The Strategic Planning Series for 2026, Week 6
Week 6: Time & Calendar Management
Where the Plan Becomes Real
Your calendar is your life.
You've spent five weeks building a strategic plan. You know who you're becoming, set health, relationship, career, and finance goals.
But none of them will happen if you don't make the time.
Notice I said make the time, not find the time.
Are you deciding to live your calendar, or just showing up to each day and reacting to what happens?
I initially planned on writing about creative work and intellectual growth, but this is the engine of strategic planning. If I could go back in time, I might have started with this one for this series. Think of it as a mini-version of the whole series.
Time management includes three things:
Awareness (Where is your time currently going?)
Planning (Being intentional)
Commitment (Following through)
This week is where the plan becomes real.
Part A: Reality Check - Awareness
Think about time like money. Not all of it is yours. You have commitments and obligations you must fulfill: work, sleep, commute, essential household tasks, and so on. The key is to identify what is truly committed time to what has been done out of obligation or on autopilot.
The exercise:
Track one typical week. Write down where your time goes.
Answer these:
How many hours per week are committed?
How many hours are discretionary (yours to fill)?
Where is your discretionary time going? (Screen time, hobbies, relationships, growth, rest)
What time of day/days of the week do you feel most energized? Exhausted?
There are no wrong answers here. Just document how you typically spend your time.
Then ask:
Does my current time allotment match what I said matters to me in Week 1?
What days/hours am I most unintentional with my time?
When you lay your time out like this, not only does it show you how much time you really have, it will also give you a clear picture of ideal times to schedule certain activities. You will take a strategic view of your time in the next section.
Part B: Strategic Direction - Intentional Planning
Planning is simple: think about what you want to do and find a time to do it. A common time-management trap is not setting a time for planning in your calendar.
Batch Your Decisions
Do you have a specific recurring time set aside for planning and decision-making? If not, this might be priority #1.
I take 15 minutes each Friday afternoon to decide what I want to do through next weekend.
By making all of the decisions on Friday, all I need to do next week is show up and execute.
The hardest part of time management is deciding. When you batch your decisions, you eliminate the mental load of figuring out what to do every single day.
The Weekly View
Look at weeks holistically, not day by day. The flow of Monday through Friday is much different than the weekend. Some days are naturally chaotic. Some are naturally open. You might naturally be more energetic in the morning or later in the day. Plan accordingly.
Priority Placement:
Put first things first. Priority items should be done early in the week and early in the day.
Why? Because energy and capacity are highest then. If you schedule your most important work for Friday afternoon when you're burned out, you'll never get around to it.
Questions to answer:
What are my 1-3 priorities this week? (If you have more priorities, you have no priorities)
When do I have the most energy? (Time of day, day of week)
When will I work on my priorities? (Specific blocks, match with best energy)
Examples from your strategic plan:
Health: Movement routine before work (high energy)
Relationships: Sunday evening check-in with partner
Work: Career leverage work Monday/Tuesday mornings
Finances: First Friday of the month for financial review
Leave Space
More important than planning is not over-planning.
Leave unassigned time for rest, relationships, and flexibility. If free time leaks to binges (TV, social media, reading, endless tasking), set constraints to limit yourself.
Examples:
Social media only after 8pm
No more than 2 hours of TV on weeknights
Reading gets 30 minutes before bed, not 3 hours
Monthly & Quarterly Rhythms
Monthly maintenance day: Financial planning, administrative tasks, errands that pile up
Quarterly planning day: Review your strategic plan across all areas, adjust priorities
Batch these decisions. Handle them once, then move on.
Part C: Commitment - Following Through
This is the execution. If you're having trouble following through, you're probably not allocating energy to time well. Commitment failures are usually one of two things:
Energy misallocation (physical or emotional)
Boundary mismanagement
Start Small
Whether you struggle with energy or boundaries, starting small can help you keep your commitments. It's difficult to completely disrupt your current schedule. Your current rhythm will fight back. That's normal.
Try changing or adding one priority block of time per week and see how it goes. It’s better to protect one priority block consistently than fail at protecting five.
Likewise, choose a block small enough you can commit to long-term. Twenty minutes a day doesn’t feel like much, but it ends up being two hours a week with a day off.
Commit to less, but execute.
Energy Misallocation
Did the time come for you to execute, and you just weren’t feeling motivated? Chances are, you didn’t leave enough in the tank.
The real problem isn't your energy, it’s your scheduling.
Some tasks require a lot more focus than others. I can mow the grass or fold laundry when I’m toast, but if I were to try to write? Forget about it.
Look to move things around in your schedule to supercharge the priority item with focus.
Boundary Mismanagement
Having a flexible schedule is important, but that doesn’t mean you cave in to every beck and call. Saying no to peers, your spouse, and yourself is an important part of commitment.
Schedule in a “fixed time” for response mode. If your job demands more, then acknowledge that as part of the workday, and understand that it isn’t the time for your priorities.
This works both ways.
When you are on your time, don’t let others or yourself distract you from the current priority. Create a priority block on your calendar that is uninterruptable.
Choose a day of the week and time of day that you find yourself less sought after. This will minimize the chance of interruptions. Likewise, don’t schedule priorities after tasks that tend to bleed over.
In short:
Treat priority blocks like unmovable commitments.
Give them a priority time slot.
Don't skip your priority work because someone else has an agenda.
Questions to answer:
What's my rule for protecting priority time?
Examples:
No meetings before 10am
Tuesday/Thursday mornings are blocked for writing
Friday afternoons are buffer time
What's my policy for saying yes to new commitments?
Examples:
Does this align with my annual themes from Week 1?
If I say yes to this, what am I saying no to?
Part D: Guardrails
Lack of either awareness, planning, or commitment look very different. Your resets should match the cause.
If you lack awareness:
Red flag: You don't know where your time goes. Weeks blur together.
Reset: Track one week immediately. Write down where every hour goes.
If you lack planning:
Red flag: You have priorities, but no scheduled time for them. You're constantly reacting.
Reset: Block 15 minutes during the most down time this week. Plan next week's priorities right then.
If you lack commitment:
Red flag: Priorities are scheduled, but keep getting bumped. Other people's agendas always win.
Reset: Identify one priority block. Treat it like a doctor's appointment for the next two weeks. No exceptions.
Write down which one applies to you most. Then write your specific reset.
The Wheel of Time
If the other weeks of this plan are spokes, then time is the wheel that connects them. Time is the most precious resource you have. When you allocate hours to exercise, you get healthy. To work, you get wealthy. To relationships… You get the point.
We all have the same 24 hours in a day, but most of us give our hours to others, so we feel in short supply.
It’s time to take back your time. Take this framework and apply it to the other weeks. Start small. Create one priority block per area. Build from there.
Batch your decisions on Friday. Execute all week without re-deciding.
Commit to less and execute consistently.
What's Next
Next week: Community & Social Relationships
Until then:
Track one week (awareness)
Plan your priorities for next week (Friday, 15 minutes)
Protect one priority block per area (commitment)
Set monthly maintenance day, quarterly planning day
This is the engine. Everything else runs on it.
See you Tuesday.
Run Your Life Like a Business: The Strategic Planning Series for 2026
This is Week 6 of 8. If someone you know needs to hear this, forward them this email.