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Good morning. This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is that a few minutes of planning is better than nothing.

Even if you don't have time for elaborate planning for the next day or week, you can get a lot done in a few minutes.

So you are probably best off doing whatever you can.

Long-time listeners know that I think every busy person needs a designated weekly planning time.

This is when you think about what is most important to you over the next 168 hours.

You figure out your responsibilities and any logistics necessary to make those things happen.

If you do this week after week, planning really shouldn't take that much time.

But sometimes people note that there is a lot going on, and they worry that planning will take a long time. But sometimes people note that there is a lot going on, and they worry that planning will take a long time. And the problem with being very busy is that you probably don't have a lot of time.

As we talked about in a recent episode, it can be smart to have a rain date for your planning ritual. If you normally plan for the

week on Fridays after lunch, but your team is slammed with something that is due at 5 p.m. Friday,

you will probably not get to have a nice leisurely planning session involving washi tape and

colored markers and the like, if you like those things.

Now, if you can see that time will be tight, perhaps you should move your planning to earlier

on the day, or do it Saturday, or even at 5 p.m. Friday as a palate cleanser. But if you want to

stick with Friday after lunch, even if you can only do a few minutes, you will probably be better off

than if you did nothing.

Here's how you might hone in on the basics.

First, in those few minutes, take a look at your calendar for the next week.

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