Planning workloads to achieve goals without causing burnout for yourself or your team is an art. Fortunately, it’s one that can be mastered as easily as online betting on any sport. Here are key principles and four techniques for effective planning.
Why Planning Is Important
Planning tasks is useful in personal life, but it’s especially critical in business. An action plan helps:
- See the big picture, set goals, and evaluate results.
- Track progress.
- Free the mind from the need to think about everything at once.
- Focus on priorities and easily return to tasks, even after interruptions.
- Save time and get more done.
In entrepreneurship, planning is essential for balancing current tasks with strategic development. Without it, a business can slow down or descend into chaos.
How Much Time Should You Spend on Planning?
Productivity and time management experts agree that planning should be regular, fit seamlessly into the workflow, and not take too much time:
- Daily planning: Spend 10–15 minutes for a quick overview to focus on priority tasks and adjust plans based on circumstances.
- Weekly planning: Dedicate 30–60 minutes to set priorities and distribute tasks for the next seven days.
- Monthly and long-term planning: Allocate 1–2 hours per month to adapt strategies and align with goals.
Key Principles of Effective Planning
Everyone plans their days differently: some prefer a loose to-do list, while others rely on strict discipline. Regardless, there are a few principles to follow:
Regularity
Set fixed times for daily, weekly, and monthly planning, and stick to the schedule.
Imagine John, who sells clothing on Amazon. His business has grown significantly, with 15 employees. John uses a Google document where each team member writes their daily plans in the morning and summarizes their results in the evening. Every Monday at 9 a.m., there’s a team meeting to review the past week and set goals for the next. Once a month, John reviews financial results, evaluates what to continue, start, or stop doing based on seasonality and market trends, assigns major tasks to team members, and sets deadlines.
Prioritization
Divide tasks by importance and urgency to focus first on those that will yield the greatest impact in the short or long term.
Delegation
One person cannot do everything. At some point, it becomes vital to delegate tasks to employees or colleagues.
Effective delegation relies on templates, clear instructions, and well-defined expectations. For large tasks, set milestones and intermediate results to make it easier for employees to take responsibility for new areas.
Flexibility
External circumstances significantly influence the execution of plans. It’s wise to allow room for changes in the schedule and allocate buffer time for unforeseen tasks.
Reserve approximately 60% of your time for planned tasks and 40% for unplanned ones. These ratios may vary depending on the type of work.
Four Planning Techniques
The Kanban Method: Visualize Tasks
This method helps set and visually track tasks. Use a board, either physical or in a specialized app. Divide the board into columns such as “Pending,” “In Progress,” “Under Review,” and “Completed,” and use sticky notes for tasks. As tasks are completed, move the notes from one column to the next, allowing the team to monitor progress in real time.
MIT (Most Important Tasks): Focus on Priorities
This technique involves selecting one to three key tasks each day. Instead of diving into a lengthy to-do list, focus on the most important tasks to avoid overload and stay productive. By the end of the day, you’ll feel accomplished knowing the essential work is done.
For example, Mike used to start each morning answering messages and responding to product comments, leaving him emotionally drained by midday. He changed his approach by prioritizing two main tasks each morning, such as analyzing sales and finding new suppliers. He handles less critical tasks later or delegates them.
Time Blocking: Structure Your Day
Rather than switching between tasks haphazardly, assign specific times to each task. This prevents distractions and creates a structured day.
Determine the order of tasks and the time for each: for example, 30 minutes for emails, one hour for reviewing new product listings. Add tasks to your calendar and schedule breaks to recharge. When new tasks arise, add them to your calendar as well.
Content manager Jake uses time blocking to manage his workload. Mornings are for research and market analysis, mid-day for creating social media content and product descriptions, and evenings for mechanical tasks like uploading product listings to the marketplace.
Flexible Planning Across Three Horizons: From Daily to Semiannual
This method involves analyzing tasks and dividing them into three time horizons:
- Horizon 1: Plan weekly. Identify tasks needed to maintain current operations, such as inventory management, order processing, responding to inquiries, and tracking progress.
- Horizon 2: Update plans monthly or quarterly. List projects that will support growth in the coming months, such as changing inventory, working with new suppliers, or launching social media campaigns.
- Horizon 3: Review plans semiannually. Focus on strategic changes, like entering new markets or implementing new technologies. Consider what could drive maximum growth.
This approach ensures a balance between day-to-day tasks and strategic development.
