Planning

The pick-3 method: a simple way to plan your day

By Brainy Planner · Updated October 14, 2026

Long to-do lists are easy to write and hard to use. When everything is on the list, nothing feels like the thing to do next. The pick-3 method fixes that by shrinking each day to three choices.

This is a planning technique, not medical advice. Many people with and without ADHD find short lists easier to start.

Step 1: Brain dump

Before you plan anything, write down everything that is taking up space in your head: tasks, worries, ideas, errands. Do not sort it yet. The point is to get it out of your head so you can see it.

Step 2: Pick three

Look at the dump and choose at most three things for today. A useful split is one for money (work that earns or protects income), one for the business or project (something that moves a bigger goal forward) and one for you (rest, movement, a relationship, a chore that is weighing on you). If a day only has room for one, that is a valid day.

Step 3: Match tasks to your energy

Notice when you have energy and focus, and put the hardest pick there. Put easy or boring tasks in the low-energy parts of the day. Tracking energy for a couple of weeks shows your own pattern, which is more useful than a generic productivity schedule.

Step 4: Time-box

Give each pick a start time and an end time, even a rough one. A time box turns "work on the website" into "work on the website from 10:00 to 11:00". When the time is up, you can stop or choose to continue.

Step 5: Keep a bad-day mode

Some days go sideways. Decide in advance which single task counts as a win on a bad day, and star it. Doing that one thing means the day was not wasted, which makes it easier to restart tomorrow.

Review once a week

On the same day each week, look back at what you finished, move anything that matters to next week and drop anything that no longer does. A short, regular review keeps the list honest.

Tools

You can do all of this on paper. If you want it ready-made, the 2027 ADHD Solo Business Planner (hyperlinked, for tablets and PDF apps) and the printable undated edition are built around brain dump, pick 3, energy tracking and a bad-day mode.