Build a weekly schedule that leaves room for real life

Start with the time you actually have

Put fixed appointments in the calendar before adding work. Include travel, preparation and breaks in your estimate of the time that remains. A free hour between meetings may not be a full hour of focused work.

1. Open Week view and add the events you already know the dates and times for.
2. Add your most important tasks to days with enough room. Use a clear action as each title.
3. Add start and end times for work you want to reserve time for. Keep flexible tasks untimed and leave some space unallocated.

Example: prepare a Friday presentation

Suppose you have meetings on Monday and Thursday, and a presentation on Friday morning. Add the presentation as an event. On Tuesday, create 'Draft the outline' with times 10:00-11:00. On Wednesday, add 'Prepare the slides' from 13:00-14:30. Put 'Rehearse the presentation' on Thursday in a slot that leaves time after your meeting.

If Tuesday becomes busy, move the outline task to a suitable day and review the later preparation tasks yourself. YakoPlan saves the schedule you choose; these steps do not automatically rearrange the rest of the week.

Keep a useful weekly routine

Add a recurring weekly review to look at unfinished work and next week's commitments. Recurrence is included in Free. Check completed tasks, move remaining work deliberately and keep decisions in a day note. Use Month view when you need to check the weeks ahead.