Lesson 3. Planning tasks: making lists and prioritizing

If you begin to thoroughly understand what factors influence a person’s life in general, then you can find a great variety of them. Any area of a person’s life and each sphere of his activity, of course, has a number of peculiarities inherent to them, and sometimes what is applicable to one is completely inapplicable to another. But despite this, there are certain fundamental principles that are effective in absolutely everything. One of these principles, or more precisely, laws that can be considered guarantors of success in any field, can safely be called the ability to plan and prioritize. We will find out why this is so important in this time management training lesson. After studying this material, you will learn about what business planning is and what its features are, why it is necessary and important to daily compile lists of work, personal and household chores. In addition, we will look at several effective planning techniques and principles, some of which are designed for every day, and some have a more long-term focus - for a week, a month, a year and even several years. This lesson in our online training on time management will be useful to people of all ages and professions, and you will be able to apply the information received to achieve your goals from the first day.

What is planning? Types of planning. Prioritization

The planning process

Planning is the process of optimal allocation of resources necessary to achieve set goals and objectives, as well as a set of processes that are associated with their formulation and implementation. Planning is an integral part of time management (time management) and, when used skillfully, increases its effectiveness many times over.

In its simplest and most formal interpretation, planning is characterized by the following stages:

Stage of setting goals (tasks)
The stage of drawing up a plan to achieve the goal
Variant design stage
The stage of identifying the required resources, as well as their sources
Stage of identifying executives and briefing
The stage of recording planning results in physical form (plan, project, map, etc.)

Types of planning

Planning, as already noted, is applicable to absolutely any sphere of life, but, depending on this, it may have its own characteristics, which, in turn, is expressed in different forms and contents.

Types of planning differ:

By necessity

Directive planning - implies the mandatory execution of assigned tasks, always has a specific addressee and is characterized by increased detail. An example is the setting of tasks related to solving issues of state/national significance, work in enterprises, etc.
Indicative planning is the antipode of the first: it does not imply mandatory and precise execution, it has a more recommendatory and guiding nature. This type of planning is widespread in the system of macroeconomic development of various countries.

By timing of achieving goals

Short-term (current) planning - calculated for a period of up to 1 year and can consist of plans for a day, a week, a month, a quarter, or six months. The most common type of planning. It is used both by ordinary people in everyday life and by leaders of various organizations.
Medium-term planning – calculated for a period from 1 to 5 years. This form of planning is common in the activities of government agencies, firms and enterprises, but is often used by strategically thinking people. In some cases, it can be combined with current planning, which in its entirety is rolling planning.
Long-term (long-term) planning – usually calculated for several (5, 10, 20) years in advance. Most often, this type of planning is used at large enterprises in order to perform tasks of a social, economic, scientific and technological nature, etc.

According to the content of planning decisions

Strategic planning is mainly long-term. With its help, the main directions in the activities of organizations are determined: expanding activities, creating new directions, stimulating the work process, studying the market and its segments, studying demand, characteristics of the target audience, etc. Widespread in the activities of organizations.
Tactical planning is most often also long-term. Its main goal is to create the necessary conditions for the implementation of opportunities found through the use of strategic planning. As a rule, tactical planning is used when planning the economic, social, and production development of an organization. Widespread in the activities of organizations.
Operational calendar planning is the final stage of strategic and tactical planning. Serves mainly to implement the process of achieving the desired results. With its help, all indicators are specified and the work of the organization is directly organized. Operational calendar planning involves determining the time for completing assigned tasks, preparing for the implementation of the process, maintaining records, monitoring and analyzing the process. Widespread in the activities of organizations.
Business planning – serves to assess the feasibility, relevance and effectiveness of planned activities. The preparation of a business plan is done very carefully, taking into account all kinds of indicators, opportunities, proposals, etc. It is widespread in the activities of organizations and the work of businessmen.

In addition to the considered types of planning that take into account primary aspects, there are also those that take into account secondary ones. They, in turn, differ:

By coverage

General planning – covers all the details of the context.
Partial planning – covers some details of the context.

By planning objects

Target planning – involves determining the goals required to achieve.
Planning of means - implies planning of the means necessary to achieve the result (finance, information, personnel, equipment, etc.).
Program planning – involves the development of programs necessary to achieve results.
Action planning involves determining the actions necessary to achieve a result.

By depth

Aggregated planning – occurs taking into account general parameters.
Detailed planning takes place taking into account all the details and features.

By coordinating plans over time

Sequential planning - involves a long process that consists of several smaller stages.
Simultaneous planning - implies a one-time short-term stage.

