How to plan your weeks with your projects in mind
A glimpse into my weekly planning process
This week, Tiago Forte shared a video about planning your weeks with projets in mind. It was a very insightful video and it made me reflect on how I currently plan in Notion.
I’ve been using Thomas Frank’s Ultimate Brain template in Notion (not affiliate) as my Second brain and task management system. In this template, there’s a built-in project hub in which I can see at a glance my current projects, the ones that are upcoming and the ones I have on hold.
What I’ll do at the end of the week, during my weekly review, is I’ll look at my project list and decide which ones are priorities, and what the next action should be in each of them. I’ll then schedule these tasks in my task-managing system for the upcoming week.
Then, each day, I’ll look at my to-do list and select which tasks I’ll set in motion that day. This ensures that my most important projects get worked on each week. It gets the ball rolling and ensures that I’ll make progress on what truly matters.
Then, during my monthly review, I’ll look at each project and see if there are tasks that are left unscheduled, and reflect on what actually needs to get done. I’ll move projects in my Kanban board from to do, to doing, to done and make sure the projects I’m working on are relevant.
I’ll also move some of these projects to a someday/maybe list, as instructed by David Allen. Having these on a separate list ensures I won’t forget them, but they do not appear in my current list. I’ll revisit my someday/maybe list once a month, sometimes cancelling a project altogether, sometimes moving it to my current list.
Check out Tiago’s video to learn more about how he plans his weeks with projects in mind, and make sure to check out his new book, The PARA Method (affiliate), which dives deep into his organizational system for his Second Brain. The book comes out August 15 and I am very hyped to dive into it.
If you would like to know more about my weekly and monthly review process, let me know in the comments below!