Even productivity experts tend to get bogged down in the planning phases of our workdays. We might have a routine – maybe it is a morning workout followed by breakfast followed by reviewing what our day looks like – but after that initial daily review, things tend to get messy.
Before you know it, your schedule is moving and shifting, you have more fires to put out than you expected, and your mind is a blurred haze of unfinished tasks by the end of your day. All you know by the time you log off is that tomorrow will be even crazier than today. But you are just grateful the day is over, and you promise to start fresh again the next day and not let it get so out of hand. Unfortunately, the next day is more of the same, and the next day, and the next. You finish your week depleted.
But with a time management expert’s framework, you can get off that hamster wheel!
Plan Tomorrow + 2 at the End of Each Day
A simple shift in your time management approach makes a huge difference in what your day, your week, and your life look like.
This new approach is called Tomorrow + 2. Simply make your plan and review your next day’s schedule at the end of each day, and while you are there, you take a look at the following two days ahead as well. The three-day arc overview allows you to take control of your life and your time by giving you a huge head start on the next. Then, you can still enjoy your normal morning routine, sit with that cup of coffee, and begin your day rather than barely getting into planning and review mode with half the morning gone. Tomorrow + 2 is a game-changer for many reasons.
Wiggle Room
When you finish your workday by reviewing the next three days, you can see in advance what your time will look like. You can see blocks of time for productivity, spaces for rest, and appointments that might need to be moved around. You’ll notice where you can best utilize your time, and where you will have room to roll over tasks to the next day if you need to.
Clear Your Mind
The reason you will have this foresight is that your mind will be much clearer. You are reviewing with your head already in work mode after a day of work. You will be able, to be honest with yourself about what you can get done, and what needs more time. Once your day has already begun, it can become quite hectic, especially these days, and hectic days do not allow for clarity. The end of the day is best suited for preparation mode.
More Likely to Follow Through
Another benefit of planning tomorrow + 2 at the end of each day is that you will be able to prioritize. You can ask yourself what is more important, and plan accordingly, rather than having to make those decisions on the spot. When you prioritize, you are much more likely to follow through.
A Time Management Expert Separates Phases
When we separate the deciding from the doing, the preparation from the execution, we are more efficient with each phase. Once you put Tomorrow + 2 into action, you quickly see how different the phases of time management are, and you can separate them out. You want to plan for success and then achieve it. You do not want to try to do both at once. At the end of each day, you can clearly see what went well that day, and then look at tomorrow and the following two days and make the adjustments necessary, based on how today went. You prepare for the next 3 days today, and then you execute those tasks, adapting and shifting at the end of each day once more.
You have heard the expression about meditating for 20 minutes each day, unless you are busy, in which case you should meditate for an hour? Tomorrow + 2 is like that. If you have a really busy schedule, it is imperative you take a more meditative approach to planning your time – more clear-minded, more priority-based, and more proactive. Tomorrow + 2 is the plan for becoming the time management expert you have always wanted to be.
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