How to plan your week in 20 minutes on Mac and iPhone
To plan your week, set aside 20 minutes once a week. Empty your inbox into lists, look back at what you finished and what slipped, pick the three to five things that matter most, put them on specific days, block time for the biggest, and leave room for the unexpected. Alcove's Inbox, Upcoming, calendar and Progress screen cover each step.
Most weeks go wrong in one of two ways: you spend them reacting to whatever's loudest, or you plan so much that the plan collapses by Tuesday. A short weekly planning session avoids both. Here's a routine that takes about 20 minutes, with the steps in Alcove, though it works with any app.
The 20-minute weekly plan
1. Empty your inbox (5 minutes)
Collect everything that's floating around: notes, emails you flagged, ideas you jotted down. In Alcove, tasks you added without a list wait in the Inbox. Give each one a list, a date or a deletion. If something takes less than two minutes, do it now.
2. Look back (3 minutes)
What did you finish last week, and what slipped? Alcove's Progress screen shows what you finished against what you added, worked out on your device, with no streaks or scores. If you add far more than you finish every week, that's the most useful thing to know before planning another.
3. Choose what matters (5 minutes)
Pick three to five outcomes for the week. Not tasks, outcomes: "Proposal sent", "Flat viewing booked", "Tax return filed". Write them down. Everything else stays on your lists, but these get your best time.
4. Put them on days (4 minutes)
Open Upcoming to see the week ahead, then give each priority's next task a day. Spread them out; don't stack three big things on Monday. A board helps for multi-step work: move cards from To do to Doing as the week goes. See a personal kanban board.
5. Block time for the big ones (3 minutes)
Open the calendar's Week view, with your calendar events turned on, and drag your biggest tasks onto the hour grid where they'll actually fit. Leave gaps. See time blocking.
Make it automatic
- Make "Plan the week" a repeating task, every Friday at 4pm, with a reminder. See repeating tasks.
- Keep a weekly note. An Alcove note per week with your priorities at the top, and a table if you track numbers like hours or spending; tables total themselves. See notes that do the maths.
- Keep the menu bar for today only. On the Mac, the menu bar popup shows today's tasks with their count. The week lives in Upcoming; the menu bar keeps you on today.
Common mistakes
- Planning every hour. Leave at least a third of the week unplanned. Things will come up.
- Too many priorities. Five is the ceiling.
- Skipping the look back. Without it, you plan the same overfull week again.
Sources
- Getting Things Done, David Allen's method, which popularised the weekly review and the two-minute rule
Questions people ask
When is the best time to plan the week?
Whenever you'll actually do it. Friday afternoon lets you start Monday clear-headed; Sunday evening or Monday morning works if you plan better with the week in front of you. Make it a repeating task so it doesn't get skipped.
How many priorities should a week have?
Three to five. More than that and they stop being priorities. Everything else is still on your lists; it just isn't what you protect time for.
What's the difference between a weekly plan and a weekly review?
A review looks back (what happened, what's open, what slipped) and a plan looks forward (what this week is for). Doing both in one sitting takes about 20 minutes.
Can I plan my week on iPhone?
Yes. Everything in this routine works on iPhone and iPad too, with the same lists, calendar and Upcoming view, synced through iCloud.