PlotPlanning
Counting the rows left in your week
Most people guess their free time from memory, and memory is generous. A better starting point is to survey last week exactly as it happened.
Survey a real week
Draw seven strips, one per day, divided into twenty-four rows. Using your calendar, messages and bank statement as evidence, mark every hour that was taken: work, travel, sleep, cooking, childcare, the call with your mother. Mark hours with your partner or family too. Unscheduled doesn't mean free.
Count what's left, then look at the shape
Add up the unmarked rows. Then, more usefully, note how they're grouped. Ten hours in two long patches and ten hours in seven scattered ones suit completely different kinds of work.
Grade each patch
Next to each patch, write how much energy you usually have then: high, medium or low. Morning patches before work are often short but clear. Late evening patches are longer but heavier.
Fit the work to the field
- Scattered single hours suit tasks that can be picked up and dropped, like short online tasks or answering buyer messages.
- Regular two-hour evenings suit steady work with deadlines in days, like translation or proofreading.
- A long weekend patch suits work with setup and travel, like markets, gardening or repairs.
Leave one patch uncut
Don't plan every free row in the first month. Weeks change, and a plan with no slack breaks at the first busy week.
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