Life can get busy at times, sometimes it escapes us. Between work, family, friends, appointments, hobbies, side hustles, and other obligations, it just feels like we don’t have enough time, especially any for relaxation and self-care.
At times, it may just feel like you’re going through the motions and barely have time for anything.
By creating a weekly schedule, you can regain control over your schedule and make adjustments where you see fit.
By scheduling your month and weeks, you’ll give yourself a powerful way to manage your time and balance your life.
It can’t be that easy can it, well it actually is.
What Is Planning Your Week
The process of organizing your goals and priorities for the week, making sure to incorporate your tasks and commitments ahead.
It gives you an overview of what needs to be done for the week and how much time you’ll have to do it. Allowing you to have full control over your time and energy.
It divides up your time accordingly so you have enough time to complete everything.
Why Planning Your Week Is Important
Planning your week can help you get the most out of your time. Even when you feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day, you’ll be surprised how many more hours you’ll find when you sit down and map out your time.
Planning your week has many advantages, it can help;
–Eliminate distractions, this is especially helpful if you work from home or for yourself.
-Helps you stay focused for the week ahead.
-Prevents you from stressing and keeps down your anxiety attacks helping you remain more productive.
-Helps you review long-term goals you may have and scale them down into smaller more attainable goals that lead to them.
-You accomplish tasks efficiently and you don’t just finish them.
When it’s all said and done, without a plan, all you’ll do is go about your week aimlessly and unprepared. And at the end of the week, you’ll stumble around trying to complete all the things you just realized you needed to do.
You’ll get nothing done without a plan.
How To Plan Your Week
Review Your Long-Term Goals and Plan
As we’ve mentioned earlier, planning your week needs to be based on your long-term goals and plans.
If you’ve read my, monthly planning post, you would have already broken your goals down for each month, making it easier to plan your weeks.
It will help you set a direction and give you purpose for the days ahead. You’ll not only know what you’re doing but why and this will drive you even more.
Reviewing where you are with your achieving your goals will help you figure out what steps need to be taken to move forward for the week. You’ll know where you are and where you want to be by the end of this week.
Being clear on your goals and the steps you want to take will help you narrow down smaller more attainable goals that will lead to accomplishing your main goals, making you all the more efficient.
Review your yearly goals, then your monthly goals, and then set weekly goals. Make notes of appointments and commitments you have and work around them.
Make A Detailed List
Make a list of everything you need to accomplish for your week.
From big projects to simple tasks like hitting the gym 3 times or walking the dog daily. Account for all your time.
Have a checklist for everything you need to accomplish.
Set Your Priorities
Planning your week gives you time to set priorities for the week.
These are tasks that have to be accomplished no matter what. And ideally, you do these first during your week to get them out of the way.
Decide on a few priorities that you’ll task yourself with completing that week and focus on these. This will give you a sense of direction and ground you when you feel overwhelmed or forget why you’re doing this.
Know your priorities and focus on them.
Design A Schedule
Break down each priority into simpler, smaller tasks.
These should be actions that will help you get your priorities completed. Have your schedule written down, either on paper, in a planner, or on post-it notes.
Block out time for weekly priority tasks and focus on only them during this time. This will let you know where to invest your time and when.
Take into consideration the time needed in between. Add 15 minutes to travel time, or account for an extra 20 minutes after a meeting in case it runs long, and also just add in a few intervals for you to take a breather during the day. This will prevent stress and burnout.
Allocate time for unforeseen circumstances and events. You never know what could come up and having things thrown at you and not having enough time can be stressful and disheartening. So reserve time for emergencies and don’t overbook your days.
Figure out which priority you’ll focus on for the day and group similar tasks together so your brain doesn’t have to switch between different types of of activities
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Build A Daily Routine
Create productive habits to help you achieve your weekly goals. This will help you focus and creates a sense of direction for each day.
Begin by outlining activities you can do every day to improve overall productivity.
Like working out when you wake up, going on a walk during your breaks, or simply drinking water when you wake up.
Incorporating these little things into your daily routine will make a huge difference in how you go about your days.
Slowly incorporate habits one at a time, introducing a new one every time you have mastered a new one.
Review Your Weekly Progress
Always reflect on the previous week.
Congratulate yourself on what you’ve managed to accomplish, review your progress and figure out if there are ways you could optimize your week even more.
If you struggled to complete all the tasks for the week, maybe consider dialing it back a bit and giving yourself more time to accomplish them.
Or if you find yourself having too much free time and you feel like you weren’t productive enough.
Add in a few more tasks meant for the next week and maximize your days and productivity.
The best part about planning is all the extra time the day seems to have afterward.
It increases productivity and gives you more time to relax. All the while allowing you to accomplish your goals and work towards the bigger picture.
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