Amplenote offers many ways to plan a day. In general, we recommend planning via the Idea Execution Funnel. But the real world is messy, which can make it impractical to stick to a meticulously scheduled day or week. For people whose schedule is impacted by the whims of their inbox and mood, we recommend mixing and matching the different levels of the funnel into flavor hybrids. One of these "hyrbid funnel" models to consider is the Daily Agenda.
In this post we will review one user's example of implementing a Daily Agenda.
linkDaily Agenda: Why?
With a comprehensive in-app calendar, an inbox note, and a full list of tasks, why would the CEO of Amplenote resort to this comparatively primitive arrangement?
One example of a Daily Agenda shown at right, in the Peek Viewer sidebar
The reason why is that agenda acts as a scratchpad on which to ephemerally collect tasks sourced from the calendar and a variety of notes. Here is the calendar view of the same day:
The portion of the day that was pre-scheduled
The calendar arrangement of tasks was chosen in advance. It optimizes for tasks with a high Task Score -- short, important tasks that have been reviewed many times. But it often turns out not to be practical to finish in full by the time the day arrives. That is where the Daily Agenda really shines. It is always the most recently updated of any planning document, so it can supersede a schedule that turned out not be realistic:
Updated list of aspirations
As can be seen in the original screenshot, my Daily Agenda lives in the sidebar Peek Viewer, which you can open with the Cmd-J or Ctrl-J hotkey.
I usually separate my Daily Agenda into two sections: one that sets three goals that are "the most important things for the day." These are the tasks that, as long as I get them done today, I can feel that I was "successful." The other section of my Daily Agenda is the per-hour estimation of where time might be spent. Technically, the calendar is where this sort of agenda could be placed, but the calendar is best used for tasks that one has serious intentions of completing. If the task isn't marked as complete, one will be reminded about it on later days, since it officially becomes an "overdue task."
The Daily Agenda has a much lighter touch than the calendar. If the stuff doesn't happen, oh well, there will be another Daily Agenda tomorrow. 🤷
linkCreating a Daily Agenda
Technically, the best way to create a Daily Agenda would be by creating and copying a template. That said, I always just clear out my template from the previous day and rewrite it. Again, there is no process nor glory in the Daily Agenda. It is the Toyota Corolla of planning devices: all function, so form is irrelevant. That's why, if you have different ideas for your own Daily Agenda, try them out! If they work well, email a screenshot to support@amplenote.com and we will consider adding your version to this help page. 😊