career where everything feels a little bit un...

And what I mean by this is there have been times in my careers, I'm sure there are times in your career, in your working day, that things feel uncertain, that there's a lot of instability, that there's a lot of change, and there's very little that you can do about it. You know, there's things that other people are taking care of, or there's other external factors, and you can't really influence them as much as you'd like. And so when I've been in those situations in the past, I've created a plan, a plan for my little tiny corner of the world.

to do what I can among all of that. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that in fact. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. In fact, I find it incredibly helpful. But the downside is, again, if I spend all the time on the planning and not enough time on taking the action that I've identified as being in my control. So, yeah, I think sometimes we are planning so we can feel more in control of an uncontrollable situation or environment. And I'm sure there's...

Niamh Moynihan (07:24.21)
so many other reasons why we over plan or plan too extensively. And if you have any ideas on that, I'd love to hear from you. Do let me know. But I think the final situation for me where I think we could be planning too much is planning in really variable and volatile times. If you're in a situation, it could be your job, the kind of work that you're in or just the kind of stage of work that you're in. And there's a lot of uncertainty in the sense that

Things just change a lot day to day. You know, it's the nature of it. Maybe you work in customer service, you don't know what calls are coming in. Maybe you work in a very responsive role. You don't know what situation is coming at you. Then again, planning for that is almost trying to fail because if you try to lay out a day and your role is very reactive and responsive, then the plan is probably going to be thrown up in the air by the time you get your first coffee. So again.

Why are we doing that? Is it, you know, again, to feel in control? Is it to feel that we're being productive? Is it because we're avoiding something else or is just because we're in the habit of planning? So while you are making your plans, you know, I want you to stop and ask yourself, am I doing enough of this or am I doing too much of it? Like, could I scale back the planning and still work very effectively? Because I think we need to find that balance, you know. And so here's what I want.

Niamh Moynihan (08:50.985)
because we need to find that balance, you know, because there are so many benefits to having a plan when it's done right. So first of all, helps focus our efforts, which is really important. As I've said, you know, my role, I have so much freedom over what I do. That means I could be doing anything if I didn't make a plan. So very, very important. Depending on how much autonomy you have over your day, the more of a plan you'll need to keep yourself on track. It helps us communicate better with other people.

Once you know what you're doing, you can let your colleagues know, can let your family know, team members know, whoever you need to share information with, you have a better idea of what's going on with you. So you can help them plan on their side. And the third thing is you can track your progress. So if you have a plan, then you know if you are on track or not. You know, are you making headway towards that goal or not? And again, that can motivate you and get you back on track. So planning is good.

But what we want to do is make sure we were right sized to your situation. So it's not too much, not too little, kind of like the Goldilocks approach to planning, if you to kind think of that way.

Niamh Moynihan (09:58.941)
And so here's the approach I would like it.

Niamh Moynihan (10:04.359)
And so here's the approach that I recommend. First of all, plan as you go. What I mean by that is if, for example, you get invited to a meeting at work, when you accept that meeting at the same time, put some time in your calendar for prep for the meeting, a little bit of time the day after for post meeting follow up. OK, so we're literally planning as we go. I keep a paper diary, like very old fashioned, very basic, know, diary with the dates on top.

page per day, and if I have a task, then I just write it directly onto the day that I'm planning to do it. OK, so very much as the work comes in, you know, put it on the list or put it into the calendar and then just take a little bit of time at the end of the week or every couple of days to take a look at that and refine it, tweak it, move things around, make sure that you are focusing on the right stuff. Now, if you don't plan at all, like if you were just not a planner, I think that if you plan as you go,

and then just spend five minutes, five minutes scanning your calendar, scanning your diary or your to do list, whichever you use and just tweaking things. That's going to give you a big, big advantage. If you are already a planner, if you're more like me, then I want you to max it, set a max time of 20 minutes. Really. mean, you should know. Like really, you should. Really, you.

Really, I have learned from experience that most of the time, 20 minutes a week is plenty for refining your plan for the week ahead. All right. And again, if it's going to take longer than that, I'll just be asking yourself, why is there a real benefit to spending more time? So the minimum amount of time is five minutes. The maximum time is 20 minutes. Our planning as we go all week long to make the process just easier. OK. And the final thing I'd like you to do is just

take a couple of minutes at the end of a week just to pl- and then the final thing I'd like you to do is take a couple of minutes at the end of the week and-

Niamh Moynihan (12:12.315)
And the final thing I'd like you to do is take a few minutes at the end of the week and compare your plan to reality. Like did it unfold as you expected? Probably not. Probably not. And if not, then walk out in the way. And is that something you can control next week or is it something you have to accept? Is it a once off? Is it a bigger problem? Just take a few minutes to think about that and adjust accordingly. So again, not a big heavy lift.

Just a few minutes just to kind of take a look at things and say, can I change anything next week? And that's plenty. Like that's enough for most of us most of the time. Now, the good thing is, it's. Now, the good thing is there is never. Now, the good thing is there is no perfect day to change your planning style or to start planning. So you might as well start today when you finish listening to this episode.

I'd like you to try the plan as you go approach and either set your min time and your max time. And then I'd love to hear from.

Niamh Moynihan (13:17.882)
Now best thing about this is that there is no perfect day to either start planning or improve your planning process.

Niamh Moynihan (13:40.935)
Now, the great thing about this is there's no perfect day to either start planning or to adjust your planning process. So why not start today? OK, choose either a min time or a max time and just see how you go. See how it changes the shape of your week and how it helps you move forward towards whatever goals it is you're working towards. Now, I have loved sharing this episode with you. I hope you find it helpful and

Niamh Moynihan (14:24.902)
Well, that's it from me for this episode. I'm delighted to have... Well, that's it from me for this episode. I hope you found it helpful and that it helps you re-evaluate your approach to planning. And of course, I'll see you in the next one. Talk to you then. Bye.