How the Daily Routine Planner calculates your Routine Score

The goal of this planner is not to create a “perfect” day. It’s to create a day that is doable. Most schedules fail for one of three reasons: (1) not enough sleep, (2) too many commitments crammed into too little time, or (3) no buffer for real life (traffic, delays, distractions, mood, kids, and surprises). That’s why your Routine Score is based on five practical factors: sleep alignment, load fit, focus balance, breaks & recovery, and buffer.

First, the planner converts your wake-up and bedtime into minutes. The difference is your awake window (how many minutes you’re awake). For example, 7:00 → 23:00 is 16 hours, or 960 minutes. Everything you allocate (focus, meetings, meals, commute, chores, exercise, social time) must fit inside that window.

Next, your inputs are summed into a total: Planned Minutes = Focus + Meetings/Admin + Meals + Exercise + Commute + Chores + Social. Meals are estimated automatically: 2 meals ≈ 60 minutes, 3 meals ≈ 90 minutes, 4 meals ≈ 120 minutes. The remaining time is your buffer/free time. Buffer is not “wasted” time; it’s what makes a schedule resilient.

The final score is a weighted average of five sub-scores, each on a 0–100 scale:

• Sleep Alignment (25%) — We estimate your sleep by measuring the time from bedtime to wake-up (including crossing midnight). Scores peak around 8 hours, with strong ranges from 7–9. Below 6 or above 10 is penalized because it often indicates inconsistency or burnout recovery.
• Load Fit (25%) — If Planned Minutes exceed your awake window, your score drops sharply (you’re overbooked). If planned minutes fit, you score higher — with a slight penalty if you allocate almost nothing (because the planner assumes you’re missing real tasks).
• Focus Balance (20%) — Deep focus is great, but only if it’s realistic. The sweet spot for many people is 20–45% of planned work time as deep focus (not 90%). Too little deep focus can signal a reactive day; too much can signal an unrealistic plan.
• Recovery & Breaks (20%) — We infer breaks from your buffer/free time plus exercise minutes. This rewards schedules that include movement and breathing room.
• Buffer (10%) — This is the “life happens” factor. A resilient day usually keeps 10–20% of the awake window unallocated. Less than 5% is fragile; more than 35% is fine, but might mean your day lacks structure.

To keep the planner lightweight and easy to trust, the math is intentionally simple:

• SleepScore peaks at 8 hours, tapering down toward 0 at 4 hours or 12 hours.
• LoadFitScore starts at 100 when Planned ≤ AwakeWindow, then drops as you overflow.
• FocusBalanceScore compares your deep-focus ratio to a target range (20–45%).
• RecoveryScore increases with buffer + exercise, capped at a healthy threshold.
• BufferScore rewards 10–20% buffer, gently tapering outside that band.

Routine Score = 0.25×SleepScore + 0.25×LoadFitScore + 0.20×FocusBalanceScore + 0.20×RecoveryScore + 0.10×BufferScore

Wake 7:00, bed 23:00 (16h awake). Deep focus 240 min, meetings 120, meals 90, exercise 30, commute 30, chores 45, social 60. Total planned = 615 minutes. Buffer = 960 − 615 = 345 minutes (5h 45m). This is a healthy, flexible day. Expect a Routine Score often in the 80–95 range depending on sleep and ratios.

Wake 6:30, bed 22:30 (16h awake), but planned minutes add up to 1,050 minutes. You’ve allocated more time than exists. The planner will still show a timeline, but it will flag overflow and your Load Fit score will drop. In real life, this is where stress and guilt come from: you feel “behind” even though the plan was impossible.

Wake 9:00, bed 1:00 (16h awake), planned minutes total only 180 minutes. This might be a vacation day — which is great — but for most normal weekdays it can create anxiety because there’s no structure. The planner will slightly reduce the score for “too empty” planning, and suggest adding 1–2 focus blocks or a short walk.

Daily Routine Planner FAQs

• Is this a strict time-blocking planner?

  It’s more flexible than strict time-blocking. The planner builds a suggested timeline (wake-up → bedtime), but it also emphasizes buffer time so the schedule can survive real life. If you prefer strict time-blocking, increase planned minutes and reduce buffer — just keep at least 10% buffer for sanity.

• How accurate is the Routine Score?

  The Routine Score is a practical indicator, not a medical or psychological diagnosis. It’s designed to highlight obvious routine issues: too little sleep, overbooking, no breaks, and no buffer. Use it as a guide, then adjust based on how you actually feel during the day.

• My bedtime is after midnight — does it work?

  Yes. If your bedtime is earlier than your wake-up time, the planner assumes your sleep crosses midnight. Example: bed 01:00 and wake 09:00 is treated as 8 hours of sleep.

• What’s “deep work” and why is it separate?

  Deep work is focused effort on one meaningful task (writing, studying, coding, designing, practicing). It’s separated because it usually requires fewer interruptions and more energy. Most people underestimate how draining deep work is — so the planner rewards realistic amounts.

• How much buffer should I aim for?

  For most days: 10–20% of your awake time. That’s roughly 1.5–3 hours in a 16-hour day. Buffer includes transitions, rest, unexpected calls, traffic, and “I just need a moment.”

• Can I save multiple routines?

  Yes. Click Save Routine. Your saved routines are stored in your browser’s local storage, which means they stay on this device and don’t require a login.

• Can I export to PDF?

  The easiest lightweight export is printing to PDF: click Print and choose “Save as PDF.” This page hides extra UI elements automatically when printing.

• What if my routine “overflows”?

  Overflow means your planned minutes exceed your awake window. Reduce some minutes, combine tasks, or extend your awake window. A routine that fits is always better than a “perfect” routine that doesn’t.