Taking into account data changes

Rigid planning – implies mandatory compliance with specified parameters.
Flexible planning implies the possibility of non-compliance with specified parameters and the emergence of new ones.

In order

Orderly planning - implies the sequential implementation of plans, one after another.
Rolling planning - involves extending the plan for a subsequent period after its completion in the current period.
Extraordinary planning - implies the implementation of a plan as the need arises.

Check how well you can plan your daily activities by solving this case:

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Prioritization

Prioritization is the process of setting priorities - an indicator of the predominance of the importance of a particular plan item over the rest. Prioritization is important for the reason that among a large number of different nuances and features, there are those that have the least significance and have minimal impact on the process of achieving the goal, and those that play a dominant role in this process. The ability to prioritize can be called another indicator of the effectiveness and efficiency of any planning process, because The emphasis on the most significant points of the plan is often decisive in the question of whether the goal will be achieved or not.

As you can see, planning as a process is characterized by a considerable number of different nuances. Any of the types can be used separately, or maybe in combination with others. The main thing when choosing is to take into account all the features of your activity. But, no matter how many types of planning exist, no matter how many we consider them, no matter how many examples we give, all this will have no value if we do not understand why we need to plan anything at all, what advantages it has how will this help us in life? It is these questions that we will try to answer in the next section.

First, we suggest you solve this case in order to practice prioritizing things:

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Rules for dividing topics in the curriculum

A long-term thematic plan is drawn up according to certain rules:

new material in each lesson should have 3-4 questions that students must learn;
the material selected for the lesson must be complete in content and have a specific didactic purpose;
The sequence of arrangement of educational material for individual lessons requires adherence to a logical chain, ensuring internal interconnection, and a gradual increase in the complexity of educational tasks.

When determining the volume of educational material that will be considered during the lesson, you need to take into account the likelihood of its consideration and deepening during the period of time allotted for the lesson.

Perspective-calendar, complex-thematic planning has a certain basis. It consists of lessons designed to study new educational material, and also includes classes of a combined type. Also, the perspective-thematic plan involves listing all excursions, laboratory, practical work, and test classes. The table indicates the serial number of the lesson, the name of the lesson (topic), the main elements, and homework.

Why do you need planning?

Considering that our trainings are devoted to methods of increasing personal productivity, here and further in the lesson we will consider planning in relation to the activities of a person, and not organizations, firms, enterprises, etc.

Planning is the factor that largely determines not only whether a person achieves what he wants, but also what he achieves at all. The fact is that the planning process itself does not have some single and narrowly targeted effect, but has a complex effect, influencing many personal indicators of a person, the direction of his actions and his lifestyle in general. Below we list just a few of the positive aspects of planning and the benefits it provides.

Specification of the goal

As soon as a person begins to plan his activities, his thinking is activated, his creative potential is activated, and his brain activity increases. You can want something and “sort of” imagine it, while thinking that you know exactly what you want. But as soon as you sit down to draw up a plan and begin to think it through carefully, your goal from abstract begins to transform into concrete (for example, learn a foreign language). Gradually you begin to imagine it in detail, take into account its features, and somehow vary it. There is a saying that says that a ship that does not know where it is going will never reach its destination. So is a person - if he does not know what exactly he wants, he will never achieve it. Planning makes it possible to understand and realize what you really want and achieve a specific goal.

A clear action plan

Even if we know what we want, we may never achieve it if we don’t know what we need to achieve it. Our goals can be mega-global, good and wonderful, but they will remain just a picture of what we want to have and do. This state of affairs can be corrected through planning. Firstly, it allows you to determine the specific steps that need to be taken in order to achieve the desired result. Secondly, it helps to identify the resources needed for this and their sources. Thirdly, it makes it possible to set a time frame. This way, once you have a precise plan, you will know what you need to do to implement it, who or what to involve in it, and most importantly, when you want to do it. Planning significantly speeds up the process of achieving a goal, because... is a practical guide to action.

Action, not thoughts about action

Until we have a plan to implement what we want, we are constantly thinking about this topic. We think about how much we want it, how nice it would be if we had it, we reflect on how we lack it now, perhaps we even imagine ourselves in the process of doing it. But there is one BUT - apart from thinking, we do nothing else. And this indicates that, most likely, this will all end. It is important to understand that when you start planning, you are already taking the first and biggest step towards realizing your plans. This alone moves you forward significantly. And then a chain reaction begins: after drawing up a plan, you begin to carry out specific actions, the first point is followed by the second, the second by the third, etc. If you can instill in yourself the habit of planning even the smallest things, you will immediately notice how your desires begin to become reality. Another proverb can be applied here: “Water does not flow under a lying stone.” Get off the ground and start taking action. Planning creates the energy potential necessary to achieve a goal.

