Jennifer starts off the show by discussing the idea of February as the New New Year (an idea she stole, and cannot remember to whom it should be attributed. Help!). By February 1st, many of us are back into old routines instead of keeping New Years Resolutions. The New New Year is the time when, on the chance it will happen, the change sticks. Or more likely, the time we tweak resolutions that didn’t work exactly as we started out, and now we’re ready to hit the ground running.
YOUR IDEAL WEEK
You can plan out your week, to some extent – at least creating an idea of the intentional use of your time and goals you’d like to accomplish, or you can field each moment as it comes. One is proactive, the other reactive.
Michael Hyatt compares this activity to a financial budget. We spend our money or time on paper so that we know the most important things are covered before we blow our money or time on the things that matter less. Unlike a financial budget, however, you can’t build up an “emergency fund” of time. The goal of this concept isn’t to create a rigid schedule, but rather to create a framework for the best version of a week you might like to have.
[spp-tweet “You can’t build up an “emergency fund” of time.”]
Mike Anderson compares it to a city zoning structure. The details around a particular shop being built – or a particular activity being scheduled – may vary, but blocks of time planned in advance ensure that you have balance throughout your week.
Michael (and the 5am Miracle’s Jeff Sanders) presents a beautiful excel spreadsheet that is very extensive. Jennifer failed miserably at repeated attempts to customize it, despite her love for Excel; it was just too much for this season of life.
Instead, Jennifer has adopted the idea heard on a recent podcast to create a calendar template with her ideal week. It’s subject to change, of course, but looks something like this:
Probably lots to tweak… but it’s a start. Margin areas for grocery, cleaning, tasks on GTD reminders list (for another post :))
By setting it up in ical (or Google Calendar, or similar programs) you can overlay the “schedule” onto your schedule as you make plans, and then hide it as you choose. It allows us to see what we want the days to look like without cluttering our calendar or making us feel guilty when it doesn’t line up.
Because friends, your ideal week will almost certainly NEVER happen. :)
Instead, consider this idea as a chance to see what we want our days to look like. If we want to work out or write a book or spend time with family or clean a particular room, it’s at the forefront of our minds when we are choosing how we’ll spend our time.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
TDL 011: Goal Setting and New Years Resolutions
How to Better Control your time by Desigining your Ideal Week (Michael Hyatt)
How to Consistently Achieve Your Ideal Week (Jeff Sanders)
Planning Your Ideal Week (Mike Anderson)
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