Organize your week

“I assumed that life with a schedule would be constrictive. I thought that putting my tasks for the week into a planner would be difficult for my entrepreneurial time-freedom heart. Turns out, the opposite is true! Because, funny thing, even if you don’t have a set schedule—your day is still going to fill up with things you have to do! [...] I realized that if I didn’t start penciling these things into my calendar, they were never going to happen! So, a little bit kicking and screaming, I started to plan my weeks. Guess what? I love it! I don’t do it every week (I’m only human) but when I do my scheduling routine I notice that I feel so much better. That’s my cue that this is working for me, and it’s a practice I need to continue.”

“I often make my plans and timetables in the night because it is quieter then and also, planning at night helps me wake up the next day, knowing exactly what my day looks like and it love that feeling – the feeling of waking up with a purpose and hitting the ground running. However, remember that nothing needs to go according to the plan and so the essence is to be flexible. Almost everyday my time table gets disrupted and I try to complete it by nightfall. So, don’t worry if you didn’t achieve your goal, it is okay, it is not the end of world.”

“Now that I’m done with grad school, I plan Saturday morning. Planning consists more about what I need to do this weekend for the next week to go well, reach out to friends I haven’t chatting with in a while, and confirming plans. Since I’m finishing more of my “weekly tasks” during the week, it’s less migrating. Each planning session is 20-30iah minutes and the first thing I do is go through my calendar for big events (need dry cleaning, cat sitting, car rental, etc). I make sure to do this for the next two weeks. I shouldn’t be shopping for an event one week out. Once that is sorted out, I drop the little things in for the next week. This is when I figure out how many meals I’ll be cooking vs. having out, etc.”