Love ‘em or hate ‘em, deadlines dictate what you should focus on first. In the Today section of the template, record all of the tasks that you want to get accomplished by the time you clock out for the day. You know how easy it can be to be thrown off track, so noting all of those tasks (and we mean all of them) here will serve as your North Star when you need to figure out what to tackle next.

When you get caught up in the daily fires, it’s way too easy to lose sight of some of the bigger-picture things you wanted to make progress on during the work week. That’s why there’s the Priorities for the week section of the template. In this space, set some tasks and intentions for the next couple of days. It’ll keep those things top of mind – when they otherwise would have slipped to the back burner (or off the stove entirely).

One of the best ways to manage your own bandwidth is to proactively keep an eye on the tasks you have coming down the pipeline. In the Upcoming tasks section, you can log all of your future to-dos and organize them by project. Having that running list of what’s coming will help you be more realistic when setting expectations and deadlines with the people you work with.

Remember, this template is meant to serve as your to-do list. So, don’t forget to keep it updated and check the boxes when you’ve completed a task. After that? Go ahead and break out your best happy dance. You’ve earned a little celebration, you go-getter.