If you’ve been following along for the last few months, you probably saw me post about my Quarterly Planning Process, my goal setting method, and my monthly planning routine. I want to add to the series and share my weekly planning routine with you today!
I’ve mentioned many times before that I am an avid Bullet Journalist. While the true Bullet Journal method relies only on monthly and daily planning, I found that to be a little impractical for me. I tend to have a lot of small tasks that I have to complete in a given week, so I don’t necessarily want to write all of those over and over again on either my monthly or daily lists. This is where my weekly list comes in handy!
My weekly to do list is nothing fancy. I like to title the page with the week’s dates (for example, December 14th-20th), and then make a simple list of all the things I need to do that week. I use a 3 step method to make sure I don’t miss any tasks or projects for a given week.
1. Check my Work and Personal Google Calendar
I always try to start my weekly planning by reviewing my work Outlook Calendar and my Personal Google Calendar. This serves as my “big rocks” on my weekly to-do list. Reviewing my calendar first lets me put priority on any upcoming appointments, events, birthdays, holidays, and reminders for things I have in my upcoming week.
I’ve mentioned in my monthly planning routine that I like to review my Google Calendar and work calendar on a monthly basis. I find this is super helpful to get an overview of what I have upcoming in the month, but I’m always getting new appointments thrown into both my calendars with only a few days to a week’s notice. Reviewing my Google Calendar each week allows me to catch any of those last-minute events so I am ready for them.
If I have any upcoming events I need to prepare for, I add that as a task to my to-do list. For example, if my calendar says I have a presentation on Friday, I’ll add “Prepare for presentation” as a task on my list. I also have a few standing appointment reminders on my calendar (like a reminder for when I want to get my car washed and my nails done), so I usually add those things on my weekly to-do list so they aren’t forgotten either.
2. Review Monthly Goals and Projects
After I review my Google Calendar, I like to review my list of Monthly Goals & Projects. I like to do this before I even think about moving forward unfinished business so I can keep my priority projects for the month at the front of my mind. This helps me keep me from being bogged down by a bunch of small stuff I didn’t get to the week before.
This is also when I review my Monthly Strategy, which I keep in the front of my planner. My monthly strategy is just a list of the routine things I should be doing during the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th weeks of the month. They aren’t hard and fast rules, but more like small reminder to remember to pay bills, make appointments, and review my budget.
3. Review Last Week’s Unfinished Business
Once I have my “big rocks” or anchors from my Google Calendar and Monthly Goals/Projects in my weekly to-do list, I like to review the unfinished business from the previous week. Some weeks have more unfinished business than others, but no matter what is left over, I don’t automatically move it forward to the next week.
When I review my unfinished tasks from the week before, I like to read through each task and ask myself “Is this something that I really need to work on this week?”. If it is, I move if forward to my upcoming weekly list. If it is something that I still need to do, but doesn’t need to get done right away, I’ll usually put that task on my monthly to-do list to re-visit at a future week in the month.
If the task is something that I’ve moved forward several times and I don’t think is really necessary to complete, I’ll usually just cross it off my list. I’m a big fan of leaving behind tasks that don’t serve any purpose or aren’t important anymore.
After I review my unfinished business from my previous week’s list, I also like to look through all my daily to-do lists from the previous week to review any lingering open tasks that I didn’t get to.
In a perfect world, I would do my weekly planning on a Sunday to be ready to go on Monday morning. However, I tend to wait until Monday morning to do my weekly planning routine. It feels more natural to me since I usually see Monday as my start to the week anyways, and it’s a nice way to ease into Monday morning for me.
Some week’s, my overall weekly to-do list is longer and sometimes it’s shorter. I try to not overload myself on the week’s tasks like I’ve done in the past. I find I actually tend to get more done when I focus in on a few priority projects each week rather than trying to tackle everything for a given month.
Keeping a weekly to-do list really helps me break down my goals for a given month. This allows me to be more successful in completing more projects overall. I’d love to know if you have a weekly planning routine and how you set yourself up for success each week!
What is your weekly planning routine?