10 Practical Tips for Planning Your Diary
Published: 29 October 2021 | Last Reviewed: 8 August 2025
Even the most carefully planned day can be disrupted by unexpected crises, urgent requests from your boss, or time-sensitive demands from key customers. These moments, while challenging, are also opportunities to demonstrate your adaptability, problem-solving skills, and time management expertise.
When these events happen, pause, take a deep breath, and assess the situation. Adjust your schedule based on new priorities, and communicate clearly with those affected about any changes to deadlines or tasks.
1. Allow for interruptions within your daily plan.
2. Plan for follow-on tasks that arise from completed work.
3. Build in flexibility for crises that shift priorities.
4. Replace frequent short meetings with calls, emails, or messages.
5. Break lengthy tasks into smaller, manageable units (Swiss Cheese method).
6. Allocate time for each unit, including planning and review.
7. Avoid back-to-back meetings or appointments.
8. Set at least one positive goal to achieve each day.
9. Review tasks daily and adjust priorities as needed.
10. Reward yourself for completing major tasks.
Recommended Resources
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The BIG Planning Tip - Planning best practice
A big planning tip: Never make your plan all at once. Best practice says that you should start working on your plan by listing all the action items in your plan that you can think of; then, leave it for a few hours and return back to finish it later.
as soon as you sit down and write your action plan steps, instantly your left-brain kicks into action. It is the logical part that wants to go step by step because of the nature of that side of our brains. But, if you leave your plan for a while, you actually give the right side of the brain a chance to contribute to your plan. While engaging in any routine task such as getting a coffee, going for a walk, or even watching TV, your plan will be in the back of your mind. You may think of additional steps or better ways of performing each item or task. You will be surprised how many more steps or actions you will add when you return back to your plan that you either didn't think of on the first time or forgot all together.
