Values-Based Planning: How to Create a Week You Can Actually Stick To
If your week looks perfect in your calendar or planner, and then life is life-ing by Tuesday and you’re improvising hour-by-hour, you might benefit from a new approach. If you’re nodding alone to this, it’s not that you’re bad at planning, it’s actually that most systems are designed to work beautifully on paper - but not in real life.
Traditional planners often pile on more tasks in the name of productivity, without asking an important question - Does this schedule reflect what actually matters to me?
This is where values-based planning comes in. Instead of filling your calendar with endless to-dos, this method focuses on what you value and what tasks get you there, building your week around that.
Why Traditional Planning Fails
As society emphasizes productivity and efficiency, planners can become a checklist of doing “enough” to keep up. Unfortunately, this comes with a few pitfalls that lead to things falling apart by midweek:
Overstuffed to-do lists: when there is so much to do and no priority set, everything feels equally urgent, and honestly, overwhelming
Energy mismatch: Writing it down is all well and good, but if your Tuesday plan doesn’t incorporate the fact that your dip in energy at 2pm, you’re probably not going to follow the plan. When tasks don’t match your natural rhythms, we put them off, or complete them and find ways to avoid the planner in the future.
No room for real life: It’s easy to fill blank spaces with more tasks - it may not come as naturally to you to schedule rest, play, and unexpected interruptions or spontaneous activities.
And then, when these inevitably come into play, it leads to guilt and abandonment of the plan mid-week - creating a cycle of inspiration, letdown, and guilt week after week.
What is Values-Based Planning
So, what exactly is “values-based planning?” In values-based planning, we start with what matters most. Starting with values and moving into specific actions, you identify what will get you toward your “goal” each week, whether that’s working on the garden that aligns with your value of creativity, completing the work project that aligns with your value of accountability, or going to dinner with your partner, aligning with your value of connection.
In values-based planning, we don’t look at work vs non-work. We look at your life from a full perspective to create the life you want.
How to Try It in 10 Minutes Today
Step 1: Identify 3 top values this week: This could be creativity, connection, trust, authenticity, curiosity, justice
Step 2: Choose one priority per value: pick what thing you will focus on this week within each value. This could look like family for the value of connection, or a work project for the value of discipline.
Step 3: Add one “needle-mover” task per day: Each day, do one thing that moves you toward each value. This doesn’t need to be a big task - if your value is creativity, taking five minutes to draw or journal could be a task you decide on.
Step 4: Protect at least two flexible blocks: it can be tempting to fill up your schedule, so it’s important to protect time for your nervous system AND for unexpected things to come up. In this system, downtime is essential, not optional.
The Secret to Making It Stick
Starting a new system is one thing - but making it stick? Let’s talk about how you can actually keep up with this, rather than putting it on the shelf in two weeks.
Reflect weekly: Schedule a time that you ask yourself:
Did my schedule reflect my values?
What stayed on track this week? What didn’t?
Do I want to adjust my values for next week?
Adjust, don’t abandon: sometimes we realize something doesn’t work like we thought it would. Going to the gym sounds great until its 5pm and all you want to do is lie down - think about what you can adjust, whether its the time, if you can pair something pleasant with it, schedule a reward afterward, etc. The only way to “fail” at the system is to quit.
Focus on progress, not perfection: every step you take toward aligning with your values is better than where you were. Recognize the small victories.
Moving Forward
Try this values-based plan for one week and notice the differences. When you plan around your values, it often helps your week feel lighter, calmer, and more doable, because it matches your actual priorities, not someone else’s (and, hopefully you stop abandoning your plans by Wednesday, because you’ve actually made a plan that fits your life).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is values-based planning?
Values-based planning is an approach to planning that starts with your values (what matters most to you) and builds your schedule around those values, rather than listing endless to-dos.
How do I plan my week around my values?
Planning your week around your values starts with identifying your top values. You can then identify one priority per value and schedule tasks related to this. Include protected flexible time for rest and unpredicted events. You can then add in other tasks by priority.
What’s the difference between values-based planning and time blocking?
Time blocking is an approach to organizing your hours and can work whereas values-based planning organizes your priorities. These approaches often work well together, as you can use time-blocking to schedule your prioritized tasks.