Front-load highest-priority work — end-of-week…

When This Fires

• During weekly planning when sequencing committed work
• During daily planning when deciding task order
• When you have a mix of high and low priority deliverables with deadlines
• Any planning context where delays are possible (all of them)

Common Failure Mode

Saving the most important work for when you'll "have more time" — typically later in the week after clearing smaller tasks. But the smaller tasks expand to fill available time (Parkinson's law), and by Thursday the important work is crammed into the end of the week with no buffer. Front-loading reverses this: the important work is done first with maximum buffer, and smaller tasks fill remaining capacity.

The Protocol

During weekly/daily planning: (1) Identify your 2-3 highest-priority committed deliverables. (2) Place them as early as possible: highest priority on Monday morning, second priority on Tuesday. (3) Fill end-of-week slots with lower-priority or flexible work that can absorb compression if earlier work overruns. (4) Within each day, apply the same principle: important work in the first deep work block, flexible work later. The result: if everything goes to plan, you finish important work early and have buffer time. If things overrun, the buffer absorbs the delay before it reaches your deadlines.