5 Helpful Tips For Planning Your Week
Planning your week doesn’t have to feel like a big chore. It can be simple, exciting and motivating.
Planning your week is not just to get things done. It’s also about what you want to experience and how you want to grow. So, what do you want to experience this week? What do you want to learn this week? What do you want to discover this week?
This can (and should) still include getting things done, but it’s more about the doing and experiencing, not just the checked off box at the end of the day. What does that thing you just checked off help you do now, or help you experience or feel?
The biggest thing we want you to remember is that planning your week is for YOU!
Below you’ll find some tips for planning your week that you can apply into your own life. Take which ones sound appealing or interesting or the most helpful and apply them into your own schedule this week.
5 Helpful Tips For Planning Your Week
Let’s go over each one in detail and see which one you’d like to try out this week! The 5 helpful tips are:
Be strategic about WHEN you plan
Have some extra guidance
Do some kind of weekly review
Schedule in something just for you
Edit and simplify!
Be Strategic About WHEN You Plan Your Week
Have a certain day or time of day when you plan your week. Find a time when you’re not rushed and can look at your upcoming week with a fresh perspective and positive energy.
It’s helpful to keep this part somewhat consistent so pick a specific day or time of day when you can plan your week out.
You can do this ANY day and any time—whatever works for you and your schedule!
Kristin and I both do ours on Sunday when we have some extra time, when we’ve reflected on the past week and when we’re looking at the week from an empty slate full of possibilities.
You might already be doing this, but it’s important to plan when you have some positive energy and can look at the week with a big picture perspective
This might be early morning, middle of the day or late at night, depending on when you have the most energy and can set aside time to think about what it is you want.
It’s also really nice to have a set time so planning your week is part of your routine and schedule. This also signals to your brain that it’s important and that it can expect you to do this every week.
2. Get Some Extra Guidance To Help Plan Your Week
Kristin and I have both found it incredibly helpful to have some help when planning our weeks. It’s nice to have some extra guidance from a source you trust so you’re not doing this alone.
For me that looks like collaborating with God to make sure I’m fitting in what’s most important and leaving out what no longer serves me.
This could also look like working with a life coach, having a session with your therapist or planning out your week with your spouse.
Yes, planning your week seems like such a simple, little thing and it is. But when you think about all the choices you take during one week and how those choices build upon each other over time—it’s actually a big deal because that is creating your life and the person you’re becoming.
That’s why it’s so important for me to communicate and collaborate with God when planning out what I’m going to do and not do during the week.
3. Doing Some Kind of Weekly Review
If you haven’t done some kind of weekly review before, I would highly recommend you give it a try. Out of all these tips, I think this one has made the biggest difference in my life!
We’re so eager to plan for the next week and move on. But I have found so much goodness in reviewing my past week and then taking what I’ve learned and applying that into my upcoming week.
Here’s what your weekly review could look like. Ask yourself these questions or something similar:
What went great last week?
What blessings or prayers were answered?
What did I learn or discover? (This one can be so powerful!)
What do I want to focus on this week?
What I’m struggling with right now and how could I work on that struggle?
(You can write your weekly review in a notebook/journal, Google doc, Evernote, whatever is the most convenient for you.)
You can also grab our Weekly Evaluation Worksheet in our vault when you become one of our VIP level Patrons. It’ll help walk you through how to do a weekly evaluation and gives you plenty of sample questions to choose from that will be the most helpful for you.
4. Schedule Something In Your Week Just For YOU
This could be something big, something small—whatever you want!
I know this will vary a lot depending on each person who reads this and what each of you needs so I don’t want say too much about this one. Just make sure you’re scheduling in something that is JUST for you.
It’s not something that you have to do or “should” do. Just pick something that you’d like to do or not do. (Ex. working on your creative project, reading, taking a bath, going to a yoga class, planning or scheduling something you’ve been putting off, going for a walk, date night, girls night, alone time, taking a nap, etc)
It can be fun, healing, creative, rejuvenating, strengthening…It just needs to be something you can control and make sure it’ll happen.
5. Edit + Simplify Your Schedule
When you first plan out your week chances are you might be overly optimistic about what you can get done. So now’s the time to edit and simplify.
If you could do just ONE thing today in each area that’s important to you, what would that be?
I like to separate my to-do list into 4 different sections.
Self care (This could include things like my spiritual practice, yoga, etc)
Work (Podcast, creative projects)
To do (Any appointments I have or errands to run)
Intentional family time (Morning time with my little one, family walk after dinner, etc)
Try to plan your week out so that there’s ONE thing on your list that you can easily remember. Focus on what’s most important to you and don’t be afraid to simplify and let go of some things.
This is For You
If you don’t do any of these tips, guess what…you’ll probably be just fine. You’ll survive. I’m sure you’ll get a few things done and taken care of by the end of the week like you usually do.
BUT…if you do end up using some of these tips, you’ll start to notice something wonderful. You’ll discover that you’re able to stay on track more than you have in the past. At the start of a new week you’ll just need to make little adjustments here or there instead of needing some big life overhaul by the end of the month.
So again, plan your week for you!
Yes, your schedule might involve others’ activities and helping those you love. Your schedule might help others organize what they have going on which is great and you can of course keep doing that, but remember that taking the time to plan out your week is for YOU.
You’re already doing great, just keep going.
As a little homework, you can be thinking about what you want out of your week and what’s most important to you right now.
Hope this helps!
xoxo, Laura + Kristin
Listen to the content below
You can also search The Progress Project on any podcast app.
Episode #168 5 Helpful Tips For Planning. Your Week
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