Take a look at the night before's plan for Day 14 --
Sleeping at 6:30AM. Wake… approx 4PM?
4:30PM:
--Re-do my tracking
--Blog
--Think a lot about the next week5:30PM: Do one sales lesson, summarize current where I'm at on sales process.
6:30PM: Take a quick crack at writing.
Failing that, take a quick crack at the business plan.
Failing that, answer email.
9PM-ish: Office.
10PM: Call with bank.
After that… sales calls? Other?
Gym sometime tomorrow? Maybe around 5:30PM, and push everything else back?
I'd say that's way too haphazard and poorly laid out.
The results are, predictably, a little scattered --
Awake: 1:30PM (5 hours sleep)
3:40PM: A lot of general-life stuff… real estate, email, banking, etc. No wasted time, though no super high productivity stuff. (130 general-life)
Going to… straighten up here really quickly (5-10 min), head to a cafe, do start of day stuff I had planned out, and maybe more, then go to the gym, then get on with the rest of the day.
4PM: (20 general-life)
6:40PM: Business, gym. (30 semi-productive, 70 business, 60 fitness)
10PM: Waiting on call.
11PM: Gave up on call.
Called it an early night, did some planning and reading/writing, relaxed, and otherwise was just happy.
Unfortunately couldn't sleep, got up and just went out into space.
Sleeping: 5AM
Now, compare that Day One's plan --
Going to bed now. Great day.
Sleeping at 8:40AM.
Setting alarm with 4:40PM.
====
As soon as I wake up,
1. Immediately stretch, vitamins, etc, then review documents for consulting call.
2. Call 5PM to 6PM.
3. Then quick gym for chest, shower, and food.
4. Get back to the office at 8PM, post update to blog.
5. Work on one section for sales process.
6. Do 20 sales calls quickly.
Which was incredibly well-executed and produced good results.
Half-scattered planning, leaving "maybe do this, maybe do that" takes away the largest advantage of pre-planning, which is that it removes the need for maximum motivation, discretion, and judgment in the moment -- you can just follow the plan.
"Maybe do this" or "maybe do that" should therefore be avoided. You can always change the plan on the fly if it's not working! But having something more solid helps.
(There's a secondary factor that this was the last day of Week 2, and the metrics were already shot... which makes a "meh, screw it, get 'em next time" feel. You'll see this in all sorts of things, like athletes letting up from the gas when a game seems out of reach and not playing their most intense, and so on. This is a downside of being metrics-focused. Week 3 starts today.)