The importance of a Daily Planning Process in the Digital Age

As we move away from paper-based planner systems, we move away from a key element of a productive day:   the Daily Planning Process.  A common thread in most productivity systems and training is some type of daily planning.  Today's digital world is as simple as walking in, turning on and "off to the races."  Daily planning has been replaced with an on switch and "full steam ahead" in many cases.

Can you remember when the first 10-15 minutes of each day was at your desk with a cup of coffee and your trusty planner?  Ready to conquer the world.  Remember when an entire day was laid out in front of you?    Whatever system you used, typically had your calendar, a task list and a place to capture notes.  Your system may have also spanned the week, a month or just the day.  You reviewed the past few days, made a few notes and then started your day.

When we started to go digital in one way or another, the beauty and simplicity of our "system" was forever changed.  Gone was the clean snapshot of the day or week.  Task lists gave way to inboxes.  Notes pages turned into digital files folders and confusing file structures.  Calendars turned into of a mash of everything else.  This mornings cup of Joe was sipped while many flashing lights vied for my attention.

As I've navigated through the maze of products and services to bring this new digital age into order, I've reverted back to a very simplistic tool, and my own Daily Planning Process.  I'll cover more tools and services in upcoming posts.

I start each and every day pulling up a Google Doc.  It's named "Daily & Weekly Planning."  I've created a list of daily activities to get my day started in the right direction.  Check this, open that, dial here and look at this list.  At least I'm in control of what I open and look at to start my day.  We'll cover weekly planning later.

I have three voicemails to check.  I have three email inboxes to check.  I have a variety of lists in a few task management programs to review.  On the second page I've also kept/copied/pasted quotes and statements to read each day to get my mind right!

Here's the point.  When I go through this routine, stop my world for 10-15 minutes each morning and plan my day accordingly, I have a much more productive day.  When I let life get in the way, my day takes off and I'm not prepared.  It only takes a few unprepared days to get myself back on track and remember the importance of the Daily Planning Process.

Thanks for following and sharing!

David