Change your life with daily planning

“Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” If there’s anything we’ve learned over the past few years, it’s that this statement is completely true. As we come out of a global pandemic, many of us feel even more inspired to make the most out of our lives.

To make this happen, we need to establish daily plans. Without proper planning in place, the line between idea and strategy becomes unclear, blurring your map for the future. Yet when you learn how to plan your day, set goals and track your progress, you know exactly where you stand as your work toward your goals.

Whether you’re seeking to tame an overwhelming workload, build a new habit, establish a more productive work-from-home schedule or create more time for fun, understanding how to plan your day is key to taking control and getting where you want to go. Here are the top ten ways to establish daily plans that will improve your productivity and achieve your dreams.

How to plan your day out

Learning how to plan your day means harnessing your skills and time to make the most of your resources. 

1. Think Ahead

Human beings have limited willpower. When you attempt to write your daily plans in the morning, you deplete your supply of willpower first thing. Instead of setting yourself up for failure, start learning how to plan your day out the night before. By giving yourself a heads-up on what tomorrow will look like, you’re mentally prepared the moment you wake up – no need to waste time and energy when your daily plan is ready and waiting.

This doesn’t necessarily mean scheduling out every minute of your day. It also means using the power of routine to take some things off your plate. There’s a reason Steve Jobs and Barack Obama wore the same thing every day. These types of routines save your brain’s energy for what really matters – making tough decisions and focusing on your goals.

2. Embrace Rituals

Your most powerful routine takes place in the morning. Embracing morning rituals will provide the structure and discipline you need to learn how to plan your day. It also sets the mood for your day, shifting your mindset to one of positivity and productivity.

Like any new habit, managing your schedule takes consistency to make it second nature. Build new habits into your schedule so you’re reminded to follow through on them on a consistent basis. By making new habits ritualistic, you’re able to build patterns that align with your values and priorities.

3. Slow Down

As helpful as technology can be, mastering how to plan your day is a great time to go analog. Before you turn on any technology, get out a piece of paper and write down what end results would make for a successful day. Next, write down the steps needed to get there.

From those steps, select the ones you can realistically get done in a day. By taking a few minutes’ break from the rush of digital information, you’re able to focus calmly on your daily plans. Make this a part of your morning routine to get your mind in the right place before you start your day.

4. Find tools that work for you

You don’t have to ignore technology entirely – time management apps and tools are essential for many people. To master how to plan your day, elevate your focus with Tony Robbins’ best-selling custom life planner, the RPM Life Planner. Unlike the majority of time management systems, which focus solely on mapping out your to-do list, the RPM Life Planner takes a holistic approach.

You get all the tools you need to get organized and pursue what you truly want out of life right at your fingertips. You get an achievable blueprint for not only how to plan your day but also how to strategize and meet larger life goals. This approach saves you from the busywork of unfocused activity. You get real progress – forward movement toward your passions.

5. Use Chunking

When you have too much on your plate, it’s almost impossible to focus on anything, much less on how to plan your day. Enter chunking, the time management strategy at the center of the Rapid Planning Method (RPM planning). Rather than thinking of your time as a fleeting resource that’s either “spent” or “saved,” RPM planning guides you to prioritize the outcomes you really want in life, then target your time toward those goals.

By using the chunking technique, you’re able to set realistic and achievable goals with the resources you have without exhausting yourself. To practice chunking, group similar activities and information into bite-sized pieces. Chunking is one of the best ways to establish daily plans – you’ll notice everything from planning your work day to enjoying your days off becomes more natural.

6. Set Boundaries

When you’re planning your workday, give yourself a realistic window of time for each item and cut yourself off at that window. Setting boundaries with your time enables you to focus and rely on the scheduling parameters you set for yourself.

Another habit to build into your day is to reset your mind and body – even when you don’t want to. Set an alarm to ring every hour. When it rings, stand up and stretch to reinvigorate your state. Before getting back to work, ask yourself if that last hour was productive and plan the next hour for maximal results.

7. Separate work from your home life

After the pandemic, there was a large shift in the corporate workforce. Many people who used to work in office buildings are now working from home. While this has a variety of benefits, it can also prevent some challenges. One of these challenges is how to plan your day when your work and play are happening under the same roof.

There are a few steps that you can take to hold to your boundaries, follow your daily plans and get your work done. First, stick to your morning routine. Just because you’re not physically going into the office, that doesn’t mean that you can throw your daily plans out the window. Second, get dressed as if you’re going to work every day. This will put you in the right mental space for your workday. Third, remember to take breaks. Get up from your desk. Eat lunch in a different room or go for a walk in the middle of the day. Finally, stop working at the end of the work day. Just because you can continue to work from the couch doesn’t mean you have to.

8. Take Massive Action

We all have long to-do lists on our phones or stuck to our refrigerators. They’re filled with tasks we don’t want to do, but we know need to get done. Yet learning how to plan your day isn’t about daily tasks. It’s about the actions you take that move you toward your goal. You need to ditch your to-do list and create a Massive Action Plan (MAP).

Your MAP will help you ensure the activities that end up on your schedule are goal-oriented and connected back to your purpose. This gives meaning to everything you are doing – even the tasks you consider menial – which improves your focus and allows you to get more done in a day.

9. Prioritize Yourself

As tempting as it is to tell yourself you’ll just “get around” to your personal needs, the reality is that, when you get busy, those are the first tasks to get lost in the shuffle. Prioritizing your overall physical, mental and emotional health forms the cornerstone of lasting success, so don’t forget them during your daily planning.

Exercise and eating right give you the energy and vitality you need for your day. Positive habits like meditation or yoga center your mind and body. Self-care gives you time to relax and regroup. Prioritizing yourself isn’t being lazy – all of these things are ultimately essential to your productivity and creativity and are an important part of your daily planning.

10. Follow the 80/20 Rule

As Tony says, success is achieved through a plan that is 80 percent psychological and 20 percent strategic. Keep this in mind when writing out your daily plans. The strategy of when and how you do things is affected by how you think about them. To set yourself up for success, work on your mindset first and the strategy second.