I think we are all tired of hearing the word plan and getting vilified for not having one. "You should have planned ahead!" they say.
What if you love to fly by the seat of your pants? You want to see where the wind takes you.
I hate to break it to you but this is also a plan.
Why? Because a plan is really an intention.
That's right, you too are a planner.
Even if you hate planning you may love this exercise. (At least the first 3 steps)
Step 1: The Intention
I begin every week with my intention. I have a few words that illustrate my intention perfectly and if I'm not living these words then I'm going the wrong way.
Give
Care
Learn
Teach
As I sit down each Sunday to make my plan for the week these words are written at the top of my white board.
Step 2: The Tasks
I then list my tasks on the far left. These are the overarching themes in my business. (marketing, blog, client meetings, projects)
Step 3: The Purpose
What is the purpose of each task? You should be able to use your words at the top of the page in this column. You'll notice some tasks meet only one of your intentions while others meet all of them.
In my barebones version below you'll see that one on one coaching fulfills all four of my intentions. It's also the most rewarding task, which isn't shocking. You'll find the tasks that meet more needs will be more rewarding and give you a bigger sense of accomplishment. (But, everything on the list needs to be accomplished in order to run a fully functioning business, not just the most rewarding tasks)
Step 4: Action
List every action that needs to happen this week within a given category. Typically when I write out this category it's messy and I list more than can be accomplished. This helps me create clarity in the most important actions for each category to move forward and fulfill it's purpose for the week. (the version below is a mock version of my week, my actual plan looks like something out of "A Beautiful Mind")
Do not erase anything in this category until you complete step 5. This will help you decide how many of these tasks will be realistically completed.
Step 5: Allot Time
You're going to get excited so let's ground that in some reality. You're going to list time 3 different places.
At the top of the page - these are total hours for the week. (If you feel so inclined you can break this into a daily number as I've done here after the /)
Week - How many hours of your entire week do you want to spend on this task and actions within the task? You will see that I want to spend half of my work time with one on one clients and 38% of it in my life coach training. This leaves me 5 hours to work on what you are reading now.
Day - I realize this column is a forgone conclusion but it's important to see it written out because this is what you're days will look like. Is this an accurate representation of your day? Would you like it to be? The first time I did this activity I had too much time in tasks that I deemed noise and are no longer even on my weekly sheet. Bottom line, fill out this column and ground it in reality before erasing anything in the action column.
Step 6: Erase Actions
If you bit off more than you think you can chew erase actions that you know won't fit for the hours you have. Make sure to capture them in a document though so you don't lose them all together.
Why would someone do this that isn't a planner? Because life is short and we all should spend our time purposefully filling our time with the things that set our soul on fire.