On Monday you know what the week holds. By Wednesday you no longer do. The weekly planner exists so the whole week fits in a single glance, without rebuilding it from memory every morning.
How do you use the weekly planner?
Create your routines (workout, study, medication, cleaning), mark which days each one happens, and watch the days light up as the week takes shape. When it looks right, export it as a PDF and print it. Everything is saved in this browser, with no sign-up and nothing sent to a server.
- List routines, not tasks. A routine is what repeats: "gym", "review Spanish", "groceries". Anything that happens only once belongs on a to-do list.
- Mark the days. A day lights up when it gets something, and the empty ones are information too.
- Anchor to a rough time. "Morning", "after lunch", "evening" is enough. Exact times are for the calendar.
- Look at the whole week. One day with five routines and another with zero? Redistribute. The week has to be possible, not heroic.
- Export to PDF and stick it where you walk past. A planner sitting in a closed tab does not exist.
Why plan the week and not just the day?
Because a day is too short to show the pattern. The week is the unit in which things repeat: the Tuesday-and-Thursday workout, the Sunday phone call, the Saturday cleaning. Building the week once saves you from deciding every day, and every decision you skip is energy left over for actually doing.
If you only plan the day, you wake up and start from zero. For most people that is tiring; for someone with ADHD it is where the morning ends before it began. With the week built, the question stops being "what do I do?" and becomes "what is on for today?", and that one is already answered on the wall. Seeing the whole week also shows where nothing else fits: it is easier to say no when Thursday is already lit up.
Why does a visible planner work for ADHD?
Because it takes the information out of your head. The psychologist Russell Barkley describes ADHD as a problem of performance, not knowledge: the person knows what to do and fails to do it on time. The strategy with the broadest consensus is to externalize: put the plan in the environment, visible, where it will be used.
This also explains why planning apps die within two weeks: they keep the plan behind an icon and a notification you have learned to ignore. Paper on the fridge does not need to be opened. If time tends to vanish on you without warning, read about time blindness: a planner is, in part, a way of making time visible.
What is the difference between a routine and a time slot?
A time slot is "at 7 a.m.". A routine is "after coffee". The first depends on you looking at the clock at the right moment; the second attaches to an event that happens anyway. For people who lose track of the hour, anchoring to events works far better than anchoring to numbers, and the planner accepts both.
The planner solves "where is my week". It does not solve "who tells me it is today". You can build the perfect week, print it, stick it up, and walk straight past the fridge on Thursday at 6 p.m., because looking at the planner is itself something you have to remember. That is what made me build ASB. Sofia, the assistant, lives on WhatsApp: the routines you build here become reminders that call at the right time and insist, at whatever level you choose, until you reply. The planner is the map; she is the nudge.
Frequently asked questions
Does the weekly planner save what I build?
Yes, in this browser. Nothing goes to a server: your routines and time slots are stored on your device and come back when you return to the page. If you clear your browser data or switch devices, the planner starts empty, which is what the PDF export button is for.
Can I print the weekly planner?
Yes. The export button generates a one-page PDF of the whole week, ready to print and stick on the fridge or the office wall. For people with ADHD, the printed version usually works better than the screen, because it does not depend on opening anything.
Is a weekly planner the same as a calendar?
No. A calendar holds appointments with a fixed time: doctor, meeting, flight. The planner organizes what repeats: workout, study, cleaning, medication, calling family. Ideally you use both: the calendar for what is fixed and the planner to make room for what recurs.
How many routines should I put in the planner?
Fewer than you want to. Start with three or four routines that genuinely matter this week and leave empty space in the days. A full planner looks productive and gets abandoned on Wednesday; a planner with slack survives the unexpected.
Does a weekly planner work for ADHD?
It works when it is visible and simple. The clinical recommendation for ADHD is to externalize: take the information out of memory and put it in the environment, at the time and place it will be used. A printed planner in plain sight does exactly that. What it does not do is call you when it is time.