Start with intention: Why planning your day out loud actually works
There’s a moment every morning that quietly determines how the rest of your day will go. It’s not when you open your inbox. It’s not your first meeting. It’s that moment, before the noise sets in, when you decide what kind of day you’re going to have. That’s why I’m a firm believer in starting the day with a realistic, intentional plan and in posting that plan right when your day begins, not hours into it. This isn’t about reporting in or logging hours. It’s about leading your own day with clarity, honesty, and purpose.
This post is about the power of being proactive and about starting on purpose rather than drifting into reaction mode.
Daily stand-ups still hold up
Years ago, I wrote a post called From a Hard-Core Advocate of Daily Stand-Ups, and everything in it still holds true.
Daily stand-ups work because they:
- Force you to reflect on how the previous day went
- Help you begin your day with focus
- Surface blockers and competing priorities in real time
- Create small moments of accountability that compound over time
And here’s the key: they only work if they happen at the beginning of your day. Not mid-morning or after your meetings. If your update isn’t shaping your day, it’s just commentary. Not a tool.
If live stand-ups aren’t possible, the next best thing is this:
Have everyone post a short, focused update in Slack as soon as they start working.
Why it has to happen first
When you wait until later in the day to plan, your day’s already been hijacked. The meetings, messages, and fire drills have already dictated your focus.
Posting a morning update before you dive in forces intentionality, puts you in the driver’s seat, and signals to you team where you’re focused and where you may need support.
Plan with honesty and realism
Let’s be blunt: you’re not going to accomplish 20 meaningful things in one day. So don’t write your update as if you will.
Your daily plan isn’t about documenting everything you could do. It’s about identifying what really matters today. The 2–5 high-impact priorities that deserve your time, attention, and energy.
Being honest with yourself matters here:
- Is this task truly important or just easy to check off?
- Is this list realistic given the meetings and energy you actually have?
- Am I setting myself up to succeed or to feel behind?
As Greg McKeown puts it in Essentialism: “You can do anything, but not everything.”
The value of daily planning isn’t in ambition. It’s in alignment.
What a good update looks like
Your update should be written by you, in plain English, and at the start of your day. Not by a tool. Not copied from a ticketing system. Not written in project-speak or tech jargon.
It should answer:
- What did I plan to do yesterday? Did I follow through? If not, why not?
- What am I focusing on today, and why does it matter?
- Is anything blocking me or shifting my focus?
Tools don’t think, but you do
Most of us use project management systems that populate our tasks automatically. And while those are helpful for visibility, they’re not your plan.
If you let a tool dictate your priorities, you’ll end up reacting to deadlines instead of leading with intention.
Writing your own update forces you to pause, prioritize, and communicate clearly, not just to others, but to yourself.
Reflect honestly and learn from the patterns
At the end of the day (or the next morning), check in with yourself:
- Did you stick to your plan?
- If not, what got in the way? Were your priorities realistic?
- Did you let urgency overtake importance?
Honest reflection is what turns this from a routine into a leadership tool. When you regularly notice what’s working and what isn’t, you get better at planning, better at staying in your lane and better at protecting time for what matters.
This isn’t about micromanagement or checking boxes. It’s about building a habit of purposeful work, starting with a plan, crafted by you, in your own words, at the very beginning of your day.
And it only works if you’re honest with yourself. If you know you’re not going to get to 20 things today, don’t write down 20 things. Start early and in a truthful way.
Because real momentum doesn’t come from doing more, it comes from doing what matters, on purpose.
lead up 