Learn to plan better in 5 steps

Maybe this sounds familiar: It's Monday morning and you've just walked into your office. Your inbox is bulging, your calendar is full of meetings and your to-do list seems endless. How are you going to climb this mountain of work without being exhausted by the end of the day?  

In a busy work environment, keeping track and staying productive can be a real challenge. Good planning is going to help you do just that. Below are five steps that are going to help you learn to plan better and master chaos.  

Step 1: Visualize your successes

Before you start thinking about starting with better planning, take a moment to think about the outcome. Take five minutes to imagine what a successful day looks like: what have you accomplished and how do you feel about it? This form of mental visualization not only helps with goal setting, but also increases your internal motivation to actually achieve those goals. 

Step 2: Create order out of chaos with mind mapping

An important aspect of good planning is visualizing and prioritizing your tasks. Take a blank sheet of paper and draw a mind map with your main goal for the day in the center. From the main goal, you can make lines to the subtasks and activities needed to achieve that goal. This visual representation helps simplify complex tasks and gives you insight into the steps needed to achieve your goals. It also helps you see connections between different tasks, which can lead to more efficient ways of tackling them. 

TIP: Follow the Timemanagement learning line within the online learning platform. the online learning platform. Here, through short micro-learnings, we take you through how to properly schedule different tasks, from urgent to less urgent, and how to create a clear calendar overview.

Step 3: Adopt the Frogtastic method

Mark Twain once said, "If it's your job to eat a frog, do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, eat the bigger one first." Do you have tasks in your schedule or mind map that feel heavy? Translate this to your workday by starting with this most difficult or least appealing task. Once you get rid of that first "frog," everything else that follows will feel like a breeze, and you'll avoid procrastination.  

Step 4: Implement 'quiet hours'

Block out time in your calendar for "quiet hours. During these hours, close yourself off from emails, phone calls and colleagues. This is the time when you can work undisturbed on tasks that require deep concentration. This way, you resist the temptation to let emails and ad hoc requests define your day. In fact, these are often the triggers that run your schedule into the ground. Quiet hours create structure in your day and ensure that you get to both short-term actions and longer-term projects. It may take some getting used to, but it will quickly become one of the most productive parts of your day. 

TIP: Digital tools can be a great help in organizing your work. Apps like Trello or Microsoft Planner offer clear platforms where you can organize tasks, assign them and track their progress.

Step 5: The power of reflection

At the end of your day or week, take a moment to reflect on what went well and what could be better in your planning. What tasks took more time than expected? What strategies worked well, and which didn't? Write this down for yourself. This is not only a time to reflect on what you accomplished, but also to incorporate ideas to better tackle your future planning. By regularly evaluating and adjusting your approach, you will get better and better at planning.  

Do you want more tools to learn to plan better?

Learning to plan is a skill that should not be underestimated. By focusing specifically on this, you can achieve a much more productive and less stressful work week. By following the steps above, you've made a good start, but don't stop there! On SkillsTown's learning platform, you'll find several online courses to learn how to plan better, so you can truly become a master of productivity. Start transforming your work week now! 

Training offerings for individuals


Training offer organizations