How to Plan Your Week

How to Plan Your Week

“Most people don’t lead their life, they accept their life.” ~John Maxwell

I’m betting you have at least a few acquaintances who believe life dealt them their cards and now they’re stuck playing them.

They think the results they see in their life are completely out of their control.

Or maybe you’re reading this now and thinking, “this sounds like me.”

The truth is, if you’re going into the week with a go-with-the-flow mentality and think things are just going to happen as they will, I guarantee you will not accomplish what you want to do.

You need a plan.

If you don’t have a plan, its not going to happen.

Let’s talk how to plan your week so you accomplish what you set out to do and feel good knowing you did.

Find a Planning System

The first step is to find a system from which to plan that works for you.

For me, it’s my “old school” paper planner.

I’ve tried to embrace digital planning, but it’s just not for me at this point. I get satisfaction from writing things down and crossing them out when they’re done. I like having my planner beside me and open, so I can see it at all times.

Having to open my phone calendar or computer calendar and not being able to cross things out just doesn’t do it for me. Not to mention, with all the things I have planned out, the constant pinging of my phone would drive me crazy. I tried it temporarily but found it just didn’t work for me.

That said, many people prefer digital planners. I’ve heard good things about Google Calendar from friends and co-workers. If you aren’t OCD (like I am) about having to cross things out, Google Calendar might be a good fit for you.

As annoying as the alarm constantly going off can be, I think a pro to digital planning is that alarms can keep you on track in a way paper planners can’t. Alarms let you know when it’s time to do xyz on your schedule.

Either way, pick what works for you, because your planner is about to become your constant companion.

Resources:

Time Management Tools
Planner (I have one by this company in a different style, and I absolutely love it! It even comes with fun stickers.)
How to Create Your Perfect Daily Routine

Plan in Advance

Sunday is a great time to plan your week out in advance, but if for some reason that doesn’t work for you, pick a day and time that does.

Sometimes, I’ll start planning out weeks in advance. But at least be focusing on the coming week at large.

Knowing what you’re up against the coming week helps mentally prepare you.

More importantly, planning everything out allows you to find time for projects and other things you need to fit in that are not apart of your normal schedule.

If you keep putting things on the back-burner and not actively planning out when to do them, you’ll never accomplish those things.

Resources:

Be Specific

What is it you’re planning to do? Schedule the exact time, how long you’re devoting to the task, and what the exact result is you are achieving.

You can use these specific guidelines for everything.

The bottom line is to schedule out everything that is a part of your normal routine and then schedule out any additional tasks or projects you want to get done.

Related:

Do What You Plan

Now here’s the kicker-you have to do what you plan.

When something is in my planner, I feel compelled to do it.

So, I see to it that I complete everything before I rest on my laurels for the day.

But I realize it doesn’t work that way for everyone.

You have to be dedicated to what you plan to see the results you want.

Don’t push things off until tomorrow. Tomorrow then becomes the next day, the day after that, and so on, until you’ve wasted weeks or months not getting the results you want.

If there’s something difficult or confusing you need to get done but aren’t sure how, come up with a strategy to get it done, and then put it in your planner.

Related:

Learn to Say “No”

Spontaneous requests will pop up from friends who want to meet for dinner or a family member asking a favor.

If it’s a request for something that is going to cut into my planned-out time, I turn the request down. Then I try to make plans for a later time a week or so into the future, if possible.

Depending on what the request or invite is, I tend to say no to anything spontaneous because what’s in my planner has to be my #1 priority, or I’m going to get thrown off track.

If you need help learning how to say “no” to people, read my article on this topic here.

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