Up until a few years ago, I never really cared about being organised or productive or motivated. Being a student at the time, I tried to stay afloat in my studies and get my assignments handed in at the right time, but it never occurred to me that I could do specific activities to make my workload more streamlined. I never really set goals for myself either. I focused on surviving the semester and starting the next – I think many university students might agree with me on this.

Since I graduated and started looking for jobs and working on other projects, I’ve come to realize how important it is to plan ahead. The day, week, or month becomes more productive and less stressful when it is pre-planned. As I listened to more podcasts, watched YouTube videos, and read blog posts, I discovered more and more ways to become organised and productive in my everyday life. I still have a long way to go and a lot to learn, but I am much happier that I started learning this lesson now.

In this post, I’m sharing some tips and ideas for planning a productive day, week, or month in your daily life. I’ll be using tricks that I learned and also things I started doing on my own. If you’re like me and struggled to be productive for the longest time, stay here and read the rest of this post.

Planning a productive day:

Plan the day and prepare for it in advance. Choose your clothes the night before, set your alarm clock for an early hour, and go to bed at a reasonable hour. Use a daily planner of some sort – an app, a journal, or even a notepad – and jot down the tasks you want to do and/or accomplish the following day. This way, you spend less time being stressed and indecisive about what you need to get done in the day.

When choosing the tasks you want to complete, focus on only 3 of them from your to-do list. Doing so helps to prioritise important goals and remove unimportant goals. Choosing 3 tasks to finish will help you stay focused, motivated, and less overwhelmed. Once you pick them, plan out how much time you intend to spend on each of them. Give yourself an estimate for completion and decide what you want the outcome of the day to be.

Remember to give yourself breaks in between working on your daily tasks. There is a method I’ve heard of that I’m starting to implement in my own life. In every 30 minutes, you work for 25-minute intervals and then rest for 5 minutes. It is called the Pomodoro Technique for time management and staying focused. Once you follow these steps 4 times, you can take a 15-30min break.

Planning a productive week:

Set one day aside in the week for planning out your weekly tasks. A Saturday or Sunday would be great for this to help you establish a reset or end-of-the-week routine. It can mean planning goals, activities, meals, or even chores in the week. When you do this, you think ahead and measure the progress you make for your set tasks.

While the Pomodoro technique is great for day-to-day working, Time-blocking is better for planning the days of the week in more detail. This method involves looking at the available time you have from 8 AM to 5 PM (or whatever times you want to set) and creating blocks for different tasks to accomplish at certain times during the day.

Another helpful method for planning your week is to choose different themes for the days of the week. Such as focusing on Task A on a Monday, Task B on a Tuesday, Task C on a Wednesday, and so on. This method is especially perfect for people with multiple goals or projects they want to work on.

Planning a productive month:

Review your past month and plan out the next one. Reflect on the progress you made to see what you accomplished and what you didn’t. If you didn’t meet a deadline or goal you set for yourself, then work on those same tasks again until you’ve finished them. If you finished all your goals, you could focus all your attention and energy on a new goal.

Use a calendar to view the month from a wider perspective. Such as Trello, Notion, Google Calendar, or even a paper calendar hanging on the wall. The important thing is that you have quick, easy access to your monthly calendar and a detailed view of the major deadlines and goals you have. Planning like this can be overwhelming, but it also helps you prioritise what matters to you and stay motivated throughout the month.

Break down larger goals into smaller, achievable tasks. It is good to think of these as puzzle pieces that fit into the larger picture. For instance, many smaller tasks fit into the larger tasks of content creation, creative writing, or writing an assignment. Use a mind map or a table diagram to break projects into bite-sized pieces. These smaller tasks can become your priorities for weeks or days in the month.

These are the tips and tricks I use to plan a productive day, week, or month in my life. I dedicate myself to thinking and planning ahead so that I am less stressed and more motivated to achieve my goals. I hope you find these tips and tricks helping your productivity.

Happy working!