Have you ever been overwhelmed by everything you have to do? One way to minimize that overwhelmed feeling is to have a weekly planning session to plan the coming week.
The purpose of this session is:
- to see what appointments you have;
- to see what other things you need to do;
- to figure out when you’re going to do everything and make sure there isn’t too much;
- to have a plan rather than flying by the seat of your pants (I crash when I work that way).
A simple form that shows the week and provides space for must-do tasks will make your weekly planning simpler (a completed form and a blank form are available for download at the bottom of this article). Here are a few ideas for completing the worksheet:
- Fill in the things you HAVE to do – like appointments, errands, work, social events. Don’t just write them in – you also need to block out the amount of time these activities take.
- Fill in the things you know you WILL do – like get ready for work in the morning, eat meals, sit on the couch and watch tv. Be realistic when you plan because if you aren’t, the plan won’t work. This isn’t a worksheet of goals, it’s a plan for the week. And again, don’t just write these things in – block out the time each activity will take.
- Fill in the section at the bottom for daily tasks. Include in this section things that must be done – like call someone on their birthday, mail a card, finish your grocery list, set out the trash, etc.
- If you have time and think it will help you, color code your worksheet so you can see at a glance when you are busy and when you have “free time”. I use blue for meal breaks, yellow for babysitting my grandkids, orange for relax time, green for appointments and errands, and pink for things that don’t fit the other categories, like watching football!
- And the most important step of all is to analyze the data and see if your plan will work. Obviously if you have two appointments at the same time, one will have to be changed. Or you might notice that you’re going to be gone every night of the week and that’s too much.
- Finally, plug in some of the other things you need to do (like house cleaning or cooking) and some things you want to do. The weekly chart helps you see when you will be able to do those things.
This method might sound like a lot of work but it really isn’t. The more you do it, the quicker you get. So give it a shot and see if it makes a difference for you. Plan your week and work your plan!
I love color-coding! It helps me quickly identify if the item is a “me” item, a “son” or “daughter” item, a “work” item or a “family” item. As for #2, on your list…I struggle with this. I just never write down things like “get ready for work” or “drive home from work”. They seem like such obvious things that I just never bother to put them down. If I’m going to leave for work at 5 am I’m obviously going to have to get up and get ready for work so why write it down. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Maybe I’m just missing something….but I’m going to give it another try.
DEM recently posted…Call Me Crazy!
Here’s the deal – about writing down “obvious” things. That’s not something most people do. But I’m not most people and I have certain issues! I have ADHD and time management is a big challenge for me. When I’m planning, I need to see some of those obvious things in order to have an accurate handle on what my day holds. On my to do list, I include routine things like make dinner, do laundry, clean, etc. If I don’t, it’s possible I’ll forget to do them. Or I’ll plan too much of the other stuff and not allow enough time to make dinner. But that’s just me. Most people don’t do it that way. And that’s why traditional to do lists don’t work for me. They assume you’re NOT including those kinds of items. How do you prioritize between laundry, dinner, cleaning and making a phone call. I can’t! But if my list consists only of out of the ordinary things, like most to-do lists do, I don’t have any trouble prioritizing. And that’s why I tend to divide my list into “routine to do’s” and “special to do’s”. Then it’s easier to prioritize.
So if you don’t need to include or write down those routine things, don’t. That’s the beauty of all these techniques – make them work for you! And if the way you do it works, don’t mess with it. If it’s not working, borrow some of my ideas to tweak your method. But my exact technique probably isn’t going to work for you!