Consider how things could work out better if you have a weekly plan for your life before you wake up on Monday morning.
Many entrepreneurs approach their week one day at a time. If you work from home like most, you get your cup of coffee (tea for me), head to your designated office space and then try to figure out what is going on today.
Think about how much better it would work if you had a weekly plan before you woke up on Monday morning. And don’t just plan your work-related items, plan everything else in your life too.
Figure out what needs to be done and prioritize those items accordingly.
By taking control, you’ll be more focused, increase your confidence, stay ahead of your work, and actually find more free time to do whatever you like.
I love for you to give it a try for a month and see if you enjoy the benefits. Wouldn’t you?
Here are some steps you can use to create a plan for the week:
Step 1: Have a weekly planning session.
I’ve worked with many entrepreneurs who dedicate this planning time to either Friday afternoon or Monday morning. You, however, may want to do it on Sunday’s which is a logical choice for many once they’ve decompressed from the previous week, but it’s still fresh in their mind and the work week starts in just one day.
Make a list of tasks for each area of your business and life. The areas might include work, personal items, and family. Your items will vary according to what’s unique to your life.
An example is WORK
- complete marketing project with George
- interview team member for marketing
- Hire a social media manager
Step 2: Assign priorities to all of the tasks.
Make the assumption that you can’t get it all done.
Prioritize the items that must be done and which can slide until the following week.
Assign one of three levels of priority to each task. You might use 1, 2, 3, or A, B, C, or Red, Yellow, Green. Whatever works best for your system.
Start with your highest level (ex. #1) priorities and complete all of them before moving on to the next priorities.
Step 3: Schedule your tasks into your calendar.
Begin this process after creating your list of priorities. You should know how you’re going to spend your week.
Avoid over-scheduling. Once you fall behind, it becomes impossible to catch up. Leave room for the inevitable emergencies and requests from the client. Schedule 50% of your time and leave the rest available.
Using a planner will allow you to move all these obligations out of your head. Put them down on paper as soon as possible.
Step 4: Start with the first priority first thing if you can work ahead, great! Keep your plans fluid.
What you’ve put in your planner is your best guess, but you have to start somewhere. Things will change as the week progresses so be flexible.
Step 5: Review at the end of each day.
Spend just a few minutes at the end of your workday making necessary adjustments. As tasks are completed, you’ll have the flexibility to move things around. Perfect your new plan of attack for the next day. It’s important to make this a habit and do it before leaving your office. Be sure it gets done.
Step 6: Review weekly.
What did you do well?
What could have been better?
What improvements can you make to tweak the process?
Reviewing your week and making adjustments is one of the most powerful ways to improve. Address your mistakes, any challenges you faced, and recognize your successes.
By planning and prioritizing you are assured of getting the most important tasks/projects accomplished.
Start next week by making a plan and following it religiously. Your business and your life will surely change for the better.
This works great with your productivity plans, I’ve shared this with my clients and included with my productivity sessions.
After filling in your weekly plan, you can spend a few minutes before each entering events with alarms in your calendar so that your phone buzzes at to keep you on track throughout the day.
What's most important is to have a plan, that works for you on a daily and weekly basis. Once you've mastered the perfect plan you will have more time to focus on the important stuff in your business.
I hope you post will help you in creating your perfect plan each week.
In your experience, what do you think work best a to-do list or a prioritized plan? Let me know your thoughts! I always love hearing about a time-saving plan of action.
Janet