THE
15 MINUTE
PLANNER METHOD
PLAN YOUR ENTIRE WORK WEEK ONCE
(& ACTUALLY GET IT DONE THIS TIME)
Courage & clarity
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YOU KNOW THAT CROCKPOT CATCHPHRASE
“set it & forget it?”
The magic and beautiful sorcery of the crockpot is pretty straightforward:
put the necessary ingredients in the pot once, and you’re good till dinner.
It’s not super sexy to say that my planning method is like the crockpot of
productivity, but I guess it is what it is, right?
The thing is, I’ve tried every planning method under the sun.
Detailed, down-to-the-minute type of planning. Zero planning. Timer-based
planning. Goal-based planning. Paper planners, digital planners…
To carry the cooking analogy, I basically had an entire kitchen of fancy cooking
gadgets… but whether or not “dinner" made it onto the table was a toss-up.
And it seems like I’m not alone. Here’s what you guys said:
“I fall out of the habit with planning, it just never sticks.”
“My struggle is follow-through. I love planning, but when it comes to actually
doing, I fall short.”
“My struggle is over-planning. I can get 10-15 things done, but it’s never
enough.”
“I sometimes have whole weeks where not a single thing goes according to
plan”
LESS WONDERING WHAT TO WORK ON. MORE PROGRESS.
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ready to get started?
Here’s what you’ll need:
•
A pen (or pencil)
•
A piece of paper, of any kind (seriously, the back side of that one girl’s baby
shower invitation will work just fine)
•
A glass of wine (optional, but strongly recommended)
And yeah, that’s it… literally.
And hey, one more thing? I’m so glad you’re here. Let’s dive in!
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ROCKS, PEBBLES & SAND
A QUICK PRODUCTIVITY LESSON
Perhaps you’ve seen this demo before about a professor & a jar.
Here’s the cliffnotes: The only way to fit rocks, pebbles AND sand into one jar
is to start with the big stuff. Then, the smaller things can fit & squeeze in
around those boulders.
The big problem is that many of us start with sand. But if we put the sand
in first, there’s no room for our rocks & pebbles.
This is why we can spend all our time in our email inbox or social media and
feel like we did literally nothing in an entire day.
ROCKS: BIG COMMITMENTS
PEBBLES: GROWTH-BASED ACTIONS
SAND: “BASELINE” TASKS (EMAIL,
SOCIAL MEDIA, CHORES, ETC.)
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“IF YOU WERE TO PUT SAND
INTO THE JAR FIRST,
THERE WOULD BE NO ROOM
FOR THE ROCKS AND PEBBLES.”
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BEFORE WE BEGIN
BRAIN DUMP
GET IT ALL OUT ON PAPER
Before we can figure out what the heck you
should work on this week, it’s time to kick
that overwhelmed feeling to the curb.
Grab your paper and jot down all the
things you could possibly work on this
week.
PULL UP YOUR CALENDAR
While I do my brain dump, I pull up my
google calendar to see what’s already
scheduled and I throw those items onto
the list. Voila, everything all in one place.
(SCROLL TO END FOR BIGGER PHOTO!)
A FEW BIG TIPS & NOTES
1. I like this paper that has the line down the middle. if you don’t have
that, just draw it.
2. Don’t worry about my abbreviations — they make sense to me! For
example, “CCe68” means “Courage & Clarity episode 68”. Feel free to
use shorthand that you’ll recognize.
3. Are you going to work on EVERYTHING in your brain dump this
week? Probably not. The idea here is to get everything out. We’ll
prioritize in a sec.
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“SIMPLE CAN BE HARDER THAN COMPLEX:
YOU HAVE TO WORK HARD
TO GET YOUR THINKING CLEAN
TO MAKE IT SIMPLE.
BUT IT’S WORTH IT IN THE END
BECAUSE ONCE YOU GET THERE,
YOU CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS.”
- STEVE JOBS
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STEP ONE
PLAN YOUR COMMITMENTS (“ROCKS”)
START BUILDING YOUR WEEK
Now, add a “this week” column to the left
side of your paper.
Take a look at your brain dump and start
piping in any pre-scheduled
commitments.
Cross them off as you go.
APPOINTMENTS ONLY!
We’re only jotting down scheduled
commitments first.
(SCROLL TO END FOR BIGGER PHOTO!)
HEADS UP: HERE’S WHERE YOU MIGHT GET STUCK
White space is your friend! if you do this part and your week is
jammed, we’ve got a problem. Notice my Thursday is totally empty.
Take a look at your scheduled commitments. Is there anything in here
that just simply isn’t important? Guard your time carefully.
Please note, these aren’t necessarily the MOST important tasks in your
week. But these are things you’ve committed too — from team
meetings to baby’s doctor appointments, if you need to show up
somewhere, write it down.
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“EITHER
RUN THE DAY
OR
THE DAY RUNS YOU.”
