WRAP Plan Guide
Your Weekly Planning Workflow
The Plan step walks you through three phases — Triage, Envision, Organize — using the Aligned Action Workspace right inside the ritual. Each mode button arranges the workspace for that phase; the first time you use one, a short note appears with the steps (it keeps appearing until you press Got it, so there’s no pressure to absorb it all at once).
The Three Phases
1. Triage — clear the deck
The workspace shows your lists beside your week, with next week’s story open above.
- Anything left here you’ll still finish today? Finish it or schedule it.
- Does anything in Next genuinely deserve to stay?
- Then press Fresh Start — everything in Next moves to Later.
Why Fresh Start Works
Research on the fresh start effect (Milkman et al., 2014) shows people set more ambitious goals and follow through more after temporal landmarks like a new week. Clearing your Next list isn’t losing work — it’s creating a clean canvas so next week’s commitments are chosen, not inherited.
2. Envision — write next week’s story
Your story fills the workspace, and everything else folds away into a small rail below.
Where’s my calendar? Hidden on purpose. Envisioning works best before you anchor on what’s already scheduled — imagine it’s the end of next week and write what went well. Be specific: “I finished the proposal and sent it to Sarah” beats “work on proposal.”
When you’re ready to test the story against reality, click Time or Outline on the rail below — your week or thinking space returns, and you can iterate.
3. Organize — fill the week
The full workspace: your thinking space front and center, your Next list narrow beside it (watch it accumulate), your week in view, and your story at the top.
- Walk your outline and send the tasks that serve your story to Next
- Keep an eye on the calendar — capacity decides what makes the cut
- Timeblock the ones that matter most
Optimize (Optional)
Talk your plan through with your planning coach (voice or text) — it reviews your goals, tasks, and calendar for alignment, and catches overcommitment, missing follow-ups, and blind spots. Available from the checklist as a separate step.
Tips
- Work left to right: Triage clears the noise, Envision sets direction, Organize makes it concrete
- Don’t skip Envision: writing the story before organizing tasks is what prevents busy-but-unproductive weeks
- Fresh Start is safe: tasks move to Later, never deleted — pull back what matters during Organize
- Mode buttons reset the stage: clicking a mode always restores its layout, so you can rearrange panels freely and tap the mode to snap back
- The panels are yours: everything in The Aligned Action Workspace works here too — resize, maximize, summon the Panels menu
Related
- Weekly Planning Ritual — the full WRAP checklist explained
- The Aligned Action Workspace — panels, the story strip, and shortcuts
- Task Trust System — how Next, Later, and other buckets work