Introduction

Congratulations on your purchase of the 24/7 work life planner.  This is the natural way for tracking time.  By nature our life flow follows the rotation of the earth with the rising and sitting of the sun.  Our bio-rhythms ebb and flow on a 24 hour cyclical basis.  We often judge the time of day simply by glancing at the sun’s position.

Your 24/7 work-life planner is designed to take the actual way we look at time into consideration.  It permits you to see your whole day graphically.  That’s why the appointed spaces are on the perimeter of the planner pages and follow the movement of the sun.  The left hand page is space for planning the results you desire to achieve with the day’s time.  The right hand side is for documenting important information that comes to you during the day.  Let’s consider each of these three features; the appointment section, the planning section, and the notes section individually.

The Appointment Section

This is the most unique part of your planner.  When planning your day, first check your monthly planning calendar (gray booklet). The monthly planning calendar is used for future appointments, dates and deadlines that are scheduled.

Transfer any appointments, dates or deadlines that are on your monthly calendar for today into their corresponding time boxes.  Also schedule other time sensitive activities for the day such as ”pick up Adam at pre-school 4 p.m.” as shown in the example ad “workout” between six and seven a.m.

One other advantage of the appointments section is it can be used as a time log.  It’s optional, but at the end of each hour you can write into the time box just ended, where you spent your time.  Whether you do that or not, you’ll notice this planner will heighten the awareness of how effectively you are using time.

Today’s Plan Section

This section is simple and straightforward. This is where you list the things you would like to accomplish with today’s time.  Sometimes these are called to-do lists.  We like the term “results list”.  Notice to the left there is a column for indicating the priority of each item as your results list.  How do you prioritize your lists?  When using this new planner we prefer color to specify priority.

R = Red and stand for crucial and urgent.  Red indicates stop whatever you are doing and go do the red event now!

G = Green and stands for high payoff but not necessarily urgent.  Green activities are where the money is made and work and personal life are balanced.

Y = Yellow and stands for “some value” but not crucial in terms of the day’s priorities.

Now let’s look at the results list examples.  Notice there are two red activities.  One is business, “resolve client complaint” and second is personal, “pay water bill.”

There are four green activities listed.  Notice when building a results list, each item is absolutely specific and measurable.  For example: “set three sales appointments”, not, “set sales appointments”.

When building your results list for the day, don’t over plan.  Focus on your highest priorities.  If you are fortunate enough to finish what you initially listed, you will have no trouble finding something else to  do.  You can certainly add things to your list as the day progresses.

The accomplishment of the results list items can be done in the time spaces available between the events and activities that are already scheduled in the perimeter time boxes. When you complete an activity, check it off in the shaded column for that purpose. If it isn’t finished today you can transfer it to tomorrow with a horizontal arrow.

The Today’s Notes Section

We all get information from various sources all day long.  It comes to us through telephone calls, text messages, drop in visitors, meetings and casual conversations.

Some, but not all of that information will be needed at a later date.  Use the today’s notes section for that purpose.  When you jot down an item that needs follow-up, for example, “Sally wants sales update by 5 p.m.”, use an asterisk to give it a sense of urgency and to remind you to complete the task.

Think of time as space!  If you do you’ll be more realistic when scheduling time.  Just as boxes are containers into which we can pack physical things days and hours are “time boxes” into which we can pack activities.  Boxes have walls of cardboard and “time boxes” have walls of minutes.  Think of each day as 24 time boxes and be realistic about how many events and activities each can hold. 

Think of time as space daily, be aware of how much space each planned activity will take and you will not make the mistake of always having too much on your  plate.  After all, time is the space in which you live.