- JIM ROHN
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STEP TWO: GROWTH-BASED ACTIONS
(AKA, THE SECRET SAUCE!)
THE STUFF YOU WANNA DO, BUT NEVER GET TO.
Herein lies the root of the feeling that you’re always working and never
accomplishing: this is the important stuff we never get to.
It’s not urgent & technically doesn’t “have to” be done…
So when sh*t hits the fan, we skip it.
Paradoxically, this stuff is the engine of your business.
If you spend your days showing up to meetings (rocks) and chasing down
admin tasks (sand), our pebbles are lost completely.
IS IT ANY SURPRISE THAT WITHOUT AN ENGINE,
YOUR BUSINESS SPINS ITS WHEELS?
The health of your business depends on how well you do here
(no pressure, we got this!)
EXAMPLES OF GROWTH-BASED ACTIONS:
+ Blog or podcast content (growing your audience)
+ Working on an offering (growing your revenue)
+ Taking a course (growing your skillset)
+ Usually fun + exciting to work on
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STEP TWO: GROWTH-BASED ACTIONS
(AKA, THE SECRET SAUCE!)
TIME TO ADD YOUR “PEBBLES”
Go through your list and add a special mark for
any GBA’s (growth-based actions).
Now, inspect your week. Look for long stretches
of white space — these are just begging for
some GBA’s!
In my example, my eyes go right to my
Thursday. An empty day, especially in the
morning when I’m fresh, works perfectly.
Notice that I bunched some things. On
Thursday, it says “goals course”. There are
actually three activities related to this in the
“brain dump” column on the right.
Here’s where flexibility comes in — I know
what I’m working on, roughly, but can go with
the flow when the time comes.
(SCROLL TO END FOR BIGGER PHOTO!)
NO ADMIN WORK HERE!
You might be tempted to add in things like social media or email. Before you
make the argument that these grow your biz, STOP!
Unless there is strategy involved, like planning out your social media editorial
calendar for the next month, then don’t put it here.
Questions to ask:
• Is this a project or an ongoing task? (If it’s a recurring task, save it for Step 3.)
• Is this reactive (email, replying to comments on Instagram or in your FB
group) or proactive (like creating a file of text snippets for customer
support)?
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“THE ABILITY TO
SIMPLIFY
MEANS TO
ELIMINATE THE UNNECESSARY
SO THAT
THE NECESSARY
MAY SPEAK.”
HANS HOFFMAN
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STEP THREE
TOP OFF WITH ADMIN (“SAND”)
IDENTIFY “THE REST”
Go through your list and make a special
mark for any admin-type work.
Remember, these are usually more like
tasks and/or maintenance work.
That’s why you’ll see “Christmas gifts” on
my list. It’s a task I need to knock out, and I
know it’s going to get done.
FILL YOUR HOLES WITH SAND
The thing about sand is, it fits into cracks
and crevices. In my notebook, you’ll see I
jotted “admin” — I’m bunching all these
tasks, and will work on them in a batch.
(SCROLL TO END FOR BIGGER PHOTO!)
MY THEORY ABOUT ADMIN: IT ALWAYS GETS DONE
I guarantee my approach is giving someone organizational hives right
now. As a recovering people pleaser, I know what you’re thinking:
“People are waiting for me to get back to them quickly! What if
someone gets mad?!”
1. In my experience, they don’t get mad. This is in your head.
2. We’re more efficient when we batch tasks.
3. Every time you check your inbox or social, it can take 30+ minutes
to get your brain back on track. We must guard our time!
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“YOU CAN’T BE THAT KID
STANDING AT THE TOP
OF THE WATERSLIDE,
OVERTHINKING IT.
YOU HAVE TO GO
DOWN THE CHUTE.”
TINA FEY
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ta-da, your week is planned!
That’s it, 15 minutes and you’ve got a game plan that is structured enough to
help you make progress…
… yet flexible enough to allow space for creativity & “life stuff” that pops up.
So don’t forget:
1. Rocks, pebbles & sand, in that order. Most people dump in some sand,
throw in a few rocks, top it off with more sand and they’re out of room.
Don’t forget your GBA’s — your Growth-Based Actions, the engine of your
business.
2. White space is your friend. For creativity, and your sanity’s sake.
3. Step away from your admin work. Social media will still exist. Your email
inbox won’t explode. It will get done.
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Dear C&C friend,
This handbook was born out of a need I observed in our community on
Facebook for listeners of the Courage & Clarity podcast.
I believe the stuff in this guide will seriously up your productivity game, but to
get the life-changing stuff, you gotta listen to the show!
If you like this guide and the podcast, you can help me out tremendously by
leaving a review in iTunes.
From the bottom of my heart: thank you for your support. I love you guys!
Wishing you the courage & clarity to go after what you love,
steph crowder
COURAGEANDCLARITY.COM | #COURAGEANDCLARITY
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