Last Monday, I sat down and planned activities for the whole week. When I completed that planning, I was clear about the objectives for the week and felt accomplished right at that point in time. During the week, I could follow up on the schedule. I was one day late overall, but could complete most of the items.
Now this may seem normal. But it’s not normal for me! I do a lot of planning, but most of the time, there are tasks that come up which need urgent attention. I do not know what will come up in the week. And I have to take things up as they come. Some of the activities may be fixed, but the actual work on projects, follow up, trouble shooting – it all depends on the troubles faced in the week. Due to this, most of my planning happens at the start of the day. Assigning priorities for the day and knocking things down one by one.
So it was a good experience to be clear about the week and then act on it. Every time I have done weekly planning, I have had similar experience.
But this week I sat down for the weekly plan, and could only chalk out till Wednesday. Things were uncertain, dependent on other people doing their tasks on time and stuff like that. As I think about it while writing this, I feel I should still go ahead and schedule for the whole week. And then create the schedule! That will be a breakthrough not only for me, but also for others involved!
Hmm.. I am ready for the next week then!
How do you plan your work? What works for you?