Have you ever gotten to the end of your week and thought to yourself, “What just happened”? It’s so easy to let the needs of others take over your schedule and all of a sudden, you are trying to write copy in the evening when your brain isn’t working and you’re holding meetings mid afternoon when you would rather be having lunch with your kids.
This is very common amongst entrepreneurs, but believe me when I say you don’t have to let your calendar run you! There is a way around this, one so simple, you’ll probably be saying “why didn’t I think of that?”
Here’s the secret – create your ideal week.
Have you heard of this concept before?
An ideal work week is a framework you create around when you are at your best for different tasks. You’ll want to sit down and map out what your perfect, ideal week would look like, and then work to craft each week’s schedule to fit that framework.
Here are a few tips to help you work through this process.
Ask yourself, “what are the tasks I have to perform every single week?”. Do you write copy, have meetings, creative work, technical work, etc? Make a list of these tasks and items that are important to your work.
Next, ask yourself, “when do I do my absolute best work” in relation to each task you listed. Jot down next to it what time of day is best for that particular task. For example, maybe you do your best creative work in the early hours of the morning, or you prefer to have your meetings in the afternoon because tackling tasks at that time of day feels overwhelming.
Next, ask yourself “where does time for myself, my family and my friends fit into my schedule”? Do you want to have a true lunch every day that you can sit down with your kids? Maybe you want half day Fridays so you can meet up with friends or go on a fun, family adventure (or maybe you just want to get the grocery shopping done early). Write out these things, and remember, it’s okay to dream big! This is your ideal week, not anyone else’s! If you want to be done at 2 pm on a Monday, who is going to stop you?
Now that you have these items written out, it’s time to craft your ideal work week. You can either do this in a digital format within excel or by adding a calendar to Gmail or Outlook and building it into that. Or, you take it old school and draw this out with pen and paper. Look at the things you wrote down and create time blocks on your calendar for those items. Maybe you do your best creative work in the mornings, so each morning you block off 8-10 to work on creative projects.
Once you have your ideal week written out, keep it handy to compare against as you are creating your schedule for the week, booking meetings and planning.
This is also an amazing tool to give to your VA! Handling your calendar and scheduling is one of the first tasks I recommend you let your VA take over, and when you have an ideal week for them to strive for, it makes everything run smoother, and ensures your schedule will be crafted the way that works best for you!
“Barrier Consulting has changed my business and my life. Evonne and her team keep my business goal-focused; moving projects faster toward success (and helping us look good doing it)! Everything they have helped with not only frees up my time and reduces stress but increases revenue too! My business would grow at snail speed without Barrier Consulting.”
– Pam Harjo, Youth Scoreboards
Are you ready to bring someone alongside you to help your business grow? Book your FREE consultation to learn how one of our Virtual Assistants can help take that overwhelm off your shoulders.
