Guide · Planning

Run your week with the planner

This guide sets up the planner in os.esy.com for a real week: one goal that matters, the few things that must happen to move it, and the tasks under it. It takes about fifteen minutes. Everything here is live.

1. Set the goal that matters most

  1. Open Goals
    Add a goal and pick its horizon (“Next six months” runs from today to six months on, less a day).
  2. Give it a measure
    Pick where the number comes from: your newsletter’s subscribers, Stripe sales for the brand, or a value you check in. Esy fills the starting number from the source. See Goals and pace.
  3. Order your goals
    The first is the one that matters most. When time is short, it wins.

From the next hourly read, the goal shows its line and its pace: on pace, behind, or too early to call, and what a week needs from here.

2. Put the must-dos on the critical checklist

Ask what has to happen, no matter what, for the number to move. Those are commitments. Keep the list short: three to five.

If it…Add it asExample
happens every dayEvery dayOne Instagram post for the newsletter, by noon
happens every week, in stepsEvery week, on its dayThe newsletter on Thursday: written Saturday, recorded Sunday, sent Thursday 6am
happens once, by a dateOnceSend the client the agreement by Wednesday

On Today, add it under Don’t break the chain. It files under the brand in scope and is ticked by hand. Items Esy can see (news posts in your feed, an issue sent, a video published through Esy) are ticked by Esy itself.

Starting over
Coming back after a rough patch? Give your commitments a start date. Nothing before it is judged, and the chain starts clean.

3. File tasks under the goal

Add the week’s tasks in To do and pick the goal each one serves. Give a task a time and it moves onto the Timeline between the day’s deadlines. A task you don’t finish rolls over to today and says how many days late it is; Move it to another day, or Drop it.

4. Run each day

WhenWhereWhat to do
MorningHomeRead the navy rail: what’s left today, the next deadline and its countdown. Tick what you can.
During the dayTodayWork down the chains, then the Timeline, then To do. A late item says how late, in a sentence.
If a day can’t happenTodayTake a rest day (two a month on daily items) or excuse the day with a reason. A miss you leave stays on top.
End of the dayDaysSee what got done and what’s still open.

5. Look at the week

On Home, the board shows the week’s points against the week before, perfect days in a row, six weeks of daily items and the badges. On Goals, each goal’s pace says whether the week moved the line. If the chains held and the line didn’t move, the must-dos aren’t the right ones: change them.

Next: the Plan
The Plan puts all of this under one long-term bet, and shows which channel brings the readers. Set up your Plan (in design).
In short
  • One goal with a number and a date, first in the list.
  • Three to five commitments: the things that must happen to move it.
  • Tasks under the goal; Home and Today to run the day; Days for the record.