This essay is about how I think about planning — and how I actually do it. By "planning" I mean the broad sense: deciding what to do within a given period, how to do it, how much to do, and what you want to achieve by the end.

I'm against long-term plans. Nothing beyond a month out. To be clear, "no long-term plans" doesn't mean "no long-term thinking." The problem is that long-term plans are often desires disguised as strategy. Something like "I'll hit $1,000 MRR in three months" — that's a wish, not a plan.

Besides, even when things do stretch into the long run, they constantly get interrupted. The natural response is "break big tasks into small tasks" — which, when you think about it, is just turning a long-term plan into a series of short-term ones.

The Five-Minute Rule saves you from a lot of planning

The Five-Minute Rule: if something takes less than five minutes, do it now. Don't put it on a list.

Keep your list as short as possible — not by doing fewer things, but by freeing yourself to focus on what actually matters. One side effect of information overload is attention exhaustion. By the end of the day, your willpower is spent, and even simple tasks feel impossible — let alone staring at a mile-long to-do list.

The "Three Things a Week" method

Here's something I've practiced for a long time.

Every Sunday evening, I make a list for the coming week. It only ever has three items. Even when there's a pile of urgent stuff, I force myself to pick the three that matter most.

Do this long enough and you'll notice: even with just three things, you often can't finish them all. Imagine how it goes with more. On top of that, getting the three most important things done is already hard enough. Crossing off all three at the end of the week feels far better than the familiar defeat of "I didn't finish my list again."

You don't need a fancy app for this. One sheet of paper per week, or one sticky note — just three things. If you're on Apple Notes, you can even set up a Shortcut to auto-create your weekly list.

Small daily steps beat big goals

Goals — especially long-term ones — are hard to quantify. The longer the timeline, the greater the uncertainty, and the higher the chance you'll quit halfway. Instead, ask yourself: what can I do today toward this?

I don't tell myself "hit XX monthly revenue within a year." I write a little code every day, ship a small update every day — no matter how tiny.

I don't tell myself "read XX books this year." I just open a book and read a few pages every day.

I don't tell myself "lose XX pounds this month." I just go to the gym when it's time and eat right when it's time.

This isn't about breaking a big goal into small goals. It's about not setting a goal at all — setting a direction instead. You can't predict exactly where you'll end up, so there's no point agonizing or celebrating over a number. I call this "moving one piece forward per day." Planning should be about figuring out how to do that.

Closing thoughts

Skip the bloated to-do lists. Ditch the vague, ever-shifting goals. Put your attention on the action itself. That feeling of being overwhelmed? Most of the time it's an illusion — it's not you that's busy, it's your overloaded brain.

All three methods above are really doing the same thing: reducing the burden on your attention. They don't actually reduce the amount of work you have to do. Once your mindset shifts, you can sidestep the risk of unpredictable plans and get more done — in a better mood.