Momentum — the weekly planner built around energy, not output.
You're not bad at planning. Your plan just doesn't account for how you feel.
Why energy-based planning
Your week isn't a flat line. Your plan shouldn't be either.
Attention and energy move in waves. Researchers have observed ultradian rhythms — roughly 90-minute cycles of focus and recovery that repeat through the day — since the 1960s. Plans that ignore those waves tend to overload the peaks and waste the troughs. Ultradian rhythms in mind and body (NIH).
Every choice you make also draws from a finite pool. Studies on decision fatigue show that the quality of our judgements degrades as the day's decisions stack up — which is why a tidy task list at 9am can feel impossible by 4pm. APA on willpower & decision-making.
And recovery isn't optional. Reviews of rest and recovery research find that deliberate downtime — short breaks, sleep, lighter days — is what makes sustained performance possible at all. Recovery & performance review (NIH).
Momentum bakes these ideas into the way you plan: tag the energy a task needs, balance heavy and light days, and use the weekly reflection to learn what your own rhythm actually looks like.