Why I Only Plan My Day the Night Before (Not the Morning Of)
1 min read
Summary
Planning your day the night before helps you avoid the distracting “startup folder” that can overload your mind in the morning when you are trying to prioritize tasks for the day.
Some people incorporate planning into their morning routine, but this can often lead to procrastination and reactive work, such as getting sucked into emails or other tasks that aren’t a priority.
Instead, do a “brain dump” and write down any tasks or thoughts that you need to attend to the next day; review and prioritize these tasks, and choose your most important one; limit your tasks to three to five critical items; and use time-blocking techniques tochedule everything from work to breaks to exercise.
Pick a calendar app and task manager, preferably one that works on both desktop and mobile, so you can access your schedule and tasks wherever you are.
Lastly, prepare your workspace and turn off or silence potential distractions.
The most important thing is to experiment with what works best for your own brain, whether that’s digital planning, paper to-do lists, or something in between.
