Focus Planner Quick Start Guide
Focus Planner Quick Start Guide
So glad you came here! You’ve already invested in the Focus Planner – we want to make sure you get the most out of it.
There are three key elements to your planner and, if you use them correctly, you feel in control of your life, you will find more balance and you will get more done in less time.
Sound good? Let’s go!
The Three Elements:
The three key elements of your planner are:
- Monthly Plan – what needs focus and attention this month
- Weekly Plan – what is going to get attention this week according to your monthly plan
- Daily Plan – what is going to get done today, according to your weekly plan
Notice how each element breaks down the elements that comes beforehand? Let’s dive in for some more detail:
Your Monthly Plan
At the start of every month, think about what really needs focus this month. You might have a yearly plan with some milestones for projects, or you might just be facing some specific challenges this month.
Think about the above for each of these three areas: Work, Home & Relationships and the area of Self. And once you’re ready, write these “Most Important Things” on the left-hand side of the page in the appropriate space.
Once you’re done with that, think of a habit that might support your achievement of this. It might be something you can do once a week or twice a week, but make sure it’s repetitive – that’s how we build habits.
For more on MIT’s and key behaviours, watch this video
Your Weekly Plan
You write your weekly plan at the start of every week – say, Monday or Sunday night. To make sure you stay on track, look back at your Monthly Plan and use it to determine what needs your focus this week. Write these things in the top left table of your Weekly Plan.
Think also about any project milestones that you really need to accomplish this week. If your big project milestones are a way off, then write something smaller to accomplish by the week’s end. Write these in the appropriate space.
At this point you can also use your habit tracker on the lower left-hand side of the page. Take the habits you nominated in the Monthly Plan and write them in the tracker – tick them off as you do them every day.
For more on the three Critical Areas
(work, home & relationships, self) watch this:
Your Daily Plan
Finally, every day (or the night before) you’ll plan out your day. Reflect on your Weekly Plan and write the Big Impact Tasks that will get you closer to achieving your plan. Write these in the areas on the left-hand page.
On the right-hand side, use the day planner to organise the times at which your big impact tasks are going to get done. We suggest that you actually plan these in amongst your other commitments, so you know when they are going to get your attention.
That’s it! The three key elements of the Focus Planner in a nutshell. For a more in depth look at using the planner super-effectively and managing your day for maximum impact, check out our Focus Bootcamp over at our learning site.