We all need a little extra support to get ourselves ready for the week ahead. Time management is a problem for people. It affects every single area of your life. Sometimes it can be difficult to get into the groove of things and put yourself into the right headspace to focus on the tasks at hand. I’ve struggled with time management and staying on task with projects. That’s why it is important for me to spend time planning for a more productive week. The most important component of this system is honoring your word to yourself. Take the time to intentionally plan your life and follow through with what you say you are going to do. This is about living a deliberate life. “What is the secret to success?” Doing what you say you are going to do and being consistent. Remember that it all comes down to the small decisions you make about how to live your life. If you are not willing to take the time to plan it out ahead of time you are not living an intentional life. You are living in reaction. This is not only about getting more done it’s about living the life you want to live deliberately.

1. Constraint

 Think of things you want to do and projects you want to accomplish. Pick one. It doesn’t matter which one, what matters is that you focus your energy on this one thing until it is completed. Decisions ultimately determine how your life turns out. So we want to make our decisions during a focus time that you are sitting down to focus on what you want to be doing.

Our brain is designed to seek pleasure. This is our primitive brain. It’s going to be a natural inclination to do the opposite of what you should be doing once it becomes challenging. Our superpower as humans is our prefrontal cortex. We use our higher brain to plan things and make decisions ahead of time. Constrain yourself to only making decisions about what you pick to constrain on using your prefrontal cortex.

2. Planning Time

Take one hour Monday morning to plan your week. Turn your phone off or put it on do not disturb during this time and put it away. It is not enough to just put your phone on do not disturb, put the phone away so you do not see it light up with push notifications. Turn notifications off on your computer as well. Be free of distraction to really hone in on what needs to get completed during the week. If you are at an office try putting headphones on to signal that you are not to be disturbed. You want to be planning from your prefrontal cortex which takes lots of focus!

It’s always helpful to take some time on Friday evening or you can even wait until Monday morning to write out your plan for the week. This can include any appointments coming up, deadlines for projects, as well as goals.

3. To-Do List

Once you are settled in and ready to plan your week do a thought download of your to-do list. Take everything that is on your mind and get it on paper. The brain is not designed to store information, it’s a processor. Get it all on paper so you can have a look at it. The brain will think it’s all-important and want to do it all. Get it all out! Even the small things like take the trash out to picking up your dry cleaning. What events are happening this week? What projects are you working on? When you think you have it all on paper ask yourself “what else?” I like to keep a small notebook on me at all times that I write in when random things pop up in my mind to do that I know I will transfer to my to-do list on Monday during this step. Now that it is on paper you can decide on purpose which things you are going to get accomplished this week and what can be scheduled in the future.

4. Schedule your basic calendar hours

This will include meetings you have scheduled for the week, meal times, workouts, free time, work schedules, commute, and sleep! I set these as recurring occurrences in my calendar. Then schedule two hours each day of full focused time. This will be the time that you will be doing your best work. The most important work you need to accomplish that day and the results you need for your business. Strategize which time of day works best for you to be in full focus mode. For me, I perform better in the mornings. Others might work better in the afternoon. Cater it to fit your schedule and preferences.

Next, take the rest of the things you have on your paper from your thought download, categorize them, and put them on your calendar as tasks for the week. Now that you have it out of your mind, get it on your calendar. All you have to do after that is follow through with it. Know that it will get completed, results will be made and you can take your to-do list and throw it away because it’s on the calendar. If it is on your calendar it is getting done. I use Google calendar.

5. Focus Time

As mentioned above in step 4 you want to schedule focus time each day. This is a two-hour time chunk that you have no interruptions or distractions and you are working to create desired results. This is not a time where you are meeting someone or sifting through your emails. As with Monday planning time, you need your phone on do not disturb and your computer notifications turned off. This will be the time you do your most important work so eliminate distractions as much as possible. It is said that on average a worker is distracted every 40 seconds! Remember, our primitive brain loves to be distracted. Set yourself up to be as distraction-free and as focused as possible.

6. Follow Through

Now that you have everything on your calendar and you sit in front of your computer to do the assigned task you will most likely not feel like doing it. You will start to feel resistance. This is normal and to be expected. The reason we don’t do the thing we planned on doing is because of our feelings. You’re going to start to feel like you should text your friend instead, or check social media. You are going to have to push past the resistance and follow through. It might now be a Thursday and you don’t think you should be doing what you planned on Monday during your scheduling time. Do it anyway. Make the choice using your pre-frontal cortex, not your primitive brain! Every time you don’t follow through you are losing a piece of integrity with yourself. When you are following through with what you say you are going to do you build trust with yourself.

7. Create an overflow plan and Friday wrap up

Another item you should add to your calendar each day is overflow time. Take 30 minutes each day to work on any unfinished business or to have some extra time for things you did not plan for. You might have a situation come up with your kids or your boss could ask you to complete a project that you did not plan for. This is where your overflow time comes in. You are planning in advance for this to happen. Try not to rely on overflow time though. The main lesson from this way of setting up your calendar for the week is trusting yourself to do what you say you are going to do in the amount of time you planned on the day you planned to do it.

The last step is Friday hour done. This is to be done on the last hour of your workweek. Take some time to celebrate your wins for the past week. What were your 3 big accomplishments? What results did you create? What are 3 open items that did not get completed during the week that you need to accomplish next week?

Try implementing this strategy for 90 days minimum and you will see a difference in your life. You will not only be more productive, but you will be living your life on purpose. Remember that time is our most valuable resource, its non-renewable. Push through the resistance. Honor your word and follow through with what you say you are going to do. That is where the magic happens!