What does your ideal week look like?
My guess is that your ideal week is not staying up till 11 o’clock working every night.
It isn't working every weekend.
It isn’t rushing so much that you grab whatever food is easiest to eat in the car.
It isn't skipping out on your exercise.
It isn’t missing time with friends and family.
Instead, do you imagine sitting at the beach drinking your piña coladas and relaxing with nothing to do?
If so, you are in good company. We often dream of relaxing times with nothing to do when we feel time-poor and that there isn’t enough give or things that fill us up in our week.
Our stress increases when we feel we don’t have control of our time or have to spend our time doing things we don’t want to do, so we crave the exact opposite. We crave a life with no demands on our time.
However, when we don’t have anything to do, studies show that we become more depressed and less happy.
So how do we get that sense of control of our time and that we are spending our time doing things that matter and make us happier.?
We harness the power of the ideal to make a life that is purposeful, full of meaning, and makes us feel much more time, rich and productive.
Designing and living out our ideal week is the key to enjoying our time more and lowering our stress. In designing our ideal week, we think intentionally about how we like to spend our time and fill our time that way.
Key Takeaways
Designing your ideal week reduces stress and maintains work-life balance.
Prioritize tasks that truly matter to regain control of your time.
Allocate specific time slots for work and leisure to manage time effectively.
Benefits of A Small Business Success Schedule
Designing your ideal week can help you do more and feel less stress in several ways:
Prioritization: By planning your week in advance, you can prioritize the most important tasks and activities. This can help you focus on what truly matters and avoid wasting time on less important tasks.
Time Management: Designing your ideal week allows you to allocate specific time slots for different tasks and activities. This can help you manage your time more effectively and ensure enough time for both work and leisure.
Control: Having a plan for your week can give you a sense of control over your time. This can reduce feelings of stress and overwhelm, as you know exactly what you need to do and when.
Balance: By designing your ideal week, you can ensure that you have a balance between work, personal time, and leisure activities. This can help you avoid burnout and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Reduces Procrastination: When you have a clear plan for your week, it can help reduce procrastination. You know what needs to be done and can tackle tasks head-on rather than putting them off.
Reduces Stress: Knowing what your week looks like can reduce stress. You're less likely to forget important tasks or feel rushed to complete them at the last minute.
How do you plan a week to bring you joy and productivity?
1. Get in touch with what brings you joy
Conduct a time audit to monitor what activities fill you and which drain you.
Make a passion map to find where your interests and strengths lie.
Define your values. Identify 1-3 key values defining who you are and your work.
Create actionable goals. SMART goals are quite popular, but WOOP goals are more effective. In any case, make a specific and time-bound goal less than 6 months away. List out the actions you need to be doing to reach those goals.
2. Visualize your week
Get as specific as possible. What exactly are you doing in this ideal week? For example:
What actions are you taking to reach your business goals?
Are you limiting your work hours and giving yourself at least one day a week when you don’t think about the business?
Are you taking time to do fun activities with friends?
Are you exercising every day?
Are you driving slowly and relaxingly to chauffeur your children and having deep conversations in the car?
Are you taking the time to prepare healthy meals?
3. Write it down
Now that you have a good visual image of what you want your week to look like, create a template of a schedule you can use from week to week.
Block out your immovables
Start with things that cannot be changed, like doctor’s appointments, kids' classes, etc. Mark those down in your calendar.
Block out your wellness hours
Thinking back to your visualization, what are you doing to take care of yourself each week? Now, schedule the times you will do them. For example, I like to go for a walk and do yoga every day, so I write them into my weekly plan so that I am more likely to actually do them instead of getting carried away with the day’s tasks.
Schedule priority items
In the third step, write into your schedule the activities you identified as aligned with your goals and values and that provide you energy. You want to make sure you have written in times to take action in areas that bring meaning, progress and joy into your life.
I can’t schedule everything because I need to be flexible as things come up
The key to designing your ideal week is flexibility. Things don't always go as planned, so it's important to be adaptable and adjust your schedule as needed. However, without a plan, you are less likely to make progress on your goals. Something else will always come up and prevent you from taking action steps toward your goals, but having a plan makes you more likely to take those steps - even if plans change. It will also reduce stress because you don’t have to constantly think about what you should focus on now. Your brain is freed to focus on the challenge at hand.
Get help in scheduling your ideal week and start reaching your goals
I work with clients to help them map out their time and start living their ideal life today. See the ways I can help you reach your goals. I'll guide you step by step to take the actions today to create the life you dream of.