Possibility of maneuvering

Without knowing specifically what needs to be done to achieve the desired results, we can neither determine nor coordinate our actions. We can have a rough idea of what we need to do, but if we act without a plan, we risk reaching a dead end or even moving further away from the goal. When you have a plan and begin to act, you can, so to speak, manage the entire process online: it doesn’t work this way, try it differently, one thing doesn’t work, think about what can replace it. Having a clear plan will allow you to maneuver along your path, vary different methods and methods. As a result, you will have a comprehensive plan that will take into account all possible nuances and options for the development of events. The ability to plan is the ability to be flexible and ready for any situation.

High probability of success

And, perhaps, the most important advantage of planning is that, although not a 100% guarantee, it is still a huge probability of success. How many people we see who want very little, but without a plan, never achieve anything! And, in contrast to them, there are a huge number of examples of people who have fantastic goals that seem unattainable, despite everything they achieve them and even more. What distinguishes the former from the latter is the ability to plan and prioritize. Determine your goals, start making a plan - after a while you will see that you have reached your goal, and thousands of onlookers without a plan remain in their places. Planning will make you a leader in any field!

Surely, now it has become much clearer to you why you need to plan and think through all your steps. Planning is carried out by businessmen and entrepreneurs, heads of huge corporations, creative people, writers, actors and show business stars, in general, all those who are commonly called successful people. Planning is part of the life and activity of any person who wants to increase their productivity and achieve serious results. It is for this reason, in addition to sitting down at the table, taking a pen and a piece of paper, and starting to plan something, today there are specially developed planning techniques that have proven their effectiveness more than once. We will give a brief overview of the most popular of them in the next section.

Features of some thematic plans

According to the new federal educational standards, a long-term thematic plan for economics (or any other academic discipline) contains those basic concepts, as well as educational standards, that schoolchildren must master. Be sure to note interdisciplinary connections that allow for deep assimilation of educational material.

The long-term thematic plan for correctional work is different in that before each new lesson the goal is adjusted, taking into account the psychological mood of the children for the lesson and their physical condition.

Planning techniques

ABC planning

The prerequisite for this method is experience that clearly shows that the percentage ratio of important and unimportant matters is always approximately the same. Any tasks, based on their importance in achieving the set results, should be distributed using ABC letter values. It follows from this that the tasks that have the greatest importance and significance (A) should be completed first, and then all the others (B, C). You need to plan your time using this technique, taking into account the importance of the tasks, and not the effort required to complete them.

The ABC method is based on three basic rules:

Category A – the most important matters. They make up about 15% of all the things you do, but they produce about 65% of the results.
Category B - important matters. They make up about 20% of your total business and produce about 20% of your results.
Category C – matters of the least importance. They make up about 65% of all your business, but also bring about 15% of your results.

You can find out more about this technique here.

Eisenhower principle

This technique was proposed at one time by the American General Dwight David Eisenhower. It is an excellent additional meter for quickly making the most important decisions. This principle involves setting priorities according to the criteria of importance and urgency.

You must divide all your tasks into four main categories and perform them in order of priority:

Category A – the most urgent and important matters.
Category B – urgent but not important matters. It is important to be able to separate them according to the criterion of importance from the first category, otherwise you can waste time on them, leaving the really important things for later.
Category C – not urgent, but important matters. Here you need to take into account the urgency factor: due to the fact that these things are not urgent, they are often put on the back burner, after which they become urgent, which is not a good thing. Therefore, their implementation should never be neglected. Such tasks, among other things, can be delegated - entrusting their implementation to someone else.
Category D – non-urgent and non-important matters. Often, a person is most concerned about such things and spends most of his time on them. Learn to accurately identify cases in this category. They should be done last, when the previous ones are completed.

You can learn more about the Eisenhower method here.

Pareto rule

This rule is sometimes called the “80/20” principle. It was formulated by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. Its basic premise is that the smallest amount of action produces the greatest amount of results, and vice versa.

Visually, this rule looks like this:

20% actions = 80% results
80% actions = 20 results
20% of people own 80% of all capital
80% of people own 20% of total capital
20% of customers generate 80% of revenue
80% of customers generate 20% of revenue
Etc.

