So how is the week working out so far? Are you working your plan? Did you plan at all? As the motto goes,
Plan your work and work your plan.
The hard part of it all is the unexpected urgencies and emergencies you cannot anticipate. When someone needs your attention or a friend calls you out of the blue, you can ignore them but it has certain costs.
Perfect planning may feel good, but without flexibility and lots of margin, reality has a way of discouraging your best intentions.
I do like to plan. But I don’t think it is gospel. I look at it more as a framework for allowing creativity, interruptions and opportunities.
Think about it, if you got so myopic and only focused on your self-prescribed list, then what happens if you are not looking around and engaging opportunities?
What happens is that you limit yourself to merely doing work. Albeit, it might be work that must get done. But don’t allow rigidity to rule the day.
The people you meet and the opportunities that come your way are all part of making deals, new directions and opportunities happen.
Don’t get dismayed about ruining your perfect plans. But do plan. It’s that combination of flexibility and focus that is a magic point of moving through the demands of work.