I recently stumbled across a new calendar app when an ad popped up for something called Inku. It’s a wonderfully charming app designed to link with an e-ink tablet. Whilst the tablet itself isn’t available for shipping to the UK yet (much to my disappointment), I downloaded the app anyway. Honestly, I find its AI commentary rather cute.
More than just a novelty, it got me thinking about how I could use calendar planning to boost my productivity. My weekends generally tend to drift by; aside from attending church, watching TV, and doing a bit of digital volunteering for the parish, the days can feel rather unstructured. I had heard of “micro-planning” before and was curious to give it a test run.
The Experiment
Using the Inku app—which syncs seamlessly with my Google Calendar—I decided to dive into micro-planning.
Every evening at around 9:45 pm, I review my schedule for the following day. I then proceed to map out literally everything: from when I will have dinner, to when I’ll take a walk or settle down to watch TV. Inku also features a tool that allows you to freeze specific apps on your phone for a set period, which I’ve integrated into my routine.
How’s it going?
- Work Days: These are fairly straightforward. There isn’t actually too much to micro-plan since my professional calendar is kept strictly separate from Inku and Google Calendar (for obvious reasons!). However, the app has injected a welcome sense of structure into my mornings and evenings. The app-freezing functionality has been a particular lifesaver, stopping me from losing track of time on Reddit or Instagram when I should be focusing.
- Weekends: This is where the real difference lies. So far, it has been incredibly helpful. I’ve been much more productive, sacrificing afternoon naps in favour of actually getting things done—whether that’s leisure activities or my church volunteer work. I have broadly stuck to my schedules, even if I have strayed off course once or twice.
Looking Ahead
The real challenge, of course, will be maintaining the momentum.
Micro-planning every single evening requires a fair amount of effort, and even with a pristine schedule looking back at you, the allure of simply ignoring it is always there. It is easy enough to keep this up for a few weeks, but I do wonder if the novelty will wear off in a few months’ time. Only time will tell if micro-planning is a sustainable lifestyle shift for me, or just a passing trend.