Productivity Sheets

When is the hard part

Almost everyone can write down what they intend to do. The list is easy precisely because nothing on it has a duration, so twelve items look no worse than four. Assigning each one a time is what reveals that the day was full by half past ten, and that revelation is the entire value of the exercise.

Reviewing is what makes planning cheap

A weekly review takes about twenty minutes and removes most of the cost of planning the next week, because the decisions have already been made. Skipping it means starting from a blank page every Monday and carrying the same unfinished thing forward for a month without ever deciding to drop it.

The forms on this page

• Time blocking. A to-do list says what; a time block says when, which is the part that decides whether it happens. Writing the block first also exposes a day that was never going to fit.
• Medication log. A written log removes the "did I already take it?" question, and it is what a doctor or a second carer needs when more than one person is helping.
• Weekly review. The review is what turns a pile of finished tasks into a decision about the next week. Without it, planning restarts from nothing every Monday.
• Goal tracker. A goal without a next action is a wish. This forces both the breakdown and the date, which are the two things that turn one into the other.