Question for you guys – do you have a weekly schedule? Whether you work full-time, freelance or a stay at home mom – how do you ensure everything gets done? Or do you fly by the seat of your pants and tackle things as they come up?
I’ve read NUMEROUS books, articles and blog posts that having a schedule and focusing on one thing at a time is the most productive thing you can do. Here are the benefits of schedules:
- More productivity
- More free time: you get more done in less time
- Better quality work: tasks and objectives are less likely to fall through the cracks and you aren’t scrambling to finish things last-minute.
- Balance: life will never be perfect and there is no such thing as a perfectly balanced life. But scheduling helps ensure you touch on all things important to you every week.
- Sleep Better: since you know what you have to do, your mind won’t be racing at night, fearing you will forget something, which allows you to catch some Z’s. I. Need. This.
Inspired by this post, yesterday I sat down and put together a written out weekly schedule. This took me several hours but felt absolutely amazing once finished! I know this won’t hold up 100% of the time due to my ever changing schedule, but I will tweak and massage as time goes on.
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Although I manage my work like a boss, I am the best at making time for physical activity and house hold chores. Even with my blogging, it is more of a “I’ll fit it in when I can” type mentality.
Want to make a schedule of your own? Here is how I did it and you can do it too!
ONE: First list out the most important things to you. Everyone’s will be different. Here are mine.
- Work
- Blogging
- Health
- Home
TWO: Take it a step and write out specific things you want to achieve or hard rules you want to implement. Below is my list:
- At the end of every day – write out tomorrow’s “to do’s”. This will prevent my mind racing at night (insomnia) and I’ll be able to hit the ground running with a game plan the next day. AKA more productivity!
- Keep the schedule attainable and realistic. I am not a morning person, so starting my work at 7 AM (even though I do this on a weekly basis) would not work every day of the week. I would feel like I am failing before I even started. Although I get up way before 9 AM – I need time to wake up, shower, walk Larry and eat a healthy breakfast. If I start earlier (which will definitely happen) then I will feel VERY accomplished that day.
- Tackle client tasks and projects in the morning. This is when I do my best work, therefore I want to dedicate this time to my most important things. You’ve got to capitalize on how your mind works. If I did my best work at noon, I would have scheduled this then.
- Check emails only twice a day. Checking email every 20 minutes is a HUGE distraction and not effective. I’ve read it a million times in books, websites and blogs that checking email 2 to 3 times a day is best.
- Don’t check email or social media first thing in the morning. I find this makes me frazzled and the next thing I know, I am blow drying my hair and emailing at the same time – which leaves me with sub par emails (I’m not focused) and awful hair. A clear mind before I begin projects will result in better work, faster.
- 6 PM – close the computer and turn it off. I want to give 100% of my attention to spending time with my family, myself and/or our home.
- Dedicate specific chores to a specific day. Versus – oh our place blew up like a bomb and have to spend 4 hours one day cleaning everything up. Plus I work better in an organized, clean environment.
THREE: Populate the above and normal “to do’s” into your week. This takes the longest of the three steps. I knew I wanted to keep Friday’s light, Saturday’s completely open, and just a few things for Sunday, to ensure I kick off Monday with a bang. Here is what I came up with! I just backed into everything. You can make this super high level if you have a full time job. But given I free-lance and my own boss – I made mine detailed and specific.
Here is a glance into my week:
Mondays
- Household Chore Of The Day: Vacuum – I’ve decided I can do any of household chores anytime I want to. It just needs to get done before bed time.
- Before 9 AM: Breakfast, coffee, walk Larry, start work early, etc.
- 9 – 11 AM: Client Work. Solely client work and nothing else.
- 11 AM – 12PM: This will be the first time I check emails for the day. I’m curious to see if I can actually wait! Haha. This hour will be solely dedicated to sending, answering, filing, unsubscribing, deleting, organizing, creating canned responses, etc.)
- 12 – 1 PM: Lunch, errands, Larry walk, personal social media
- 1 – 3:30 PM: Client work & Blogging. Since my schedule and projects differ all the time, I will prioritize accordingly.
