UpWill

Guide

How to plan something you'd like to do

Planning something you'd like to do doesn't need a framework. It helps to answer a few questions in order, and to write the answers somewhere you'll see them again.

1. Name one thing

Start with one goal, in your own words: "read more in the evenings", "have the money for the winter heating ready by November", "call my sister more often". You can have more than one plan, but one usually gets your attention first. In UpWill that's your main plan.

2. Ask what would make it possible

A goal often depends on something that isn't the goal itself: a free half hour, money set aside, a person who covers for you, a conversation you haven't had yet. Naming that condition turns "I should read more" into something you can work on: time for reading. What can make a goal possible goes through the common ones.

3. Choose one next step

Pick a step you can take yourself, soon: "leave the book by the bed", "ask the bank how to open a second account". Give it a moment if that helps: "after dinner on Tuesday". A next step with a when explains why that small detail can matter, and when it doesn't.

4. Decide what happens on a full day

Some days the moment won't be there. A second option decided beforehand (a shorter version, another day, or a pause) keeps the plan yours instead of turning it into a missed day. See When the week is full.

5. Keep track of what happens

A short record of what you did, and when, lets you see the plan as it really goes. In UpWill you say or write it in a sentence ("read 20 minutes tonight"), and the update goes to the plan, with Undo. More in Keeping track, without scores.

6. Look back now and then

Once a week is enough: what happened, what helped, what you'd change. Keep the plan, adjust it, or pause it. Looking back at a week has a simple way to do it.

Plan it with UpWill

Speak or write about your day, and your notes keep your plans up to date. Write what you'd like to make possible and see the plan UpWill would set up.

Try it, no account neededOr start your 7-day free trial

More from the guide