Have you ever gone days or weeks wondering why you haven’t accomplished anything in that time?
Each summer of high school, I’d start with dreams of summer adventures, reading in the backyard, and discovering new hobbies. I’d start the summer working on my goals of finishing X number of books, making a habit of drawing every day, and any other goals I had set. However, by the end of summer, I hadn’t touched my goals in weeks. Instead, I wasted my time with unfulfilling activities and boredom. Without a plan, I couldn’t accomplish my goals because I didn’t define what needed to be done. And, it’s the same case for everyone.
Weekly planning is a must for me. I can’t keep all the ideas rattling around in my head straight. Planning takes that mess of ideas and forms it into actions I can take. These actions are what lead me steadily toward the goal. Without planning, I’d probably get some things done, however, when I make plans, I am in control of the results. If I want to accomplish something, I know I have to plan.
I’ve been a planning fanatic my whole life. Planners, bullet journals, and braindump notebooks are my thing. When I served as a missionary for 18 months, we planned for three hours every week. This isn’t something I’m new to. And, with all of this planning, I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t.
This week, I wanted to show you how I plan each week. It’s very simple (as I hate overly complicated instructions), and you can do this in as few as 10 minutes each week.
If scheduling isn’t your thing, check out my reset routine from a few weeks ago. It shows a similar but more freeform way of renewing your week.
Set up your weekly view
Each week, I start by adding the appointments that are set to each day. I define an appointment as anything that has a specific time and place or involves another person. If I don’t show up for this appointment at this time, I’ll be affecting someone else. So, meeting a friend for lunch is an appointment, but returning my library books is not. Returning my library books may have to happen by a certain day, but no one will be missing out if I’m earlier in the day than planned.
I keep my appointments on my Google calendar because of how often the times for each appointment change, however, I still like to have them in my planner as well. When they are written in my planner, I know which days I’ll have time for more tasks and which days I won’t.
If I have unconfirmed appointments, I may confirm those during this time. Most times, I confirm them the day before instead.
To do:
1. Add appointments to your planner.
2. Confirm any appointments as necessary.
Assess your goals and make plans to achieve them
After I’ve set up my weekly appointments, I’ll step back and look at my goals. I’ll be honest, I love goals. There’s something about a shiny, new goal that draws me in. I’m a dreamer. And, those dreams help me to dream big. However, sometimes I dream so big, I end up overwhelming myself with the number of goals I want to work on.
I’ve found that I can only focus on one goal at a time. If I really feel the need to change my life significantly, I may have other small goals to work on, however, I always have one goal that takes precedence over them all. This is the one I plan for and assess the most.
Let’s say my main goal is to finish creating a personal recipe ebook, and my small goals are to eat a salad each day and read one book each week. If I don’t end up consistently eating salad or only read half a book, I don’t stress about it. Those are just ideas to keep me moving forward. However, if I didn’t get significant work finished for my recipe book, I’d start to have a problem.
So, before we do anything with assessing our goals, make sure you have ONLY ONE main goal. Take a minute to brainstorm if you need. And, again, it’s okay if you have two or three goals, but be sure one ranks over them all. Be sure your main goal is important, measurable, and attainable.
I talk more about creating important goals in my book The Art of Finishing. If you’re interested in diving deeper into this topic, check it out on Kickstarter (available until May 3).
Okay, so do you have your one, main goal? Great!
Each week, I access how the last week went. I ask myself specifically:
- What did I complete that I’m proud of this month?
- What didn’t work?
- Are there blocks I need to overcome?
Each of these questions gives me insight into ideas I should keep and changes I should make. Sometimes, I’ll write this in my journal if I want to explore the questions thoroughly. I also assess the same questions (and a few more) each month in my planner.
Next, I’ll look back at my monthly planning. At the beginning of each month, I plan the milestones for my goal that still need to be finished. I’ll mindmap all sorts of ideas to move toward accomplishing my goal. This also gives me an idea of hurdles to expect in the next weeks.
In the example of the recipe book, I’m halfway through transferring my recipes to Adobe InDesign. The next milestone is designing. I’ve broken that into the steps 1) Seek inspiration on Pinterest, 2) sketch designs, 3) draft one, 4) edits, and 5) final draft. I’ll reassess next month again if I need another draft or extra milestones.
For this week, I decided to work on seeking inspiration from Pinterest and sketching design ideas. I broke these down into tasks and record them in my planner, keeping in mind which days are busier than others.
To do:
1. Ask yourself (and journal if that’s helpful for you):
- What did I complete that I’m proud of this month?
- What didn’t work?
- Are there blocks I need to overcome?
2. Choose a milestone to work on from my monthly planning.
3. Break this milestone into smaller tasks.
4. Add these tasks in my planner.
Check up on your habits
When I’ve assessed my goal, it’s time to check my habits. I blocked out this entire section for habits because of how crucial they are in making my dreams a reality. Habits can be life-changing if implemented correctly. They are the bedrock for forward momentum while all the other tasks are changing in priority and definition constantly.
