Your Weekly Planning Blueprint
Tags: Getting Things Done, Life Management, Time Management Skills, Planning Ahead, Organization

YOUR WEEKLY PLAN:

Now, let’s move on to the key elements of your weekly planning routine.

1. 3 PRIORITIES FOR YOUR WEEK

First up, set your 3 major goals you want to accomplish this wee.

Why is this step important? While each day you may work on different tasks, those individual tasks will build up to accomplish these bigger picture goals. This is why focusing on the overall picture is important — so you don’t feel like you’re working without knowing what the end result is.

Often for me, these 3 tasks will often be the result of combined efforts over a few days, or a specific event that’s important to me or that I’m dreading. Setting the focus on those things acknowledges the importance of these events or goals, and it gives me something to celebrate for accomplishing it.

To illustrate what would be a weekly priority vs. a daily priority, take this example: writing a philosophy essay. The weekly priority might be to finish the essay, whereas daily goals would break down this weekly goal into smaller chunks. A day might be dedicated to writing the rough draft, another to editing, another to citing sources, etc. The daily actions build up to achieve the weekly priority — to finish that philosophy essay.

So, go ahead and write down the 3 big tasks that you want to accomplish for this week.

2. HABIT TRACKER

The second step is to create a habit tracker. Include whatever habits you’re trying to build or maintain, so you can have a record of it. What most frequently lands on my habit tracker are: exercise, meditation, and reading.

Habit trackers don’t have to be anything fancy — mine only takes up 3 lines in the top right corner of my weekly planning page. If there’s anything you want to track daily, write that there. If habit tracking is not your thing, it’s something you could totally skip also.

3. WEEKLY TO-DO LIST

The next step is to write out the major categories of your life and list the tasks and what you need to do for each category.

Your categories at the basic level should include something for Work, Relationships, and Self. These are the most basic categories — feel free to break down categories even further. For example if you have 2 jobs, separate the tasks you need to for each.

If you’re working towards specific goals, you’ll also want to break down your monthly goals into smaller action steps to get you making consistent progress to achieve that goal.

Number the tasks if they have different importance or a specific order, so you’re automatically prioritizing. This makes it easier when it’s time to do your tasks, that you automatically know what you should start with and do next. Prioritizing will help you stay focused on the list of tasks you need to complete, instead of getting distracted by anything else that pops up.

If new commitments or tasks pop up, they should get done after you’ve finished everything in that category on your weekly to-do list (unless they’re super urgent and important).

Read More: Simple System to Prioritize your Priorities

4. CALENDAR BLOCKING

This is the very last step of your weekly plan, and it is to figure out when you’re going to do each of your to-do items, and slot them into your calendar. Essentially you’re planning when you’re going to do each of the tasks you listed on your weekly page.

Why is this step super important! I’m sure you’ve all had the experience of super long to-do lists that just never get done. And what’s worse, they’re often overwhelming and defeating to see that super long list!

Calendar blocking makes sure you’re setting realistic and do-able goals and tasks for the week, by planning out the specific times you’re going to spend working on something. It’s so much easier to write down a list of 10 tasks you aim to accomplish and believe you’ll be able to accomplish them, rather than actually look at how long each task will take and see if they realistically fit into your free time.

Calendar blocking also helps you visualize your time and commit to what you’ll do with your time. It helps with procrastination because you can see what tasks will need to get pushed back and what just won’t get done altogether if you push things off.

Read More: Calendar Blocking 101: Everything you need to get started

Read More: 3-Step Method to End Procrastination

5. THEME & REFLECTION

This last handy exercise is optional, but is something I really love doing especially when I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed or spread thin. It’s set a theme or intention for your upcoming week, and to do a weekly reflection before diving into your upcoming week’s activities. Take the time on the weekend to get out any thoughts or feelings lingering from the last week, so you can start the new week on a fresh slate.