- 3:30 – 4 PM: Email check. Respond or send any pending emails of the day.
- 4 – 4:30 PM: Write out tomorrow’s “To Do’s”
- 4:30 – 5 PM: Social Media – respond to blog comments, post, respond, retweet, comment on other’s posts, etc. I get to side tracked, I forget to respond to people who take the time to leave me notes and comment on my posts. So rude of me and need to get back to engaging regularly. I really miss this and a very important part about blogging and having social media clients.
- 5 – 6 PM: Misc – whatever else I need to do, workout, etc.
Tuesdays
- Household Chore Of The Day: Laundry
- I schedule all my client and project meetings on Tuesday’s, so it is my busiest day of the week.
- Email times, mid-day break and the 4 PM Tomorrow’s To-Dos will remain the same as Monday’s.
Wednesdays
- Household Chore Of The Day: Errands – dry cleaning, mid-week grocery shopping (if needed), anything needed for the weekend, etc.
- Same as Monday’s
Thursdays
- Household Chore Of The Day: Pick Up. The house will be clean for the weekend. Yay.
- 9 – 10:30 AM: Tennis Lessons – I really enjoy this and a great work out along with step aerobics.
- Everything else will remain the same as Monday’s schedule.
Fridays
- 9 – 11 AM: Client Work
- 11 AM – 12 PM: Emails
- 12 – 1 PM: Lunch, Larry Walk, Etc.
- 1 – 1:30 PM: Monday’s To Dos
- 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM: Record expenses incurred
- 2:30 – 3 PM: Monday’s To Do’s
- 3 PM – ?: Whatever I need to get done.
So there you have it! What do you schedule on a weekly basis? Even when I was working full-time, I wish I had dedicated chore days and took time to write out my “to do’s” at the end of every day. I’d love to know any tips or tricks you have implemented. Have a great week guys!
Kelly, thank you so much for taking these pics!
This has been a really helpful exercise and it really focuses you to allot the appropriate amount of time for each item. That is what’s great-does it take me two hours to check my email?! No. So I need to spend 15 minutes on filing emails, responding, and next action items. Then you can spend more time doing what needs to get done and not feel overwhelmed. I always always exercise in the morning (I’m also a morning person so this is easy for me). That way, I can unwind or enjoy social plans at night and not feel like I’m cheating myself out of a good workout.
Megan, I am so happy you found this helpful! It’s something I definitely struggle with – I feel like I have ADD sometimes – haha! What time do you typically get up in the morning to workout? I NEED to do this. I’d love to know how you get motivated to get up early every day. Thanks in advance!
It’s so true. I tried it today and have just unconsciously checked my work email 6-7 times throughout the day. I get up at 5:30 AM and usually I feel pretty groggy. I swear the simplest thing as just putting out your workout clothes and packing your bag the night before does the trick. I always always do this and that way, there’s never an excuse. I drink some water and plan what I’m going to do. MWF I do laps in the pool, TR I do a vinyasa flow yoga class and maybe some TRX. I found that throughout college and even now, if I don’t have a plan to workout, I’m kinda setting myself up for failure cause I’ll do the elliptical and be like…then what… Also–having an accountability buddy-spouse/friend/significant other totally helps! They are struggling to wake up too. When I was marathon training, I wrote my plan for mileage every day in my planner so it was a no brainer to figure out what I had to run. Treating yourself to cute exercise clothes never hurts either! =)
I’m nuts about this time-management post! How is it going not checking your email until mid-day? Workday productivity is one of my favorite topics. One thing I’m challenging myself with lately is after I write out my to-do list on my Trello app, to A.) Designate the 3 things that are top priority, and then B.) Take two of the other things OFF my list to ensure that those 3 things get done. When you get better at doing the big things up front, you’ll have less of those urgent-but-not-as-important fires you’ll have to put out later. The idea I think I might steal from you is assigning a chore for each day–brilliant!