Today we focus on planning out one week – preferably, next week!

This is a process I like to do either on Friday for the following week, or on Monday morning, before starting the week’s work.

I prefer to do it on Friday, because that means I can sit down on Monday morning and get right to it!

The goal here is to FINALLY get stuff done – hurrah!

This is the end-point of all this planning – actually scheduling and completing tasks that will inch you slowly towards achieving your Top 3 Priorities for the whole year!

Here’s a process you can follow if you like to work digitally.

I have a Trello board for my weekly tasks.

In this board, I have the following Lists:

– This Week’s Priorities
– Doing Today
– Doing This Week (You could have daily lists, too)
– Doing Next Week
– Ideas
– To Do Sometime
– Daily Tasks

Whenever I add a task to any of the ‘Doing’ boards, I add a day to it. So, a task from this week was ‘WED – TC Call’.

You could instead put deadlines on them (through the edit icon on each card) if you prefer.

You can then drag and drop tasks/cards around to the appropriate lists during the week. And then, when they’re done, just archive them!

The non-Doing lists are a capture device.

As is the ‘Doing Next Week’ lists.

This allows you to capture any ideas or tasks that pop up, but that you know won’t fit into this current week.

You can then rearrange them as time goes on.

The Daily Tasks board might not be necessary – I just use it to capture the jobs I need to do each day to remind me.

This is stuff like ‘check messages on Etsy’ etc. that always needs to be done.

The idea is to plan out your whole week at the beginning, so you’re never ‘lost’ as to what you need to get done that week.

Obviously life can sometimes get in the way – that’s why it’s nice that in Trello you can just drag-and-drop things to move them around, and you can easily edit a task to move it to another day.

At the end of each day I would drag across the next day’s tasks from the ‘Doing This Week’ to the ‘Doing Today’ board – and I put them in order of priority – so as the day goes on I work through them in order.

The nice thing about having the ‘Doing Next Week’ board, also, is that if you get overwhelmed, you can quickly move things off to the following week, OR if you get all your stuff done early, you can drag tasks forward. It also helps you keep in mind what’s coming up.

Remember – the main goal here is to achieve the little tasks that when added together, will allow you to archive one of your 3 Priorities for that week!

The ideal is that you’ll reach the end of the week, and all of your cards – including your Priorities – will be finished and archived, leaving you a nice clean slate for the following week.

If you’re not using Trello, you can use a similar system in a weekly planner/diary – I just recommend you use pencil so you can erase and move stuff around if necessary!

Put all your appointments in for the following week (I like to highlight them so I don’t miss them) and then all the tasks you have planned on the days you want to do them.

I like to leave some ‘white space’ at the end of each week for the inevitable ‘spill-over’ tasks that pop up or don’t get done when I think they were going to – this means you don’t over-schedule and over-commit yourself.

Always plan LESS to do in the time you THINK you have availble for it!

And make sure to have easy access to your monthly plan so you can see what’s coming up.

Action Steps

1. Plan next week using your perferred method!

Whatever method you choose, you should know EXACTLY what your Top 3 Priorities for the week are, and when you’re going to get them done.

Today we focus on planning out a whole month – let’s start with February.

I have made it a routine to sit down once a month – in the final week, usually – and outline my plans for the month following.

Because I can, I usually make a day of it – I get out of the house (away from distractions) and take myself out for the day to the city. I treat myself to a nice brunch, and then spend the rest of the day holed up in either a cafe or a library to do my planning.

This process – the ritual of setting aside planning time – is a way of nurturing both myself and my business. It’s quite addictive!

You may have already listened to it, but if not, I highly recommend that you watch this workshop on how to have an effective planning day right now.

You may not have a whole day, but I urge you to schedule in some form of this monthly planning – whether it be an evening, a morning, or just a few hours.

Like all planning and important-but-not-urgent work, it may be very tempting to put this off to focus on more urgent tasks – don’t.

This is the high-level stuff that will make a huge difference to the growth of your business in the long run.

Today we’re going to practice this monthly planning!

Take the Feb sheet/priorities you made yesterday, and break it down.

If you’re using Trello, now is the time to pull that out and put it to work. If you’re not, please just modify what I cover below into whatever system you are using.

Here’s an example of my monthly recurring task board for Create & Thrive (just so you can see sort of what I’m talking about below, but instead of recurring tasks, you’re putting in the tasks that will help you achieve your priorities).

Start a new board called ‘February 2023’ and open it up.

Inside, create your first List, and put in your 3 Priorities.

Now, the rest of this will differ for everyone. You have to decide what your other lists will be, and what will go on them.

You might just create a separate list for each of your priorities.

Or, you might have different aspects of your biz, and create a list for each (e.g. I would have a list for the Podcast, one for YouTube, one for the Thriver Circle, one for Instagram, one for Epheriell… etc).

In each of these lists, create cards for each of your main tasks/projects for that item during Feb.

Bonus points if you can break your cards up by week (just write ‘Week 1 – ‘ in front of the task/project on each card, for example).

