Run your day · Lesson 6.1
Measuring Your Daily Planning Template: Five Useful Numbers
It is easy to feel busy and hard to know whether your daily planning template is working. Most people track the wrong thing, such as how many tasks they ticked. This post gives you five simple numbers that show whether planning is helping, how to record each in a minute and how to read them on a Friday. The daily routine they measure is in Lesson 6.1.
Track outcomes, not activity: how often the one thing moved, how long planning took, how many items carried over, how protected your block was, and how scattered the day felt.
Why activity counts mislead
Counting completed tasks rewards doing many small things. A day with twelve ticks can still leave the one important task untouched. So the first rule is to measure whether the right thing happened.
The five numbers
1. One thing hit rate. Each evening, mark yes, partly or no. Over a week, count the yes days. This is the main number.
2. Planning minutes. Roughly how long did the plan take? You want it steady near five. If it creeps up, the routine is getting heavy.
3. Carry over count. How many items moved to tomorrow? A high number every day means you plan too much.
4. Block kept. Did your calendar block happen when planned? Yes, moved or lost. Many losses point to meetings or interruptions.
5. Scatter score. From 1 (calm) to 5 (all over the place), how did the day feel? It is subjective, which is fine.
One line a day
You do not need a spreadsheet. Add one line to your evening note.
Hit: yes. Mins: 5. Carry: 2. Block: kept. Scatter: 2.
On Friday, copy the five lines into one place and read them together.
Reading the week
| Pattern | What it suggests | What to try |
|---|---|---|
| Hit rate low, block often lost | Time is not protected | Move the block earlier, decline one meeting |
| Hit rate low, block kept | Task is too big or unclear | Cut it to a first step |
| Carry over high | Plans are too full | Plan for two thirds of free time |
| Minutes rising | Routine is bloated | Cut a step, save the prompt |
| Scatter high, hit rate fine | Day is noisy, not unproductive | Batch messages |
Ask AI to read the week
On Friday, paste your five lines into an AI tool and ask:
Here are my five daily numbers for the week: [paste]. What patterns do you see? Give me two possible causes and one change to try next week. Keep it short.
Treat the answer as a suggestion, not a verdict. You know things it cannot, like the supplier who rang for two hours.
A made up week
Say the lines read: yes, partly, no, yes, yes. Minutes: 9, 7, 6, 5, 5. Carry: 4, 3, 5, 2, 2. Block: kept, moved, lost, kept, kept. Scatter: 4, 3, 4, 2, 2. The pattern is improvement through the week, and the one miss was a lost block. The change to try is protecting the morning on the day a regular call lands. The numbers are invented, but this is how a real week reads.
What not to track
Hours worked, because longer is not better. Tasks completed, for the reason above. Anything you will not record on a tired Thursday. Five numbers in one line is about the limit.
Targets, with care
You may want a goal, such as four yes days out of five. Treat it as a guide, not a rule. If your job is full of interruptions, three may be strong. Compare against your own baseline week first, and change only one thing at a time so you know what caused a shift.
Linking to the longer view
Daily numbers feed a weekly look. Your weekly review shows how to turn a week of notes into next week's priorities. The daily routine itself is in Lesson 6.1, and the steps are written out in the complete guide. If numbers keep telling you the same thing, check the five common mistakes.
A worked example of a Monday review
Say you tracked five days. This is an illustration with made up figures, only to show the process.
You list them. Two days had a lost block and a high carry over count. Three days had a kept block and a yes. You look at the "what got in the way" lines for the two weak days: both mention a call that ran long in the morning. The pattern points at the block, so next week you move it to a time the call cannot reach, in your calendar, and compare again. You write down: "Protect the morning block."
You did not need a perfect number to learn that. You needed a comparison between your own days.
A simple tracking sheet
Make a sheet with columns for date, hit (yes, partly, no), planning minutes, carry over, block (kept, moved, lost), scatter and one line of notes. Fill it once a week from your evening lines. After a month, sort by hit and read the best five and worst five days side by side. The differences are your next experiments.
What to do when numbers look fine but the work does not move
A good hit rate only shows that you did the thing you chose. If the days are going well and the wider goal is not moving, the choice may be wrong, not the routine. Ask whether the one thing you pick each day connects to what you want this month, and use a weekly review to check.
Setting up your baseline
Before you judge any change, run one week of normal planning and record the five numbers. This is not wasted time. Without it you cannot tell whether a new habit helped or whether the week was just quiet. Keep the baseline week in the same note, labelled clearly, so you can compare later.
A Friday review in five minutes
- Copy the linesPut the five daily lines in one place.
- CountHow many yes days? How many lost blocks?
- Name one causeLook at the "what got in the way" notes and find the repeat.
- Choose one changeOne only, so you know what caused any shift.
- Write it downPut the change at the top of Monday's note.
This is a short version of a weekly review. If you want the full version, Your weekly review covers it in detail.
Common traps
Chasing a perfect hit rate. A week of five yes days may not be realistic in a job full of surprises. Changing three things at once, then not knowing which one worked. Measuring but never acting, which makes the numbers a chore. And comparing yourself to other people, whose jobs and weeks differ from yours. Use the numbers to learn about your own pattern, and drop any number that stops teaching you something.
Questions people ask
Do I need a spreadsheet?
No. One line in your evening note is enough, and you can copy it into a sheet later if you want.
What is a good hit rate?
It depends on your job. Compare with your own baseline week.
Can I trust the AI summary of my week?
Use it as a prompt for thought. It only sees the numbers you paste.
Go deeper with the lesson
This guide gives you the idea. Lesson 6.1, Plan your day in five minutes takes you through it step by step, in plain words, so you can do it for your own business.