Episode 52 | Finding the Balance in Weekly Planning

Does planning really help you have a better work day? We all know that planning improves productivity. You can manage your time better, you can prioritize

tasks, and it gives you a sense of control over the week. And research has shown that proper planning can lead to better decision-making, reduced stress, increased efficiency, and all of these things help us to achieve our goals. But what if there was another side to planning that could result in unnecessary stress and mismanaged expectations?

In this episode of the Better Workday podcast, I'm sharing the seven questions you should ask yourself to ensure your planning activity is a mover and not a blocker in your week. Hello, hello, and welcome back to the Better Workday podcast. How are you doing? My name is Niamh Moynihan. If you are new to the podcast, welcome. I'm delighted to have you here. In this podcast, I talk about everything related to productivity, well-being at work, personal growth and development.

and all the different factors that help us to create a better workday. And today I'm talking about planning. I'm going to ask you seven questions that I'd like you to consider when you are deciding on what level of planning you need to do for your work week. The goal here is to implement a planning process that supports your workday instead of hindering it. Okay.

Okay, let's get into it. Question number one, Is your work reactive or proactive? I see this so much when I speak to groups. People are trying to plan their week. They're trying to know in advance what's going to happen Monday morning, Wednesday afternoon, Thursday morning, all the way through to home time on Friday. But they're in reactive roles. If your role is highly reactive or responsive, it could mean that you are in a role like, for example, customer service.

or the phone will ring or query will come in with chat or email and you'll answer it and that's how the workday goes. And there's very little need for you to plan your day because for most of your working hours, you need to be available to respond to those queries as they're coming in. On the other hand, every proactive role could be a writer. You decide what you're going to write. There are very few work interruptions that will come in that you have to react to.

On the other hand, a very proactive role could be, for example, a writer. You proactively decide what it is you're going to write and there are very few work interruptions that will come in that you have to react to until you go to editing, for example. Now, I'm not a professional writer by any means, so I am taking some creative freedom with that example. But as you can see, there are different types of work and you can plan better for some than others. Most jobs are somewhere on a scale between reactive and proactive.

And what I'd like you to consider is how reactive your work is. If there's a lot you have to respond to, then all of your planning is actually going to put you under unnecessary stress and pressure as you try to do all the things you told yourself you're going to do, plus respond to the demands of your job, which are absolutely valid. Now, on the other hand, if your job is very proactive, mine is quite proactive, you have to make sure you do your planning. Otherwise, nothing will get done.

Moving on to question number two, is your work mostly a solo activity or do you rely on input or feedback from others? Now, when I'm talking about this, I'm really taking a look at your week and what you expect to move forward, because if your work is mainly a solo activity, you are ultimately responsible for the progress of your work, which can be good and bad. It can mean

good and bad. It means that you can make progress with fewer obstacles for sure. But then again, you are the ultimate obstacle. On the other hand, many people work in organizations of lots of different sizes where they are linked with other people on their team, other teams and other departments, and you need input from those other people for your work. If you are waiting on feedback from others, you have to remember just for a moment that they also have a plan. They also have workload and you're probably not the top of their list.

And I always say assume you're not the top of the other person's And with that in mind, are you allowing yourself that window or wiggle room for them to come back to you in your plans? Or are you being optimistic and putting work in even though you're relying on others and then getting frustrated during the week because you're not able to do that work?

If this resonates with you, take a step back this week and review how much your work is dependent on other people and consider what you can do to better manage expectations around those shared tasks. Now the difference.

Now, number three for me is whether your work is varied or repetitive. And again, there is a bit of both in most jobs. But if your work is very repetitive, then there might not be a lot of planning to do. You might have an overarching structure to your week that you follow most of the time and it works really, really well for you. You don't have to think twice about it. However, if your work is variable, which means there are lots of different projects or types of work that you do depending on the week, the month or the quarter.

then you're going to have to be planning more regularly to adapt to those changes. Now, also, if your work is very variable, you can manage your energy during the day by mixing up different items.

Also, if your work is variable, you can manage your energy during the day by mixing different types of tasks, depending on your energy levels, which is great. But if your work is very repetitive, then breaks are going to be really, really important for you to make sure that you're getting respite from the job and you're able to stay focused and refreshed.