This helps you to organise all your tasks by timeline, so you don’t over-commit to anything in any particular week.

You may also like to add in a list for March – it’s a bit of a catch-all place where you can put tasks that pop up over the month of Feb that you want to address in March when you do your planning for then.

This is also the point where you add in any other repeated tasks, appointments, or additional tasks/projects that don’t fit under the banner of your Priorities, but need doing in Feb.

The idea is to have a crystal-clear plan for the month ahead, all broken down into the tasks and projects that need to get done, week-by-week.

This is also the point where you put any dates into your calendar.

So, if you have Cal or another digital calendar or a diary, put them in now.

(P.S. If you’re a bit more old school, and you have a desk diary/planner, you can do all of this in there, instead – putting each task on the allotted day!)

This board will become your guide for the whole month of Feb.

You’ll be referring to it regularly, to see what’s coming up each week, and to see how well you’re keeping yourself on-task.

Normally, you’ll have this monthly plan to work from when you’re planning your weeks.

However, since we’re almost to the end of Jan, we’re going to cheat a little, and tomorrow, we’re going to sit down and plan out next week – the final week of January.

Action Steps

1. Plan February! Break down the steps to achieve your Priorities and put them into your monthly plan, week-by-week.

2. Add in any other tasks, projects, or appointments – including putting them into your calendar if you haven’t already.

Today we go the next level down, and look at Jan to March in detail.

Pull out the 3 Quarterly Priorities you decided on yesterday.

Brainstorm those next steps! I reckon you’re getting a handle on the process by now.

Remember – whatever you come up with during this process has to fit SOMEWHERE into the current three months of the Quarter.

In future, it will be best to do the planning for a Quarter before it starts (so, for Q2, do your planning in late March), but for now, don’t stress about putting too much into January.

Today, I want you to do the top level planning for all three months – Jan, Feb and March.

So, if you’re using the proforma I’ve given you, you’ll have three sheets printed out.

Today, just focus on the top level.

Solidify your Priorities for the remainder of Jan, all of Feb and all of March.

The next level down is something we’ll focus on in detail over the next two days.

Action Steps

1. Brainstorm your steps for Q1.

2. Translate these into your #Top3 for Jan, Feb and March.

You can download and print out the proforma below if you want, or do this in Trello, or just on a piece of paper – whatever works for you!

23Today we break down our yearly priorities and focus on Q1.

Pull out the 3 priorities you decided on yesterday.

Now it’s time to break them down into smaller steps. This is the process you’ll follow again and again until you get yourself all the way down to the day level!

Below is an example of 3 priorities, and some of the possible steps you could take to achieve them to inspire you.

The idea is to brainstorm the ‘next level down’ steps. Try to choose things that you could envisioning taking three months to complete.

Then, fill in the top level of your next chart – the Quarterly one – like so…

You can see that each of the 3 priorities will, once you achieve them, move you inexorably towards your year-long priority.

You’ll also see that all three don’t need to be ‘equal’. For example, in this first quarter, your focus will undoubtedly be on the first one – because creating and releasing 20 new products is a BIG job! So, the other two priorities – while still moving you towards your #Top3 for the year, aren’t as time-intensive (though, when you start breaking them down, you’ll see that they will both take quite a bit of research and planning!).

DO keep this in mind when you’re doing your planning.

DON’T schedule all the really time-intensive tasks in the same Quarter of the year!

Try to spread them out so you have the time and energy for all of them.

And remember… Q4 is already going to be busy with holiday sales, so be aware of that when you’re doing your planning!

Action Steps

1. Write down the major steps underneath each of your 3 yearly priorities from yesterday.

2. Pull out ONE of those steps from each priority and make them your 3 priorities for the 1st Quarter of 2023.

3. If you want to go all-out, you can now also decide on your 3 priorities for the next three quarters of 2023. However, this can also be done near the end of March, when you see how far you’ve come in achieving your first set of Quarterly priorities.

You can download and print out the proforma below if you want, or do this in Trello, or just on a piece of paper – whatever works for you!

I’m a big believer in the importance of down time.

I take one whole day off from work every week (actually, I take 2-3 days off, but on Fri and Sat I’m a bit more online).

Usually, it’s a Sunday – and I not only do NO work, I even try to stay offline for the day.

Yep. No email, no social media – just me and the rest of my life.

For me, it’s a vital time to just live in the moment – to spend time with myself; with my family and friends; to get out and explore the world; or stay in and work on projects around home.

Or, to just curl up and read all day before a walk, swim, or a yoga practice.

I love my work, and it doesn’t stress me out (thankfully) but my brain does need a regular break from being in ‘work mode’ constantly.

Yours does, too!

I know you’ve worked hard this week, and you may have even discovered things about yourself and your business that you didn’t know before working through this week of finding your Purpose.

I encourage you to take a break from work today – and spend time on other things that make you happy!

See you tomorrow for week 2 – when we’ll dive into your 2023 Planning.

Action Steps

1. Take the day off to rest and restore.