Third-culture African founder building brands (and a life) across the continent, in public.
MAISHA
The weekly planning system for busy African founders
A week that works does two things: it tells you what matters this week, and it protects the time to do it. This system takes about 30 minutes on Sunday, a 10-minute check each morning, and a 15-minute close on Friday. It is built for a founder whose power, internet, clients and team do not follow a neat calendar.
What the evidence says, and what it does not
Most productivity advice online is folklore with a research citation attached. Here is what holds up, and what I have left out.
Well supported:
- Implementation intentions. Writing “when X happens, I will do Y” improves follow-through. Baumeister and colleagues describe dozens of careful studies showing it changes behaviour beyond intending or goal setting, with a medium to large effect on completion rates [1]. This is the core of the system: every weekly priority gets a “when” and a “where”.
- Writing a plan for the week. A study reported by one planning app, with 208 participants and 947 weekly diary entries, found that weekly planning reduced unfinished tasks and lowered after-work rumination [2]. I could not access the original paper, so treat this as promising rather than settled.
Weaker or unproven:
- Time blocking as a method. Researchers have found little academic work testing time blocking directly, although the implementation-intention research supports the idea of putting tasks on a calendar [3]. Use it because it makes plans concrete, not because a study proved it.
- “High performers do X on Sunday”. Claims that a set percentage of professionals feel a Sunday dread, or that a specific routine makes founders successful, come from vendors. I have left them out.
- Early rising, cold showers and app stacks. Most of this has little or no evidence behind it. Nothing in this system depends on it.
The weekly rhythm
Sunday: the weekly review (30 minutes)
This is the most important part of the system. It has four steps, in order.
- Close last week (10 minutes). Look at what finished, what slipped and what you dropped. Move every open item into one list. Do not solve anything yet.
- Check the numbers (5 minutes). Open your cash flow tracker. Note closing cash, pending receipts and any payments due in the next 14 days.
- Pick three outcomes (10 minutes). Choose three things that would make this week a success. Not twelve. If a fourth is urgent, swap it for one of the three.
- Write the “when” for each (5 minutes). For each outcome, write one implementation intention: “On Tuesday from 9:00 to 11:00, at the office, I will draft the proposal.” Block that time in your calendar before you close the review.
Monday to Friday: the daily check (10 minutes each morning)
- Read the three outcomes.
- Look at the day’s blocks and check that nothing has moved.
- Choose the one task that would make the day count, and do it first.
- Note anything that has changed, and adjust the block rather than abandoning it.
Friday: the close (15 minutes)
- Mark each outcome done, moved or dropped.
- Chase the pending receipts on your tracker.
- Clear the inbox of anything that needs a reply before Monday.
- Write one sentence: what you learned this week.
The weekly planner
This table is a beginner’s guide that you can add to your notebook or calendar each Sunday. I have shared a more in depth version over on Substack, Africancocktales.
Adjust for the way Kinshasa actually works
A plan that ignores the power, the connection and the money will fail by Tuesday. Build these in:
- Power cuts. Put heavy work, such as design files, uploads and long calls, on the day or time your power is most reliable. Keep a short list of offline tasks for a power-cut afternoon.
- Connectivity. Schedule client calls and uploads when your data is strongest. Keep one backup connection in mind for any call you cannot miss.
- Mobile money and bank settlement. Money can take days to land. Plan payments for the day after a receipt settles, not the day it is sent.
- Tax and payroll deadlines. Many returns and contributions fall due around the 15th of the month. Put them in the Sunday review before they arrive.
- Travel and fuel. Build travel time and the cost of fuel for the generator into the week, not just the meeting.
- Community and family. Name the commitments that take a day or an afternoon, such as family duties, church or community events, and plan around them first.
Protect the rest
A weekly system that never schedules rest is a weekly system that runs you down. Put one block of real rest in every week before you add work. Maisha is the proof that the life is as real as the work, and that includes the time you do not spend working.
Where to start
Do the Sunday review this week, for thirty minutes, with a notebook. Use the first weekly planner above. Run it for four weeks before you change anything. Keep what you use, and drop what you do not.
Sources and caveats
[1] Baumeister and colleagues, as cited in a review of implementation intentions (the review is available online; check the original studies before quoting the effect size).
[2] A study on weekly planning, reported by weekplan.net, with 208 participants and 947 weekly diary entries. I have not read the original paper. Find the publication before you cite it.
[3] Discussion of time blocking research, from a scheduling blog that reviewed the literature. It states that little academic work tests time blocking directly.
This is a planning framework, not medical, psychological or business advice. If planning stress or low mood persists, talk to someone you trust or a qualified professional.
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