Daily planning is a must in any business.

But if you find yourself regularly avoiding this crucial daily action, you may need to change your planning approach.

Otherwise, you may find yourself unwittingly falling behind schedule.

In my work as a productivity consultant and time management coach, I’m often asked, “How do I effectively plan my day?”

While there’s no shortage of solutions to this question, we can streamline our focus on how we go about the daily planning process.

Here’s a simple six-step method you can follow to make the daily planning process a bit easier.

Plan your day in advance

Where possible, plan tomorrow’s day the previous afternoon or evening. This way, you’ll be ready to hit the ground running in the morning.

One way to go about this is to incorporate this task into your workday so it’s a built-in feature of your daily schedule.

You can add some planning time into the latter part of your work day. Review the current status of projects and make plans for the following day.

And what if you’re unable to plan your day in advance? Plan your day first thing in the morning before you tackle any other projects, assignments, or tasks.

Now that you know when to plan, how should you go about planning your work? Follow this simple review process to stay on top of things.

Review upcoming meetings

This includes any meetings and appointments scheduled for the day.

Take care to note any details surrounding the appointment; be it travel to an external location, an on-site engagement, or a video or phone call.

The next step is to adequately prepare for upcoming meetings. For instance, do you need to print an agenda, gather physical materials, jot down questions, or prepare presentation slides?

Ideally, you should have prepared a few of these items in advance. You’re simply finalizing any last-minute arrangements.

Identify current work tasks

These include ongoing project tasks and to-dos that you must personally complete yourself.

First, write down the tasks that require your direct input, evaluation, skills, or management. Next, write down tasks that must be delegated to others (we’ll get to this in just a moment).

Once you’ve identified tasks, schedule time in your day to work on these tasks just as you would any other appointment.

You’ll know exactly which tasks you need to work on and when.

Send and follow up with requests

You know all those work-related items you’ve requested from a vendor, partner, colleague, or client?

It’s important to acknowledge and address these items sooner rather than later so others have time to respond.

Look back in your calendar or to-do lists from the past several days. Identify any outstanding, incomplete, or unfinished tasks.

Then take a few moments to communicate by phone, email, text, or message service, to send out requests or follow up with open items.

Delegate tasks to others as needed

Assigning tasks to others is a key part of the daily planning process. Try to delegate tasks as soon as possible during the day.

This should be done as soon as you finish your planning for the day. Avoid sitting on to-be-delegated tasks as this can create workflow logjams.

You should also plan to efficiently delegate tasks. Aim to provide others with at least three to five tasks at a time.

The benefit of doing this is that you won’t have to break up the flow of your schedule providing tasks piecemeal to others.

People will receive their assignments and will have the time and space to effectively complete tasks throughout the day.

Acknowledge real-time issues and concerns

Lastly, it’s important to deal with the inevitable real-time issues, challenges, and concerns that come up with running a business. While we can’t escape these situations, we can plan for them.

Naming real-time issues can be helpful because it helps your mind identify and containerize the issue at hand.

Saying something along the lines of “Emergency server maintenance issue” rather than “That IT thing I have to deal with” is clearer and more focused.

To stay on top of these types of issues, jot down times for yourself in your schedule to check on the status of these items. It’s a simple way for you to stay up-to-date and current in your work.

Learn the keys to daily planning

Successful daily planning at the office requires focus, attention, and care.

My time management guide will teach you how to review your schedule, plan appointments, and organize projects.

If you want me to help you manage your time at work and at home so you get things done and feel in control, then check out my time management coaching services.

How about you? Which of these daily planning steps are you going to give more attention to this week? Join the conversation and leave a comment below!

This article previously appeared on Inc.com.