How To Create Your Ideal Week Plan
I imagine many of you are like me. You have quite a few things going on in your world. Gone are the days where you work one job and come home from that job and eat dinner, go to bed, then start over. We have a lot of irons in the fire! So how do we get it all done? Well, first of all, we don’t. But today I want to share with you a way that I prioritize the things that need to happen in each of the areas of my life.
In Michael Hyatt’s book, Free To Focus, he shares this concept of an Ideal Week. Michael is a great man, but he is entering retirement. He and his wife live alone. My life looks very different. My husband and I pastor a church. I have 2 kids who are home for most of the day. I work a job that is flexible, but still with demanding days. I volunteer for several other things. I have friends and family that I want to maintain relationships with. And the list goes on.
The tool of an Ideal Week was one that I struggled to implement in my own life. I felt that tying each day down was something that wouldn’t work for me. While I love my routines, I needed flexibility. Thankfully I have found a way that this works for me and I am going to share with you what this looks like in my current season.
An Ideal Week is just that - IDEALLY what you want your week to look like. How often does my week fully line up to this? Rarely, but it’s a starting point that has been extremely helpful.
In my Full Focus Planner there are 2 pages in the very beginning where you can create your ideal week. You can grab your own planner at THIS link and use the code SHELLEY10 for 10% off your order. You can also check out THIS link to download a copy of the Ideal Week template.
I don’t use this exactly the same way Michael Hyatt does, but I believe this concept can help many of you to structure your week in a way that is helpful!
First you will need to start with listing the categories of your life that require attention each week. For me these are: Church, Work (my job), TGM (this blog, YouTube, Social Media, etc.). These are the big 3 categories. Of course I have my family, but those are things that I schedule time in the evenings for.
Here is a side note: If you have never sat down and listed all of your responsibilities and tasks, I encourage you to do that. Then determine what needs to stay and what needs to be eliminated or delegated. This will help you to see where your categories lie.
Next, What are other things you must do during the week? Mapping out where those things are on a time scale is important. I have to drop my daughter off at school and pick her up each day. Scheduling meetings during this time will not work for me. We have Bible Study one night each week and a designated family night. Mark those down.
Let me make a disclaimer. Do this in pencil. It took me just a little while to create system that worked well for me. I had to make a few changes until I created an Ideal Week that I was happy with. And it will change again. Summer will be here soon and school will be out.
For this exercise, our week starts on Monday. My ideal Monday begins with my Morning Routine. (Keep in mind that this is in addition to my regular activities such as work and taking care of kids, etc.)
Morning Routine
Clean Bathrooms
Take Elsie to School
Workday Startup Ritual
Day’s Focus: Church
Planning Center
Quickbooks
Music
Kid’s
Deposit
Sunday Email
Pick up Elsie
Workday Shutdown
Dinner
Family Devotion
This is a simple tool that utilizes lists for each day to help you be your most productive self. Let me know if you have tried this and how it works for you!