In my book, I spend an entire chapter talking about how to set habits that move your goal forward. For this section, I’ll limit it to a few paragraphs.
When is the last time you had to think about how to brush your teeth? As a kid, you probably scrunched your face in concentration to make those circular movements. Now, you think about your day or put away the dry dishes as you brush your teeth. It’s second nature.
When we first learn something, it takes loads of mental effort. We waste so much energy focusing on making it work. When we do something consistently, the effort to complete that task decreases each time until it becomes habitual. The power of habits comes in the energy you save.
Let’s look back at my example of the recipe book. The habits I keep track of are 1) scripture reading, 2) writing 500 words a day, and 3) do something creative for 30 minutes. These habits personally balance the aspects of my wellness that sometimes get overlooked. For example, when I read my scriptures each day, I find inner peace and inspiration I would otherwise lack. In writing 500 words a day, I exercise my writing muscles and get more done with this blog. Doing something creative is an outlet for the stress of everything else.
These habits don’t necessarily have to correlate with your goal. Like I said before, reading scriptures and being creative fulfill my emotional needs, but they don’t directly influence my recipe book. That doesn’t mean they’re bad goals. They still push me forward, but by balancing out my life. However, I could add the habit of trying a new recipe each day or recording recipes daily. In this case, I’ll keep the habits I have and add the recipe experimentation into my tasks list. And that takes us to the next section: the tasks.
“Anything worth doing is worth doing badly,” G. K. Chesterton.
To do:
1. Ask yourself:
- What habits are working?
- What habits need to be changed?
2. Set up your habit tracker. Record your habits each day.
Brain dump and schedule other tasks
Now that my goal is set and ready to go, it’s time to get my other life responsibilities in order.
I start this section by dumping all the ideas floating around my head of tasks that need to get done. To jog my memory, I’ll look back over my planner for any tasks that I overlooked. I’ll also keep a running list in the notes section of each week as ideas come up. Write all of these ideas down.
Depending on your personality, you may like to schedule in every task. I find that keeping a running task list is best for me. This gives me the feeling that I’m choosing my tasks rather than a past version of myself who thought I could accomplish a lot. Plus, I get seriously demotivated if I don’t accomplish all the tasks on my list for the day. Having a running list allows me the flexibility to choose my tasks according to my level of motivation that day.
Whether you choose a task list or schedule, label the top priorities as #1 tasks and the next important as #2. #1 tasks are those that have to get done that week and #2 are those I’d prefer to get finished but don’t spell doomsday if I don’t. Throughout the week, I’ll know which tasks to prioritize time for and which I can push over to the next week.
If your tasks list is a bit overwhelming, check out the three, short PDFs in the subscriber resource library to get control over it. You can get access to the library by signing up below.
To-do:
1. Dump all of your tasks onto a piece of paper.
2. Schedule these tasks or keep a running list depending on your personality.
3. Label the top priorities as #1 tasks and the next important as #2.
Plan an adventure
Once I have my life in order, it’s time to plan a little fun. Unless you have way too many responsibilities (and you should check out the guides in the resource library if you do), you probably have a little time left over. I personally love to leave Saturday’s and Sunday’s open for me to do anything. Giving my brain a break from responsibilities is my favorite form of self-care. However, I do like to plan an adventure.
At college in Idaho, this meant I went hiking or to the sand dunes each week. Or, it was a girl’s night to the closest “city.” Living in Chicago, that means planning museum dates and trying new restaurants. I tried aerial yoga for the first time in the park by my house. For you, your adventure may be getting a facial or reading a book. It might be taking a nap in your hammock or going out with friends.
One thing I highly recommend, however, is that this adventure does not involve a computer or smartphone. If possible, get outside. The point of this is to turn off the overwhelming busyness of life and simply live.
To-do:
1. Make a list of adventures and other self-care activities.
2. Schedule one for this week.
3. Be sure to keep away from computers and phones during this scheduled time as much as possible.
What’s next?
After I’ve planned my week, I’ll go through a reset routine. Some of these steps overlap, and I’ll sometimes use this as a replacement to my scheduling routine, especially on off weeks like vacations or slow business.
And, that’s all it takes to plan your week! Once you’ve set up your weekly view, assessed your goals, checked up on your habits, brain dumped and organized your other tasks, and planned an adventure, you are well on your way to a consistently productive week. I know it may seem like a lot, so I’ve simplified all the steps into the image below to help you keep track. You’ll also find this available in the resource library for subscribers.
Remember, this routine is something you can do in 10 minutes each week if you’re in a rush. A little time spent in planning almost always makes for better returns that working without a plan.
Let me know what else you plan for each week!
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