Apply this rule to your daily activities, and you will see that 80% of everything you do in a day is only 20% of the result you need, and 20% of well-planned actions bring you 80% closer to your cherished goal. Based on this, remember that you need to start the day with the few, but most difficult, important and urgent tasks, and only then take on the easy and no less important, but present in a much larger volume. It is very convenient to apply the Pareto rule in combination with the ABC technique or the Eisenhower principle.

You can read more about the 80/20 principle here.

Timing

The term “timing” refers to a method designed to study the time spent. It is carried out by recording and measuring the actions performed. The main goals of timekeeping are to determine how time is spent, identify “time sinks,” find time reserves, and develop a sense of time.

Keeping timekeeping is quite simple: experts advise recording all your actions with an accuracy of 5 minutes for 2-3 weeks. Visually it looks something like this:

8:00-8:30 – woke up, stretched, washed
8:30-9:00 – drank tea, turned on the computer, checked email
9:00-9:30 – went to social network
9:30 – 10:00 – prepared documents for work
Etc.

Entries can be supplemented with comments and additional parameters. There are several ways to keep track of time:

On paper - in a notebook, notebook, notebook
Using a gadget - mobile phone, e-reader, tablet
Using a voice recorder
Using special software on a computer
Online – special Internet applications
Gantt chart (see below)

Based on the data obtained through timing, you will be able to identify important features in the distribution of your time and adjust them. Read more about timing here.

Gantt chart

The Gantt chart is a bar chart method developed by American management specialist Henry Gantt. It is used to illustrate plans and schedules for various projects. The diagram consists of stripes that are oriented along the time axis, and each of them displays a separate task that is part of the project. The vertical axis is a list of tasks. In addition, you can mark various indicators on the chart - percentages, pointers, timestamps, etc.

Using a Gantt chart, you can clearly track the process of project implementation and the effectiveness of the actions performed. But, in any case, this method will have to be supplemented with others, because the diagram is not synchronized with dates, does not display the resources spent and the essence of the actions performed. It is best used for small projects. The diagram itself is often included as an add-on to various project management applications.

You can read more about the Gantt chart by following this link.

SMART technology

The SMART goal setting technique is recognized as one of the best in the world. It originates in NLP and we discussed it in detail in one of our lessons. Here we will give only a brief description of this technique.

The word “SMART” itself is an acronym formed from the first letters of five words that define goal criteria. Let's look at them in a little more detail.

Specific – the goal must be specific, i.e. when setting it up, you must clearly imagine the result you want to achieve. For example, “I want to become an anthropologist.”
Measurable - the goal must be measurable, i.e. you must represent the desired result in quantitative terms. For example, “by 2015 I want to earn 50 thousand rubles monthly.”
Attainable – the goal must be achievable, i.e. you must take into account the characteristics of your personality: abilities, predisposition, talent, etc. For example, if you have a hard time with mathematics and you absolutely do not understand this science, it is better not to set yourself the goal of becoming an outstanding mathematician.
Relevant – the goal must be relevant to your other goals. For example, achieving a medium-term goal should implicitly include the achievement of several short-term ones.
Time-bounded – the goal must be defined in time and have a clearly defined time frame. For example, “I want to lose weight from 95 to 80 kg in six months by such and such a month.”

All together, this will allow you to determine the necessary actions to achieve the desired result, take into account the maximum number of factors and constantly monitor your progress. Read more about the SMART technique here.

List of goals and objectives

The simplest technique with which you can plan time and tasks. It's just a list of things to do. Such lists are very convenient because they do not require any additional resources, such as a PC, mobile applications or the use of complex schemes, but they also allow you to clearly display everything you need to do and control this process.

Making a list of goals and tasks is very simple: you can simply write down on a piece of paper everything that you need to accomplish and when, and upon completion, simply cross out the completed items. Or you can make it a little more complicated: make a table in which there will be columns: “task”, “priority”, “due date”, “completion mark”.

All presented techniques can be used individually or in combination. Try all the options - for sure, after a while you will select the most convenient and suitable one for yourself, and maybe even create some of your own based on them.

To make things easier for you when planning your activities and time, we would like to conclude this lesson by presenting to your attention some very effective principles that you can use in your daily life.

Plan Components

Any graduate of a pedagogical school knows that there are certain rules in preparing a training session. A perspective-thematic lesson plan for academic disciplines is an essential element in preparing for a lesson for any modern teacher.

It includes the division of educational material designed for the academic year into separate sections and topics. If we consider the perspective-thematic plan in general, it should be noted that in addition to the names of the topics, it indicates calendar time, homework, as well as those skills that schoolchildren will have to acquire.