What is your ideal week? If you’re like most people, it would have something to do with a beach, a book and a drink with a tiny umbrella.
That’s not what we’re talking about.
What is your ideal work week? According to Michael Hyatt at www.michaelhyatt.com an ideal week is the week he would live if he could control 100% of what happens. He claims that you can either live on-purpose, according to a plan you’ve set. Or you can live by accident, reacting to the demands of others.
Mike Anderson (www.mikeyanderson.com) agrees with the discipline of creating an ideal week. He compares it to city zoning:
In any city they want to make sure they have a good mix of commercial, light industrial, high density residential and low density residential. City planners section off the city into zoning areas so that as people want to develop property, they can—but they keep the desired balance. An ideal week should zone off your time so that your calendar can get filled in organically, but still make sure that your life has the right balance of priorities.
Marie Poulin uses the ideal week model consistently for her business and life. By structuring her time, Marie has seen her work thrive naturally simply because she wastes much less time. She also recommends tracking your time. One way is the program Rescue Time found at www.rescuetime.com. Once installed into your computer, it runs in the background and tracks where your time is being spent, even how much time you waste on Facebook.
So how do you create an ideal work week?
- List all your essential tasks. Put them on paper so you can look at them face to face. Ask yourself what is most important. Number them by priority. By doing this you are getting your brain to make sure that you find time for the tasks that are most important.
- List your goals. Put them on paper, too, so you can see them before you and make a decision to have your ideal week reflect your intentions. Thomas Edison had a goal to create a major invention every six months and a minor invention every ten days. He did not invent on accident. He was an intentional inventor.
- List the routines you have. Exercise, shopping for groceries or writing might be a few examples. Do you make time each day to comment on social media sites? Write that down and put a time limit on it.
- Having all of this information on paper prepares you for creating your ideal week. Find a calendar or a template that will fit your schedule. Michael Hyatt has a great one he offers at http://michaelhyatt.com/ideal-week.html
- Identify themes for each day. This can help immensely in grouping certain activities today so your brain doesn’t have to switch gears so often. For example, Marie Poulin wrote identified the themes of each of her days:Sunday: Rest and plan for weekMonday: MentorshipTuesday: Creation
Wednesday: Mentorship
Thursday: Mastermind
Friday: New business development and content creation
Saturday: Personal day
Now, using your themes, label your days or sections of your days.
- You are ready to take your lists and schedule your important activities. Use a specific color to help identify them.
- Fill in the less-important activities. Shade them a different color.
- Tweak your ideal week. It usually takes a few tries before you have it how you want.
- Don’t be legalistic. Remember it is a calendar. You are in charge of your life, not it.
- Share it with your team. This is a vital step in having an ideal week. If your team knows your schedule, they can help you stay on track with your business’s goals and even your personal ones. Encourage your team members to make an ideal week too, and share it with you.
In the Power of Habit, author Charles Duhigg shares how making an appointment with yourself significantly increases the likelihood that you will do what you intend to do. Vicki Davis writes When you create your ideal week, you are visualizing what it looks like. As you make choices of what you will and won’t do, you’re aligning your week with your goals.
If you take the time to create your ideal work week schedule, those ideal weeks at the beach with a book in one hand and a little drink in the other will be even better, knowing all you have accomplished.
Sources:
http://www.coolcatteacher.com/time-management-tips/
http://mariepoulin.com/blog/design-your-ideal-week-increase-productivity/
http://michaelhyatt.com/ideal-week.html