[PLANNING] Make Invisible Work, Visible 👻
![[PLANNING] Make Invisible Work, Visible 👻](https://bucket.mlcdn.com/a/3258/3258268/images/4a666acd4d282c34fc04e4abba2272e7234fc787.jpeg)
When I start working with someone on using a paper planner, I often notice that they neglect to make time for the many steps that don't have fixed date and time associated with them. I call all these steps the invisible work.
Listen/watch the podcast episode here: https://bywdreams.mailerpage.com/119
For instance, if you have a dinner party in your planner for October 1 at 6pm, you need to write in your planner 6 weeks before to come up with an invite list, 4 weeks before invite people, 2 weeks before choose menu, 1 week before go grocery shopping for nonperishables, 3 days before shop for perishables, 2 days before cook the stuff that can keep and get house in order, 1 day before set the table and cook some more. All of those steps should be in your planner.
This works in your professional life too. October 1 at 10am new client meeting probably started 6-8 weeks before at that networking event you attended, the day after you followed up on LinkedIn, three days later you followed up by email, then you had that zoom call, the follow-up email, then you did some research to think about how you could work together, then you invited them to the meeting, then you prepped all the paperwork and logistics for the meeting, then after the meeting you have weeks of months of follow-up. All those steps should be in your planner.
Why is this such a valuable productivity and time management step? Let me explain:
1) It gets you thinking through the steps you need to do to accomplish a goal. It's easy to become overly focused on the finish line and forget the marathon you need to run to get there. The finish line is the appointment you write in your planner, but what about what it takes to be properly prepared for that date. Taking the time to think through all those steps will help make the whole process much easier.
2) It frees up your brain: All those steps are floating around in your brain like open windows on your computer. When you get information out of your brain and onto paper, you free up your brain to think about more important things. How exciting is that?
3) It ensures that what's important, gets done: If you don't make time for things, they rarely get done. How often do you say, "I'll get to that some day," and some day never shows up. That's because things that are important but not urgent often don't come with a due date. That's why they never get done. By giving these items due dates, you ensure they will happen.
4) It helps you have conversations with the people in your life. When you enumerate all the things you are doing, you are much better prepared for the regular check-ins you have with the people in your life professionally and personally. "I attended a networking event and met 35 people. The following day I connected with all of them on LinkedIn. I spent five hours doing deep dives on their profiles and companies to see if there are any opportunities for partnering. I'm going to draft messages to send out next week to set up a call/Zoom the two weeks after that." When you go through this thought process, you can see how easy it will be to account for your time and then to start tracking your success with outreach, etc. Imagine how easy your year-end review will be when you have this sort of information written down already. You don't have to try and remember what you accomplished this year, it's all written down for you.
5) Build "processing" time into your schedule. Too often I hear people say they go from meeting to meeting and never get anything done. I recommend building in 25%-100% processing time following every meeting because you always have action items to dash off and things you need to think through. For an hour-long meeting schedule 15-60 minutes of processing time directly after. If you go from one meeting straight into another, you will loose all that momentum you just generated and you also won't be as present in your next meeting because part of your brain is still thinking about the meeting you just left.
Listen/watch the podcast episode here: https://bywdreams.mailerpage.com/119
UPCOMING TOPICS
Sept 4, 2025: How to Pick the Perfect Planner
Sept 11, 2025: Interview with Sales Coach and Networking Expert Mandi Graziano
Sept 18, 2025: What's Your Chronotype and How it can Help You be More Productive
MY LINKS
-My website for corporate training InspireInformIgnite.com
-Shop my favorite planning tools: https://www.amazon.com/shop/al...
-Take my on-demand life design course "Harness the Power of Planning" http://tinyurl.com/hpopondeman...
-My books: http://TinyURL.com/BYWDbooks