5 Steps to Plan A Successful Week

As you start off the third month of the year, and finish out the first quarter of the year, have you reflected on your progress for your 2015 goals? Have you reflected on how you have set yourself up for success to reach those on time? One of the best methods to ensure that you are reaching your goals on time is weekly planning. By planning your week, each week, you see how each day contributes to reaching your goals, and time doesn't just pass you by.

I have always been a planner. As a matter of fact, I just went over to my mom's house to clean out my old stuff and found cute things of when I was a younger. In these things there were purses, marbles, journals, to-do lists, grades, pom poms, letters and many other things that made me laugh at myself! One thing that remains constant is my need and desire to plan things. I am someone who needs to have a plan in order to execute effectively and accurately. This is why I write down my goals and spend time each week planning out my week. Maybe you aren't a planner, but want to optimize your time. Try by using these five simple steps that only take about 20 minutes on your Sunday afternoon! :) 

My method is by no means perfect, but is what works for me, so I wanted to share it with you. These steps have helped me reach three (3) of my 2015 goals already!

Step 1: Identify your roles

The first piece of advice I would give you is one that I learned last year from a Franklin Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People seminar which talks about what roles you play in life. You need to Put First Things First. If you identify what your roles you play in your life, you are better able to ensure that you are attending to all of them throughout the week. In my case, I am a:

• Wife
• Family oriented woman
• Professional
• Business owner
• Healthy Woman
• Friend
• Adventurer 
• Leader
• Learner

The nice part about this step, is that these roles won't change very much, unless you have a life changing event.

Step 2: Plan Your Big Rocks

You have to be intentional in everything you do. Covey refers to our most important tasks in life as "Big Rocks". Each week, we want to ensure to get our "big rocks" planned and completed before we even bother with the "gravel", or the "small stuff". For each week, I look at each of my roles (listed in step 1) and decide how I am going to fullfil those roles that week.

For example, as a "Family oriented woman", my tasks can be as complex as "help mom with construction Friday, Saturday and Sunday for 5 hours each day", or as simple as "Call mom on Tuesday afternoon". 

So, for each role I go down the list and write my tasks for that week. For this week, here are some examples:

• Wife
• Weekly Chores
• Saturday date day
• Healthy Woman
  • Workout 5 days/week
  • Meal Prep
• Learner
  • Complete one online course
  • Listen to one TGIM  and Darren Daily every morning 

**Limit tasks to 3 per role. You want to ensure you are not overwhelming yourself and have flexible time.

**NOTE: NOT all roles will have a task each week. Sometimes you will want to focus more on one role than another. This is also my interpretation of the Covey practice, therefore not the exact way it is supposed to be followed.

Step 3: Write them down and Schedule them!

Some people prefer paper planners, while others prefer electronic planners. Personally, I like to physically write my goals, and track them on paper. I also like to use Google Calendar as an assistant to plan out blocks of time to stay focused and remind me (I am really good at forgetting). Darren Hardy refers to these blocks of time as sprints! They are chunks of 45 minutes where you focus on just ONE task! Covey refers to this as "staying true to the moment of choice". 

Step 4: Plan your gravel

We have to-dos that aren't necessarily big rocks, rather things we HAVE TO do. 

For example, check emails and voicemails. These aren't always the most exciting or productive use of our time, but we have to do it. Instead of checking your emails every 10 minutes, set out small blocks of time to check them (unless there are other pressing issues you are communicating via email, of course!). 

This will allow you to stay focused and not keep doing the small stuff that detract from completing the big things that will move you forward.

Step 5: Execute!

Now that you have this amazing plan and have thought about what you want and need to do... DO IT! You have the tools and ability to be amazing! 

Don't forget to track your progress and evaluate! 

Your turn: 

• What are some major roles you play?
• What are some big rocks you want to accomplish?
• What are your methods to plan your week?

Thanks for reading! Please leave any comments below!