Still Have Doubts About Planning?
For the next 3 days, before you leave the office at night, take 5 minutes to make a list of what you’d like to get done the next business day. Put a star next to the 3 most important items, the ones that have to happen–or else. Now leave that list on your desk so it’ll be the first thing you see when you arrive at the office the next day.
At the end of 3 days, review your accomplishments. If you don’t feel more in control, less stressed, more productive–then go back to your old way of doing things. But if you’re feeling better about your accomplishments and your workload, try the planning experiment for another week. By then it may be so much a part of your routine, it’ll be second nature, and you won’t be able to imagine how you functioned without it.