Picture this: it’s Friday afternoon. You’re feeling productive, so you sit down to plan the week ahead. You review your projects, jot down your to-dos, and map out your schedule. You finish up feeling organised and ready to tackle next week.
Fast forward to Monday morning.
Suddenly—an unexpected meeting pops up, a crisis hits your inbox, and a surprise request lands on your desk. By Monday afternoon, your beautifully planned week is already in chaos.
And you’re left thinking, “Why did I even bother planning?”
Frustrating, isn’t it?
In this video, I want to share three simple tips that’ll help you plan more effectively without feeling like you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.
I was recently chatting with a group of leaders about this exact struggle. One of them asked, “Why should I bother planning when things never go as expected? By Tuesday, my whole plan’s out the window.”
Fair question. Life’s unpredictable—especially if you’re juggling multiple projects, teams, or priorities. But here’s the thing: planning isn’t about creating a perfect schedule. It’s about giving yourself a framework to focus on what truly matters, even when the unexpected happens.
The 3 Tips to help you plan are:
1. Prioritise Your Non-Negotiables
If you do just one thing when planning your week, focus on this: identify your non-negotiables.
These are the key tasks or priorities that, if accomplished, will have the biggest impact long-term. It might only be 20% of your time, but that’s 20% spent on what truly matters.
At the end of each week, ask yourself:
- What absolutely needs to happen next week for me to feel like I’ve made progress?
- What tasks, if left undone, would hold me back?
Lock those into your calendar first. Even if the rest of your week goes off the rails, you’ll know you’ve made headway on your most important goals.
2. Leave Some “Fat” in Your Schedule
One common trap I see? People swing from not planning at all to scheduling every minute of their day. Spoiler: that doesn’t work either.
Life doesn’t care about your perfectly colour-coded calendar. Unexpected stuff will come up. So, instead of overloading your schedule, leave some buffer time—or as I like to call it, “fat.”
For example, if you typically work 10 hours a day, only plan for 8. Leave at least 2 hours unbooked to handle last-minute meetings, surprise tasks, or just to breathe.
That way, when the unexpected happens (because it will), you’ve got space to deal with it without your whole day falling apart.
3. Accept Imperfection
Here’s the hard truth: time management is not a perfect science. You’ll never have 100% control over your day.
As a bit of a perfectionist myself, this took me years to accept. I used to think if I planned well enough, I could control everything. Spoiler again: that’s not how it works.
Now, I focus on doing my best:
- Plan as much as I can.
- Prioritise what matters most.
- Accept that things will shift—and that’s okay.
Planning isn’t about perfection. It’s about progress.
I’ve been planning my week every Friday for the past 20–30 years, and despite the curveballs life throws, it’s been an absolute game-changer.
Even when things don’t go as planned (which happens often), weekly planning helps me:
- Feel more in control.
- Make consistent progress on my top priorities.
- Reduce the overwhelm that comes with juggling too many things at once.
So, my question to you is: Do you set aside time each week to plan, even if it’s not perfect? Or have you given up because it feels pointless when things don’t go to plan?
Remember—failing to plan is planning to fail.
This is this week’s Work Smarter: Live Better tip.
Hope you have a lovely day!
A bientôt,
Cyril
