This post is all about the 5 tips I recommend for planning a productive day without a planner.
If you’re anything like me, you go through phases with your daily planner. Sometimes, I check off boxes faster than I even write tasks down, and other times, I am left with a blank page at the end of a busy day! Depending on what I have going on at work or in life, my planner can be my best friend or simply an accessory in my work bag next to all of the colored pens I thought I would use.
If I am traveling and working remotely – which is often – I usually opt to pack an extra pair of shoes over my planner, so I have a lot of experience navigating work, life, and self-care accordingly without actually writing everything down.
With that said, I have learned a thing or two about keeping myself on track and feeling accomplished without a planner, so I am sharing my top tips with you in this post.
5 Tips For Planning a Productive Day Without a Planner
Brain Dump
Do you ever have so many things running around in your head that you need or want to get done that you actually overwhelm yourself and get nothing done? Same. This is where brain dumping comes in – the oldest and best trick in the book. Think of a brain dump like dumping your purse out on the table when you need to clean or organize it. You can’t start anything until you know exactly what you’re working with!
Here’s how I recommend brain dumping: Take out a sheet of paper or use the notes app on your phone to write down every single need or want task you have in your head. After that, create some order by grouping like things. For example, separate your work tasks from your personal tasks or separate them by priority. This will help you decide how much and what exactly you need to tackle that day!
Email Yourself a To-Do List
One of my favorite things to do is email myself a list of to-dos. Whether I am using a planner or not, if I don’t write something down, I am constantly distracted by it because I am afraid I will forget it. That is not how to have a focused, productive day! Instead, I recommend sending yourself an email that you can reference throughout the day with top priorities, things to remember, meetings to schedule, people to call, etc.
In this email, I encourage you to choose 3 priorities and list them at the top, so they are front and center. After that, you can group by like items or by the time of day you plan to execute them.
Time Block
Time blocking is simply a time management method where you divide your day into chunks of time and dedicate those chunks to a certain task. This is similar to batch working if you are familiar with that! They both are used for removing distractions, increasing focus, and most importantly, improving productivity.
I am sure you know by now that multitasking isn’t a productivity hack. It can lower efficiency, increase stress and lead to burnout. By time blocking or batch working, you are more likely to complete your work thoroughly and follow through on your tasks and goals for the day.
To do this, take a look at your brain dump list or the to-do list in your email and decide how long tasks on your list will take. If possible, chunk like things together and dedicate a specific amount of time to them. Once the time is up, you will have them checked off!
Rely on Your Calendar
Whether you are scheduled to be in meetings or you simply like to add your workout schedule to your calendar, a calendar can be a useful tool for keeping yourself on track and being realistic about how much time you have in a day.
I use Google Calendar to keep track of everything. Of course, I have meetings scheduled into my calendar, but I also like to add in when I am getting dinner with a friend or even when a movie is coming out on Netflix that I am excited to watch. When I take a look at my calendar with all of these different parts of my life in it, I am less likely to overbook myself and lead to disappointment at work, with friends, or with myself.
Tip: Sync your Google Calendar with your Apple calendar! I like to put personal dates on my iPhone when I am on the go, but I like to be able to see my Google work calendar at the same time! Syncing them together is the best way to do that in my opinion.
Pre-Determine Break Times
Especially on the busiest day, it is so important to take breaks. By pre-determining when they will be, you will be less likely to work right through them.
It has been proven that taking small breaks helps us maintain focus and energy which leads to being more productive in the long run. That is what we are all about!
With that said, there are two very important rules when it comes to breaks: avoid counting lunch or snacks as a break if you are working while you are eating, and also make sure that you don’t go down a social media rabbit hole for 45-minutes when you only planned on breaking for 10! These are really, really easy rules to break, but I promise you will be better off if you don’t break them!
To recap, this post was all about the 5 tips I recommend for planning a productive day without a planner.
- Brain Dump
- Email Yourself a To-Do List
- Time Block
- Rely on Your Calendar
- Pre-Determine Break Times
By being a little bit more mindful of what you have going on and what you need to do, you can plan a productive day that leaves you feeling accomplished instead of overwhelmed. Just remember not to overdo it and give yourself grace! You can always add tasks in as you check some off and move some to a different day!
What’s important is following through on your responsibilities, producing quality work, and being present! You can do all of these things plus more when you plan accordingly!
Let me know if you implement any of these tips in the comments below or if you have any more to share with me that I can try for myself!
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