When your day begins, do you dive right in and get to work—going through files, making calls, talking to your staff, dictating letters—whatever’s on your desk, in your email, or demanding your attention? 

Or do you work from a plan?

I suggest the latter. 

I suggest your plan your day before it begins because a plan gives you clarity about what you need to do and, just as importantly, what not to do. 

A plan gives you confidence that you are doing your most important tasks and have enough time to do them well. 

A plan allows you to go from task to task without stopping to figure out what’s next, or getting distracted by whatever shows up. 

Without a plan, you might become overwhelmed with too much to do and not enough time to do it. Without a plan, you might waste time working on things that don’t need to be done today, or at all, and make mistakes rushing to do things you suddenly remember. 

A daily plan allows you to be more productive. 

And it takes only 5 minutes. 

Review your calendar. Prepare for appointments and meetings and calls. Go through your task list and decide what you will do today and what can wait until tomorrow—or next week. 

When should you create your plan? Some like to do it at at night so they can start the next day without delay. Others like to prepare their plan in the morning (with a cup of coffee). 

I usually make my plan the night before and review and update it the morning of.

More important than when you do it is that you do it.  

And make it a habit. 

One more thing. You also need a weekly plan. Take ten minutes on the weekend or Monday morning to review the past week and plan the week ahead. 

And yes, make this a habit, too.