The Weekly Planning Matrix.

Weekly planning is one of the most critical parts of any solid time management and productivity system. Knowing what needs your attention each week is how you stay ahead of any issues and avoid building up impossibly large backlogs.

Yet, scarcely any people do this. It’s as if all they want to do is survive the week with as few dramas as possible, and if they do get to the end of the week without too many mistakes, they feel relieved and repeat the process the following week.

The weekly planning session should not be daunting. It’s your chance to clear your head, reset and refocus your attention to ensure that where you put your energies each week is in the right place so the right projects are moving forward and you are taking care of the things that are important to you.

Recently, I have been looking again at this dilemma — encouraging more people to give themselves thirty minutes at the end of the week to plan the following week. And I have come up with a simple matrix that you can use to help refocus your attention on what matters.