Thursday's Time tip: Planning a week at a time.

As promised last week, I said I’d talk about planning a week at a time. True, we live a day at a time, but we work in weeks. We plan things for next week, or week after next, or later this week. And those infamous words from the old, old tv serials, “Last week as you will recall.”

So we should be able to plan out a week at a time. The “to do” list is still there, as well as your priorities, but it takes on a little different look. Instead of thinking what has to be done today, and what priorities there are, stop and take a look at your relationships and goals.

What are your roles? Mother/Father? Brother/Sister? Son/Daughter? Employer/Employee? Best friend? Adviser/Mentor? Student? Define your roles. Then think about who you need to see and what you need to do for someone else. Pick a day and time where those things will happen.

Lay out personal time for things you need to do for yourself.

So on a piece of paper write down your roles and what needs to be done this week. What needs to be strengthened? Projects for work and map out times for those. Work your way down the list and place those items on the day and time they need to be done. You’ll fill up your week, and with effort you’ll be able to accomplish what you need to do with those you need to be doing those things with.

I’ll cover more about this in future posts, but this is a brief overview of how to approach a week of planning.

The inescapable fact of both methods (daily and weekly) is you have to stop what you’re doing and think about your goals, and things that need to be done. You must take time to plan.