Moving on to question number four, who... Next, we have question number four, who does your plan overlap with? And this is an important one. There might be someone else whose plan is tightly linked to yours. I will use the example of an exec assistant. So your plan would overlap with the leader you're supporting, because if that leader has a change in their plan, it's probably going to result in a big change in yours, okay? Another example could be maybe your end customer success.

and you're working really closely with the product development team. If they have an issue with their stuff, it might completely derail your week. This is different from solo versus collaborative work. It's when the whole plan can change, not just one element of it, depending on the other person or the other team. And these are all things that we can consider. And when we consider them, I'm not saying don't plan. I'm just saying these are things that can determine how much you plan, what level of detail you go into, and how much buffer time you give yourself.

And then question number five is how integrated or separated is your work from the rest of your life? If you have a job where you only work nine to five and it's very fixed in terms of your working hours, you might just plan for your working week. However, if you have a job that's very integrated with your life overall, you might take a different approach. For example, mine is very integrated. I work a nonlinear week, which means you can find me working at all different times of the day, all different days of the week in various different situations.

So I need to plan my entire week, work plus life, to make sure that I'm looking after things that matter most and I don't burn out. Again, not everyone needs to plan in the same way. It's all about understanding what that means for you. Moving on to question number six, what's your planning preference? Look, some people love a color coded detailed plan. It makes other people break out in a sweat with the stress of looking at it. And so it's all about understanding how you like to plan.

For example, if you're planning a party, what level of detail do you get into? And if you don't like planning at all, it's important to notice that because then you're going to want to do what I call the minimum viable plan, the absolute basics.

And finally, question number seven is, Are you planning for progress or are you just procrasti-planning? What I mean by this is there's a whole industry built up around planning. You can buy digital planners, paper planners, there are apps, there are different methods to follow. Even I teach you methods you can follow. You could spend your life planning, but you are are meant to be doing, and the plan is meant to enable an action, not be an excuse for inaction. So if you're spending more than 15 to 30 minutes a week planning, I would be asking yourself some questions.

If it's done regularly, it should be kind of just topping things up and moving things around. And we naturally just on a day to day basis anyway.

and we naturally adjust on a day to day basis anyway. So with all those questions in mind, once you have your answers, then you can say what level of planning you need. Does it need to be one plan that's the same every week and just maybe tweak it every now and again? Do you not need any plan? If your role is absolutely reactive and if your day is almost planned for you, for example, then you don't need to worry about it. And you might plan for other parts of your life, which is great. So please take that into consideration. Don't plan for planning sake.

So take that into consideration. Don't plan for planning sake. Once you know what you need, go back to your current planning routine or habits and ask yourself, are they fit for purpose? Are they supporting your working day? And then make some changes if you find that your planning's excellent.

And then you can make some changes there if you find that you're not supporting yourself in the best way. For me, the absolute basic level of planning, by the way, I call the minimum viable plan that I mentioned earlier, is that you identify two to three outcomes you want to achieve for a week, and then the two to three main tasks that you need to do to achieve each outcome. So that's up to nine tasks in total.

That's nine tasks in total. And no, it doesn't account for everything, but it does give you a general landscape of what you'd like the end of the week to look like and the big actions you must take to achieve it. And then maybe you could put those into your calendar just to give yourself a skeleton for the week. And that could be enough. And obviously, it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. You should

So that's it. As I said in the beginning, planning is fantastic. It helps us think twice about what we're going to do.

So that's it. As I said at the beginning, planning is great. It helps us to think twice about what we're going to do, how we're going to spend our time, what we're going to work on, and what we're not going to work on. It's just about making the plan work for you. By the way, it's even better if you actually take time to reflect on whether you stuck to the plan or what got in the way of it. And if things did get in the way, what can you learn from that? So planning is even better. It's double the value when you reflect on it.

And again, this is always about making sure that your plan is fit for your job and a trap that I see so many people fall into.

And again, it's just about making sure that your plan fits your job. And hopefully.

Again, this is just about making sure your plan is the right fit for you and I hope you're better able to do that now that you've listened to this episode. I would love to hear what your planning style is, how you plan, if you're a digital or paper planner, if there's a particular system that you use. So please let me know if you're watching this on YouTube, drop it in the comments. If you're listening on audio only, let me know on LinkedIn or by email. I would love to hear from you. If you found this episode helpful, please share it with a friend or colleague.

who you you might benefit from it.

If you found this episode helpful, please share it with a friend or colleague who you think might benefit. until next time, stay well and have a better work day.