How to plan your week effectively
Chandni Patel
BA (Hons) Educationalist | Business Partnership Manager | Mental Health Blogger | Content Writer | Chair & Trustee | RisingStar Nominee 2023
How often do you weekly plan? With everything going on all at once during the week, by the time we hit Friday 5:00pm all you want to do is shut off, rest and not think about work for the week ahead.
But is this the best way to approach a healthy work-life balance? By keeping track of task, meetings, deadlines, reports can be overwhelming so apply this simple method can change your working style...
"Track the past, order the present and design the future"
How to approach this method is through a bullet journal. Grab a pen and notebook, divide your notebook into two categories-
This will help break down exactly how you can pre-plan ahead of your week by offering insight into diary management, time management and productivity levels. Here are some tips to planning your week.
1. Take a mental inventory
Before you dive into color-coding all the hours of your day or assigning time to each task you hope to accomplish, take a moment to create a mental inventory. It’s a great idea to do this the Friday before your week starts, so when Monday comes you’re ready to hit the ground running. The reason to this is because we suffer from decision fatigue. A phenomenon which occurs when we have too many choices for how to spend our time, leading to burnout or procrastination.
To take a mental inventory, write down anything and everything that you know you want to accomplish. Don’t hold back, just let it all out. You’ll probably discover you have a lot more tasks you hope to complete than you thought you did. Once your brain isn’t taking up energy thinking about all the tasks you need to accomplish, it will have the space to step back and evaluate what’s really important. This will then help you become more structured and organised within your work flow.
Now that all your tasks for the next week are written down, consider each task individually. How important is this task? Is it vital? Is it necessary?
Taking a mental inventory gives you the chance to cross tasks off your list that actually aren’t that important, and would have kept you from working on the things that really matter.
2. Time Blocking
If you find yourself particularly overwhelmed by a task, or are not sure when you’ll get a chance to work on it, a good way to make sure you get around to it is by using time blocking. This method is a great tool in setting time out for the important task where you can implement deep work without any distractions. So for example, instead of your to-do list saying:
You would set up your to-do list like this:
This way, you only have a certain amount of time to work on the task, allowing you to give it your full attention and adding pressure to get the task done in that time frame
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“Time boxing adds two key motivational ingredients to a task you’ve been putting off: structure and urgency.”
3. Morning Reflection
While setting up your week the Friday before helps get your thoughts organised, it’s also a good practice to include a morning reflection period. This reflection doesn’t have to be very long: only about five to fifteen minutes. But it can set your day up for massive success.
Take a few moments to sit down for a reflection with your to-do list, Notion board, bullet journal, or whatever you use. You can do this while you drink your morning coffee, or just as you’re sitting down at your desk.
The morning reflection is a time to go over the tasks you have prepared for the day and think about why you’re doing each of them. Another good tip is to imagine yourself completing each task to give yourself an extra burst of motivation (especially if it's Monday morning!)
4. Evening Reflection
Where the morning reflection helps you kickstart your day with the right attitude, the evening reflection helps you unwind and unburden your mind. During your evening reflection, consider each task you completed during the day and ask yourself questions like:
An evening reflection practice helps focus and clarify your priorities so you can plan accordingly. Not only does it put a nice bookend on your day, but you get the chance to mark any completed tasks as done and move uncompleted tasks to another day. This is an important aspect of the evening reflection because it helps you feel like the day is “complete,” instead of a never-ending to-do list. You should also take this moment to appreciate your progress and put a close on the day.
“Reflection helps identify what nourishes you so you can make better decisions as you seed the next season of your life.”
5. Celebrate!
Our brains love dopamine. Dopamine is the happy chemical which brings us into a good mood. Ever had those Friday vibes where you're in such a great mood you feel on top of the world? Yep, that's your dopamine levels telling you to keep on feeling good. By celebrating your task accomplishments instantly gives you sense of relief. Small wins are essential to keep your mind happy especially after a long day at work.
“Celebrating your victories isn’t just about patting yourself on the back; it trains you to identify positive moments, which allows you to discover — and enjoy — more of them.”
Celebrating wins with team members, praising each achievement within your workplace stimulates healthy relationship building as it feels like you're all celebrating towards one goal as a team.
No matter what productivity or organisation system you use in your life, whether it’s the bullet journal or something else, hopefully, you can implement some of these tips to make your work flow even more effective and make your life that much easier.
Implementing simple principles to make life simpler and more productive is a healthy way of living for your mind, body and soul.
Thanks for reading. Would love to hear your thoughts on this, please do leave a comment or like.
Chandni Patel @madeadifference