Plan My Day is the short list you commit to before you start working. Instead of staring at every open task, you pick up to five, put them in order, and spend the day against that list.
Open it from Plan My Day in the sidebar, or at the end of your morning routine.
Why five
Five is a deliberate ceiling, not a technical one. A list you can hold in your head is a list you can finish, and finishing is what makes tomorrow's plan credible. Onward puts it plainly under the planner:
Choosing top tasks helps you do what matters. Complete these tasks and you've won the day.
You can commit a plan with as few as one task. You cannot commit an empty one.
Building today's plan
The planner has five numbered slots. Slot 1 is your most important task of the day — the one that, if it were the only thing you finished, would still make the day a win. It's labelled Your most important task while empty and Today's focus once you commit.
- Tap a slot, or + Add Task, to open the task picker.
- Filter by Today, Tomorrow, or This Week, or search by title.
- Add tasks until you have between one and five. + Add Task in the picker creates a task and can place it in the plan. You can also pick a task that already exists on My Tasks.
- Drag the handle on any slot to reorder.
- Press Save Plan.
Only open tasks appear in the picker. A brand-new task starts from + Add Task in that picker.
Working the plan
Once saved, the plan becomes a short checklist for the day:
| Action | What happens |
|---|---|
| Check a slot | Completes the underlying task, the same as checking it on My Tasks |
| Edit | Reopens the planner so you can swap, reorder, or remove tasks |
| Remove from slot | Takes the task off today's plan; the task itself is untouched |
Your plan is a view of real tasks, not a copy of them. Completing a task anywhere in Onward checks it off here too, and removing it from the plan never deletes it.
Order carries into My Tasks as well: planned tasks show a badge, and hovering it tells you where the task sits — "Most important task in today's plan" for slot 1, "2nd most important task…" for slot 2, and so on.
Finishing the day
When every slot is checked, Onward marks the day won and asks how you want to end it:
- I'm at capacity (Log Off) — stop here. This is the intended answer most days.
- I have more bandwidth (Plan next batch) — open the planner again and commit a fresh batch.
Choosing to log off is not a lesser outcome. A finished five-task plan is a full day's work, and treating it that way is the point of the feature.
Unfinished tasks
Tasks you don't complete stay exactly where they are: still open, still on their project, still on My Tasks with their original due date. Nothing is auto-rolled, auto-rescheduled, or silently moved. Tomorrow you plan again from a clean slate and decide for yourself whether an unfinished task still deserves a slot.
Repeatedly re-planning the same task is useful signal, not a failure — Onward tracks how often a task gets pushed and surfaces it in your wellness view.
Plan My Day vs Onward Guide
They answer different questions and are meant to be used together.
| Plan My Day | Onward Guide | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Sidebar → Plan My Day | Panel on My Tasks |
| When | Once, at the start of the day | Continuously, while you work |
| What it does | You commit to a fixed, ordered list | Suggests a next step from live context |
| Who decides | You | Onward suggests; you choose |
Common questions
Can I plan more than five tasks?
Not in a single plan. If you genuinely finish all five, use I have more bandwidth (Plan next batch) to commit another round rather than stretching one list.
What happens to my plan overnight?
It closes out with the day. The next morning you start with an empty planner, and any unfinished tasks are still waiting on My Tasks.
Does Plan My Day create tasks?
No. It selects from tasks that already exist, so nothing lives only inside the planner.
Do I have to do the morning routine to plan my day?
No. The morning routine offers to hand you off to the planner, and you can Skip plan there, but Plan My Day is always available from the sidebar.
Can teammates see my plan?
No. Your daily plan is personal. Task-level visibility is unchanged by planning — see Privacy and your data.