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POSTED: 09.20.2011
Power Time Tool #1: Plan Your Week
TOPICS: Time ManagementRecently one of my cross country clients and I incorporated one tool that doubled her monthly income immediately, raised her team’s morale, and saved dozens of back and forth email time. It reminded me of the power of planning time management tools that successful people use regularly. Today here’s the first Power Planning Tool:
Power Planning Tool #1: Use a Monthly Calendar to Plan your Week.
I call this managing time “horizontally” from Monday through Saturday. It means looking to the week and the month ahead to pace your schedule and energy accordingly. A month calendar provides the “big picture” of your week ahead.It allows you to conserve your energy and pace yourself, much like a marathon runner.
This client learned to do this and started emailing “Suzanne’s Monday Memo” of the week’s priority clients to be completed. With each client it listed the initials of each team member and what they needed to do on the project. It took the stress out of everything being a crisis priority and focused everyone’s energies.
Another client used the same idea for home and started using Google Calendar to have everyone list their soccer practices, parents business travel time, and even what’s for dinner each night that week!
What are 5 things “Power Planning for the Week” will allow you to do?
1) Assign your important projects and tasks into a day this week.
2) Plan the steps needed to get those projects done.
3) Evaluate whether you are doing too much or too little.
4) Anticipate a “busy week” and ways to cut out the stress by planning ahead.
5) Plan time with people you want to be with and schedule downtime at home at least 3 evenings a week.
Why is this important? Because planning is power and the power is in putting your plans in front of you!
Love this article…I borrowed simply your time from the library and now i dont want to give it back! These articles are invaluable for juggling family/health/and wealth! thank you