Module Four Worksheets

A work well begun is half ended.
Plato
Module Four: Planning Wisely

The hallmark of successful time management is being consistently
productive each day. Many people use a daily plan to motivate
themselves. Having a daily plan and committing to it can help you
stay focused on the priorities of that particular day. As well, you are
more likely to get things accomplished if you write down your plans
for the day.
Creating Your Productivity Journal

Essentially, planning is nothing more than taking a piece of paper and a pen and
writing down the tasks and associated steps that you need to take throughout the
day to ensure that your goal is completed.
To start, get yourself a spiral notebook and label it as your Personal Productivity
Journal or your Professional Productivity Journal. (We recommend keeping a separate journal for work
and for your personal life, so you can focus on them at separate times, thus maintaining your optimal
work/life balance.) Label each page with the day and the date and what needs to be done that particular
day. Next, prioritize each task in order of importance. Highlight the top three items and focus on those
first. Cross off items as you complete them. Items that are not completed should be carried over to the
next page.
Maximizing the Power of Your Productivity Journal

Personal development expert Brian Tracy believes that when you write down your
action list the night before, your subconscious mind focuses on that plan while you
sleep. By planning the night before, you will also start fresh and focused on the most
important tasks for the day. Of course, you will want to review your list in the
morning, but you will have a head start on your day.
Always have your productivity journal with you during the day to avoid becoming sidetracked. Crossing
off completed tasks will give your subconscious mind a tremendous amount of satisfaction. This will also
help to maintain your motivation to complete the remaining items on your action list.
If you find yourself moving uncompleted tasks over into the following day, and the day after that, then
you need to ask yourself why that task is on your list in the first place and what value it has in your life. If
you postpone a task three times, it does not belong on your action list.
The Glass Jar: Rocks, Pebbles, Sand, and Water

There is a story about time management that uses a glass jar, rocks, stones, pebbles, sand, and water to
illustrate how to plan your day. The glass jar represents the time you have each day, and each item that
goes into it represents an activity with a priority relative to its size.
• Rocks: The general idea is to fill your glass jar first with rocks. Plan each
day around your most important tasks that will propel you toward
achieving your goals. These represent your highest priority projects and
deadlines with the greatest value, often important, but not urgent tasks
that move you toward your goals.
• Pebbles: Next, fill in the space between the rocks with pebbles. These represent
tasks that are urgent, and important, but contribute less to important goals.
Without proper planning, these tasks are often unexpected, and left
unmanaged, can quickly fill your day. Working to reduce these tasks will give
you more time to work toward your goals.
• Sand: Now add sand to fill your jar. In other words, schedule urgent, but not
important tasks, only after important tasks. These activities are usually
routine or maintenance tasks that do not directly contribute to your goals.
• Water: Finally, pour water into your jar. These trivial time-wasters are neither
important nor urgent and take you away from working toward high return
activities and your goals.
If you commit to this approach to planning your days, you will see as time goes on that you are able to
achieve more in less time. Instead of finishing things in a mad rush to meet deadlines, each day will be
organized and become more productive and profitable. You will also notice yourself spending less time
on activities that are of little to no value. And because you have a clear vision for dealing with competing
priorities, the level of stress in your life will diminish, which will allow you to become even more focused
and productive.
Chunk, Block, and Tackle
Large projects can sometimes be so overwhelming it is difficult to even plan to
start them. This time management technique is ideal for taking on these jobs.
Simply break down the project into manageable chunks, block off time to work on
the project, and then tackle it with a single-minded focus.
• Chunk: Break large projects into specific tasks that can be completed in
less than 15 minutes.
• Block: Rather than scheduling the entire project all at once, block out set times to complete
specific chunks as early in the day as possible. This should allow you to ignore most
interruptions and focus on just this task.
• Tackle: Now tackle the specific task, focusing only on this task rather than the project as a
whole. Once completed, you will feel a sense of accomplishment from making progress on the
project.
Ready, Fire, Aim!

We’ve all heard the saying, “Ready, Aim, Fire!” Often in time management planning,
it is better to think “Ready, Fire, Aim!” instead. This is because most people aim for
the target, and then they keep aiming at the target, but they never seem to fire.
They get so caught up with the planning that they fail to take action. This is just
another form of procrastination, which we will discuss in a moment. Better to take a
shot and see how close you were to the target.
• Ready! Do not over-plan each of your actions. By the time you fire, the target may have moved.
• Fire! Remember the 80/20 rule and just take action. Even if you don’t hit the bull’s eye, you’ll
probably still hit the target.
• Aim! Make new plans based on new information. Readjust your aim based on where you hit the
target.
Case Study
John was having trouble figuring exactly what he needed to do in order to optimize his time at the office
so that he wouldn’t have to bring work home with him. His coworker Bob told him to try taking the
Chunk, Block, and Tackle approach which would allow him to break up huge projects into much smaller,
easier to deal with tasks.
The first step is to analyze John’s project and break it up into big CHUNKS that could be completed in 15
minutes.
The second step is to BLOCK these chunks by level of importance and set a specific time to do them.
Ideally, John could begin doing these chunks as soon as he got to work.
The last step would be to TACKLE these chunks on individually and focus only on them. John could then
finish his work at his job and not have to bring anything home.

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A work well begun is half ended.

Module Four: Planning Wisely

Creating Your Productivity Journal

Maximizing the Power of Your Productivity Journal

The Glass Jar: Rocks, Pebbles, Sand, and Water

Ready, Fire, Aim!

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