Productivity · Intermediate · about 16 minutes

Planning and decisions — a weekly plan that survives contact with Monday

Monday morning you list fourteen things. By Wednesday you have done four, three of which were not on the list. Friday you carry nine into next week and feel behind.

You need

Hours available: 45. Meetings already booked: 16.

Tool

Any assistant, ten minutes on Monday

You get

1. THE ARITHMETIC — 42 hours estimated against 29 free.

Time saved

Ten minutes on Monday. Prevents the 8–12 hours a week typically lost to work that was never going to fit.