The Focus Budget Planner

The ConstructivelyProductive method for a week that fits: count the focus blocks you really have, price every task in them, and decide what waits before Monday decides for you

ConstructivelyProductive's calculators each answer one question. The Priority Matrix sorts a to-do list but never asks how long anything takes; the Pomodoro Planner counts the focus blocks in one stretch of time, never a week; the Goal Progress Tracker gives what you need per day in the goal's own units; and the Time Block Planner stacks a day with no stop time. None of them asks whether the week can hold the plan. The Focus Budget Planner runs a week through all four. An example week with 14 hours of open time holds 26 focus blocks, not the 31 that free time divided by 25 minutes suggests. Priced with a multiplier from your own record (an example 16 blocks estimated, 20 taken: 1.25), a seven-item list plus a writing goal of 2,100 words a week (6 blocks at 350 words a block) asks for 42. Placed in order, Do first, then the goal, then Schedule, 24 blocks fit with 2 kept as slack, and one task waits for next week, decided on Sunday. Half a week missed re-plans to 7 goal blocks, not a catch-up 9. It is planning arithmetic, not a productivity promise and not treatment for ADHD, burnout, anxiety or any condition: if trouble focusing, exhaustion or low mood keeps up, talk to a doctor or counselor. The week, tasks, estimates and goal are examples, and every figure is computed by the site's calculators. Included: seven steps with worked tables, a block count, a price list and fit sheet, a goal pace card and review log, reference tables and a quickstart, plus a personalised sheet worked from the numbers you enter in our calculators.

Look inside

Two full pages from the planner, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• The Window Rule: each open window counted in whole focus blocks, and the week's real budget
• The Own Multiplier Rule: your overrun measured from last week's record and used to price every estimate
• The Pace Conversion Rule: the Goal Progress Tracker's per-day need turned into blocks a week, reserved first
• The Price Tag Rule: every task sorted in the Priority Matrix and priced in blocks
• The Fit Order Rule: Do, then the goal, then Schedule; what does not fit waits, and the slack stays empty
• The Stop Time Rule: the fullest day laid out and read against the time you stop
• The No Catching Up Rule: a slipped week spread over the weeks left, or the deadline moved openly
• Printable working pages: a block count, a price list and fit sheet, and a goal pace card with a review log
• Reference tables: blocks per window in two rhythms, estimates priced at five multipliers, blocks on the clock, plus a quickstart
• A personalised sheet worked from the numbers you enter in our calculators

The planner picks up where the free Pomodoro Planner leaves off. The calculator counts the focus blocks in one stretch of time; the planner counts a whole week of them, prices every task on your list in blocks with a multiplier from your own record (sorted with the Priority Matrix), turns your goal's "per day" from the Goal Progress Tracker into blocks a week, and fits them in order, so what cannot happen this week is decided before Monday. It is planning arithmetic, not treatment for ADHD, burnout or any health condition: if trouble focusing, exhaustion or low mood keeps up, talk to a doctor or counselor. The week, tasks and goal in it are examples.