The best way to plan and organize your monthly/ weekly/ daily TO-DOs is to paint the bigger picture first- Start with planning your year. Yearly goals can then be divided into quarterly goals, for Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4. If you didn’t start your yearly with specific goals in mind, remember that it’s not too late.
As we are already in the beginning of August, let’s make some goals for the rest of the year. Sit down with a notebook- paper & pen or go digital like me and write down everything that you want to do/achieve this year. Once you’re done with it, divide the goals by quarter, here, it would be for Aug & Sep and then for Q4(Oct, Nov & Dec). Now that you have your quarterly goals, plan on what you want to do in August so that you will be able to get closer to achieving your goals for the quarter. Do the same with September. For Q4 goals, divide them into monthly goals for Oct, Nov & Dec.
First, let’s consider August- keep your goals for Aug before you and plan your weeks and days. Asking yourself, ‘what can I do this week so that I’ll be able to get this done by the end of the month?’ will help you. I can’t believe I’m saying this as I have always been a paper & pen kind of a person but digital planning is the most efficient way to plan and keep track of our goals. It gives us the flexibility to plan our weeks & days more effectively.
Scheduling as much as we need to and as much as I can , gives us structure & clarity about what to do when. In my case, I have a full-time job, a family, especially a toddler to take care of and a side hustle. So, I need to have a schedule, otherwise things I need to do/ want to do can easily get lost somewhere in the daily demands of life. Scheduling allows me to allot time for the priorities I have in my life so that nothing is overlapping and I’m able to live a balanced life as much as possible. I use Google Calendar to schedule my weeks and days. I chose the colors that are very pleasant to the eye and go very well together. They are not too loud or too subtle but keeps your calendar and your mood bright 😊.
I have also found that ‘Time blocking‘ is the most effective technique to get organized with our tasks. It keeps us informed and eases us as we know what to do when. We can block our time according to our priorities and give enough time for the tasks we need/want to do. Planning your weeks/days ahead will keep us from having decision fatigue while also helping us to live our days more intentionally.
As much as planning our months, weeks and days is important, it’s equally important to allot some time to rest. Sundays are my rest days. I do not do anything work-related on Sundays except when it’s really and exceptionally required. It’s an intentional effort to not have ‘What can I work on today’ on my mind and just let myself be free to rest, relax and be refreshed in my body, mind and spirit. I have a Sunday checklist that makes me feel happy, rested and refreshed- you can download it here if you want to.
At the end of the day, living life according to my priorities is very important to me and that is what I call a ‘Balanced life’.
Balanced life(my def.) is intentionally living life according to your priorities and not letting life slip away in the daily demands
I sincerely hope that you also work towards living a balanced life.
Do you see a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings
Proverbs 22:29