Five Effective Steps for Planning a Successful Week
Monday is a great day to make plans for the week. After a good weekend and a solid, healthy, and restful Sabbath, it is time to wake up to a new week. If you are like me, I can’t juggle a ball to save my life. I can toss two back and forth but when I add more, I end up chasing several balls around the floor.
Many times, that is what a week amounts to—ball chasing. Juggling too many tasks becomes a waste of time and energy when we can use Monday, or any day, to successfully make plans for the week.
Here is a short & sweet analysis of how I have chosen to do my weekly planning and I’ll use someone I call Average Ann as the example.
Right now, Average Ann has a few things on her mind that she needs to do. Ann knows Thanksgiving is a few weeks away and she wants to share that time with her family. Her boss needs Ann to complete an assignment by Friday. Then there is Christmas. Ann knows it is around the corner and that storage containers are stacked like Legos on massive ships in distant harbors. So, Ann needs a plan B if she is still going to give the special people in her life at least one gift. Which reminds Ann that she is leading a service project for her small group which requires several steps that must begin this week. Lastly, Ann has committed to attend an all-girl’s event scheduled for this weekend, where she plans to unwind.
But that’s not all, Ann has everyday errands she needs to run, and meals she needs to stop and eat. Ann is tired and overwhelmed just thinking about it all.
Have you met, Ann? Might you be Ann?
If so, I have a plan for Ann.
First, Pray about it. Proverbs 3:5-6 gives us wisdom for making plans. It basically states, do not do anything without God. There is God’s way and every other way. You want to do life His way.
Next, after receiving confidence from putting God first, you want to carve out an hour or two, to start and finish the planning process. Give yourself permission. Book an appointment with yourself. Close the door. And do not come out until you are finished.
From here it is a matter of going through the following steps:
- You need to face it in order to place it. Identify your big, meaty goals. List all the big goals in your head. Get them onto a page.
- Set deadlines for each. Anything more than three months out, should be stored for a later date.
- Assign a role to each goal. If you have no role for an item, it is likely not worth doing. Also, acknowledge several roles throughout your week. We are whole people with whole lives that should touch others. So, think of your week as you would a plate a food. A healthy array of whole foods and roles create a vibrant life.
- Take those chunky goals and dissect them into smaller manageable pieces. Much like you would the food on your plate. You want to create bite-sized portions of things you can do within a day.
- Finally, create priorities of those smaller tasks based on the Eisenhower Box–Do, Decide, Delegate (my favorite!), and Delete. It’s a tool I’ve used since 2018 and it works if you use it!
Depending on how many things you enjoy on your plate and the realistic amount of time it will take you do them, this process with help you construct productive, manageable days that will lead to completed goals. By forming a habit out of the five (5) steps listed above, you will always know your priorities and thus, sidestep distractions. You will also avoid chasing after balls. Wink. Because ain’t nobody got time for that. LOL.
Seriously, pick a day to plan. Then go to work.
Wishing you all the best as you manage the time God has given you to steward. Really,
Leah
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will advise you with My eye upon you.” Psalm 32:8 NASB2020