Weekly Focus Planner: the “change the math” method

Most weekly planning fails for one reason: it’s built on fantasy. We plan as if we’ll wake up every day with perfect motivation, unlimited focus, and no interruptions — then we feel guilty when reality shows up. The Weekly Focus Planner flips that: it starts with constraints (hours, meetings, admin, distractions, sleep, energy) and turns them into a plan that is actually executable.

Here’s the mindset behind the tool: focus is not a personality trait — it’s a schedule and an environment. If your calendar is full of meetings, if your goals are too many, or if your sleep is low, your brain will do what brains do: avoid hard tasks and chase easy dopamine. That doesn’t mean you “lack discipline.” It means the system is misconfigured. The planner helps you reconfigure it, then makes the result shareable so you can commit publicly (or at least to your future self).

• Focus Score (0–100): a single number that summarizes how “focus-friendly” your week is.
• Deep work blocks: protected sessions where your biggest goals can move forward.
• Daily themes: simple labels like “Build,” “Ship,” “Admin,” and “Recovery” that reduce context switching.
• CSV export: a lightweight plan you can paste into Google Sheets, Notion, or a calendar template.

Most planners treat meetings and admin as “invisible.” But those are the exact forces that kill deep work. This tool explicitly subtracts them, then converts what’s left into realistic blocks. It also models distraction: if you estimate you lose 60 minutes/day to phone checks, tabs, and “quick messages,” that’s not a moral failure — it’s a variable. And variables can be improved.

Finally, it includes a sleep + energy factor. Why? Because planning ten deep blocks on a week where you’re running on five hours of sleep is like budgeting as if you’ll win the lottery. Focus is physical. If your body is drained, your plan should be smaller, cleaner, and more forgiving. That’s not quitting — that’s strategy.

How the Focus Score is calculated

The Focus Score is intentionally simple. It’s not trying to “predict your life.” It’s trying to give you a fast reality-check and a clear lever to pull.

First we estimate your deep work capacity:

• Available hours − meeting hours − admin hours = deep work hours
• Deep work hours are converted into block capacity based on your block length.

If you request 12 blocks but your week only supports 8, the planner doesn’t pretend. It caps planned blocks at what your time can support — then distributes those blocks across your chosen workdays.

We combine four normalized signals (each 0–1) into a final 0–100 score:

• Deep Work Coverage (35%): How much of your desired deep work is realistically scheduled.
• Meeting Load (20%): Higher meeting share lowers score (meetings increase fragmentation).
• Distraction Control (20%): More daily distraction minutes lowers score (capped at 4 hours/day).
• Recovery (25%): Sleep + energy estimate raises score (because focus is biological).

The exact math is:
FocusScore = 100 × (0.35×DeepWork + 0.20×Meeting + 0.20×Distraction + 0.25×Recovery)

Each factor is clamped between 0 and 1 so extreme values can’t break the scale. That keeps the score intuitive: 0 = chaos week, 50 = workable week, 100 = extremely protected deep work week.

A realistic weekly plan (walkthrough)

Let’s say you have 40 available hours, 10 meeting hours, and 6 admin hours. That leaves 24 deep work hours. If you choose 90-minute blocks, your capacity is about 16 blocks (because 24 hours = 1440 minutes, ÷ 90 = 16).

Now imagine you set a target of 10 deep work blocks, estimate 60 minutes/day of distractions, sleep 7.5 hours nightly, and energy 7/10. The tool will likely plan all 10 blocks because capacity supports it, then spread them across your selected days (for Mon–Fri, that’s ~2 blocks/day).

• Mon: 2 blocks — “Build” day (start the hardest task first).
• Tue: 2 blocks — “Build + Review” (continue momentum, then assess).
• Wed: 2 blocks — “Ship” (finish something and publish/send it).
• Thu: 2 blocks — “Ship + Admin” (close loops, respond, tidy).
• Fri: 2 blocks — “Clean-up + Next Week” (reduce future friction).

The real value isn’t the exact distribution — it’s the constraints. If you try the same inputs but raise meetings to 20 hours, your deep work capacity shrinks and your Focus Score drops. That is the point: it turns vague frustration (“I can’t focus”) into a concrete lever (“Meetings are eating the week”).

• Reduce meeting hours: batch meetings into 2 days; decline optional calls; move to async updates.
• Lower admin load: set an “admin window” (e.g., 4–5pm) and stop checking email all day.
• Shorten your goal list: 1–3 priorities beats 7 “hopes.”
• Protect sleep: even +30 minutes/night changes the recovery factor.
• Lower distractions: phone outside room during blocks; block social sites; single-tab rule.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is this a “calculator” or a planner?

  Both. The calculator portion is the Focus Score and the deep-work capacity math. The planner portion is the block distribution and daily themes. The goal is speed: you can build a realistic plan in under one minute.

• How many goals should I enter?

  1–3. If you enter more, your brain treats everything as “optional,” which increases procrastination. A short list forces trade-offs and creates clarity.

• What if my week is full of emergencies?

  Then your job is to plan for resilience, not perfection. Use shorter blocks (60 minutes), reduce target blocks, and give yourself a “recovery day” theme. A workable plan beats a perfect plan you never follow.

• Does the planner schedule exact times?

  It suggests a weekly distribution (how many deep blocks each day), not a clock-time calendar. That’s intentional: exact scheduling depends on your time zone, obligations, and personal rhythm. You can copy the CSV into your own system and assign times.

• What is a deep work block?

  A block is a protected session where you do one meaningful thing without switching tasks. It includes a 2-minute setup (close tabs, set goal), the work session, and a 3-minute shutdown (write next step).

• How accurate is the Focus Score?

  It’s directional, not scientific. It’s meant to reflect common “focus killers” (meetings, admin, distractions, low recovery) and translate them into a simple number you can improve week over week.

• How do I make the planner go viral?

  Share the number + a tiny commitment. Examples: “Focus Score 72 — protecting 2 deep blocks/day,” or “Trying to get above 80 by cutting meetings.” People share numbers because it feels like a game and a challenge.

MaximCalculator provides simple, user-friendly tools. Always treat results as guidance and double-check any important decisions elsewhere.