Ok, you want to have more peace, abundance, joy, fulfillment, love, health, and more of everything else in your life. But where to begin to add things to your week so that this happens? Here! Easy process to outline what you want and how to get there. Enjoy 🙂
Spend one hour going through this process at the beginning of each week – it will help you do a lot more of what actually matters. Ideally pick the same time each week, put on your favorite music, brew your best tea and make it a ritual.
STEP ONE: 2 – 5 Minutes
Connect and Visualize the Big Picture. Take a few minutes to visualize your 3-10+ year high-level goals and outcomes. By goals, focus more on how you want to BE and live, not just what you want to DO. You can DO DO DO until the cows come home, but really the heart of the matter is getting to the state of being you are trying to achieve. So you aren’t being frustrated, anxious, angry and plowing ahead with achieving goals focus on what you can do to support the being you want: peace, fulfillment, gratitude, love, compassion, generosity, playfulness, health, vitality, etc.
STEP TWO: 5 – 10 Minutes. Celebrate last week
Write down everything from the past week that you’re proud of. List at least 10 things. Big or small, anything goes.
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STEP THREE: 2 – 5 Minutes
Write down major lessons
Write down any key learnings from the past week: major lessons, meaningful quotes, things that inspire
you or dream connections (people you’d like to meet).
Major Lessons:
Sources of Inspiration:
STEP FOUR: 2 – 5 Minutes
Analyze what didn’t happen
Be honest with yourself and list the big things that didn’t happen and what you can improve for next time.
What didn’t happen:
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STEP FIVE: 5 – 10 Minutes
Clarify and Commit to your biggest outcomes
Decide on a maximum of 6-7 outcomes you want to accomplish related to the various areas in your life. This could be creating a personal budget, cooking a healthy meal or having a great meeting with a mentor. You get to decide. Just be sure they get you closer to your yearly goals. That’s the key. So “checking Facebook” would not count.
        Top Outcomes:
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STEP SIX: 5 – 15 Minutes
schedule everything
Every task takes time and therefore needs a place on your calendar. Look at your 6-7 weekly outcomes and decide what core tasks will need to happen to accomplish these. Now spread these out throughout the week. Most people can’t accomplish more than 1-3 meaningful things in a day, so that’s your limit.
Pick 1-3 “most important tasks” (MIT’s) related to your outcomes, and schedule them throughout the week:
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Tuesday:
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Wednesday:
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| Thursday:
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Friday:
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Weekend:
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 STEP SEVEN: 5 – 10 Minutes
Fill in the gaps and housekeeping
1. Look at what’s left on your to do list. Now look at your calendar and see when you could fit the little things in. Schedule these as well. By the end of this process you shouldn’t have any stray to-do lists or tasks.
2. Ask “Who else can I help this week?” – list 1-3 people
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3. Ask “Who could help me accomplish what I have planned for the week?” – list 1-3 people
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4. Review expenses and spending from the last week – if using something like Mint.com, just look over things, categorize and be sure everything looks right.
Important things to keep in mind:
- Everything takes longer than we think. If you think it’s going to take an hour to write an article, then schedule an hour and a half. Worst case you’ll end up having free time.
- Leave windows of “buffer time”. Do not fill in every second of every day. Unexpected things will always come up. Don’t let them snowplow your week. Give yourself time to take care of last-minute stuff that matters, and to be spontaneous with things.
- Know you won’t get it all done. Even with great planning, it seems like we tend to be over ambitions (at least I am ;). Be ok with leaving something for next week. It gives you something to look forward to anyway.
- Schedule the most important things early in the week. Given the above, front-weight your most important tasks so that no matter what comes up, at least a few of them will get done.
With the right process you always have time for what matters…
Make the above a part of your weekly process and give yourself a chance to do more of what matters. Whether it’s losing a few pounds or transitioning to a job you actually enjoy, the right process can make all the difference. That starts with how we spend our days, weeks and hours.