The top of the entire system. You run the Annual Blueprint once a year — ideally in late December or early January. It maps four life domains (work, health, relationships, personal growth) across four quarters. You identify the three non-negotiable goals that this year must achieve. Every tool below this connects back to these three goals.
The Annual Blueprint answers: "What does a successful year look like, across every domain that matters?" Without this anchor, every quarterly and weekly plan is navigation without a destination.
You run the 90-Day Planner at the start of each quarter. It takes the three annual goals from the Blueprint and breaks them into quarterly milestones — specific, measurable things that need to happen in the next 13 weeks. Each goal gets a single success metric (not a list — a single number or outcome) and three supporting habits.
The quarterly horizon is critical. Research by Gail Matthews at Dominican University shows that people who write down quarterly goals achieve significantly more than those working from annual plans alone. 90 days is long enough to accomplish something meaningful — short enough to stay urgent.
David Allen calls the weekly review the most important 30 minutes of the week. The Groundwork Weekly Review earns that description. It processes the Brain Dump (clearing open loops), checks in against quarterly goals (is this week's plan actually moving the right things?), reviews the energy audit from last week, and sets the top three objectives for the coming week.
The Weekly Review is the connection point in the Cascade. Without it, the annual and quarterly tools above it become irrelevant — and the daily execution below it becomes reactive. It runs on Sunday evening or Monday morning, takes 20–30 minutes, and produces the three priorities that the Daily Focus Sheet will execute each morning.
The Daily Focus Sheet is where the system becomes action. Each morning it receives the top three priorities from Sunday's Weekly Review and uses the Ivy Lee Method to execute them — in ranked order, completing one before starting the next. The must-not-do constraints (the Eisenhower distinction applied daily) prevent urgency from displacing importance.
The time-block schedule runs alongside — blocking the day in advance rather than reacting to it. A Stoic morning prompt sets the frame. Evening reflection closes the loop: one sentence on what moved. A day score from 1–10. Two minutes to fill in. The only question it asks is: did today move what matters?
The Cascade is the structural backbone. The four pillars are the principles that every tool in the range is built around. Each product belongs to at least one pillar — and the best products in the range serve multiple simultaneously.
The vertical connection between planning levels. Annual → Quarterly → Weekly → Daily. Products: Annual Blueprint, 90-Day Goal Planner, Weekly Review, Daily Focus Sheet, Ideal Week Architecture.
David Allen's GTD first step. Everything out of your head and into a trusted system. Products: Brain Dump Page, Weekly Review (processing function), Reading & Learning Log.
Eisenhower's distinction between urgent and important. The must-not-do discipline. Products: Daily Focus Sheet (must-not-do field), Deep Work Planner, Meeting Mastery, Stoic Journal.
Small consistent actions that compound. The long-game tools. Products: Habit Stack Builder, Strength Log, Sleep & Recovery Log, Net Worth Tracker, Fatherhood Planner, Reading Log.
The core Cascade tools (Annual Blueprint → 90-Day → Weekly Review → Daily Focus Sheet) are the engine. These are the specialist tools that work alongside it — extending the system into specific domains of your life.
If you're new to Groundwork, start with the free 7-Day Focus Sprint. It gives you the Daily Focus Sheet and Weekly Review for free — experience the core Cascade before you invest in the full system.