Make your week fantastic! Plan it out. Know where you’re going and eliminate spending large amounts of time heading the wrong direction.
Begin with your dream.
Envision how your life will look in five weeks or five years from now. Now realize, you are in the driver’s seat to make that happen. It doesn’t happen on its own. Don’t wait for your ship to come in, build one. Take steps each day to make your dream become a reality. Gain better control of your time with a clear weekly schedule.
Plan out your week. The best achievements come as a result of purposeful planning. Set your goal and let it drive your thinking for the week. You will discover that you will achieve much more when you design how you invest your time.
Don’t shortchange your planning time. It saves you from wasted energy throughout the week. Brian Tracy encourages us by sharing, “The good news is that every minute spent in planning saves as many as ten minutes in execution. It takes only about 10 to 12 minutes for you to plan out your day, but this small investment of time will save you up to two hours (100 to 120 minutes) in wasted time and diffused effort through the day.”
WOW! I can use an extra two hours in my day and14 hours in my week. I am sure you can too! Planning will give you that opportunity.
Here’s a simple guide to planning your weekly activity schedule.
1. Set a regular time and place to review your weekly schedule each week.
I like to do this on Sunday evening that way I am ready to roll on Monday morning.
2. Establish goals for the week.
List the top three goals you want to complete this week. If these are routinely the same, consider adding a 4th one that is unique each week.
3. List each activity on a weekly calendar.
You may record it on a paper or an electronic calendar. Writing it out on paper makes a deeper imprint on the mind than looking at it on a screen for some people. Choose the way that works best for you.
4. Rank each activity according to its importance.
Rank each activity based on the goals you have established. Not every activity has the same level of importance or urgency. Many times things that are urgent are not necessarily important but must get done. Distinguish between the two. Sometimes you will discover some of the lesser important items may be unnecessary.
5. Delegate some activities to others. Set a follow-up time to review the progress.
Only delegate items to qualified people who are able to deal with them. Let them know when they receive the task when you intend to follow-up. Note the follow-up time in your own schedule.
6. Prioritize the remaining activities.
Establish an order to pursue the remaining activities. Group related activities. Keep your goals in mind.
7. Give each item an allotted amount of time for completion.
Assign each task to a day and time slot. Be realistic. Plan for interruptions and challenges. Include transition times. Meet your goal as quickly as possible but don’t create unnecessary stress. If a task will take one hour and the next task will take 30 minutes, allow for some transition time to refocus your attention on the new task.
8. Establish deadlines.
I set the deadline earlier than necessary so that I have time to review what I have done and improve upon it. If the deadline is Friday at noon, I like to have it done by Thursday morning. Many creative thoughts often come between completing the project and the deadline. Since I am early, it is easy to make some of those adjustments.
9. Execute your plan.
To the best of your ability stay with your plan. There will be times that you need to be flexible and adjust some things but never lose sight of the goal for that week.
As you work your plan and achieve your goals you will have one fantastic week after another.
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