Plan for the month or week ahead
I usually take the first day of the month to plan my month ahead. It helps me decide on targets and goals, and allows me to schedule the appropriate amount of time for each task. Unfortunately, even with the best monthly plan, variations and changes to my schedule are unavoidable. So I have learned to break down my monthly plan to weekly plans. It helps me readjust whenever any sudden changes to my plans happen.
I print out monthly calendars and weekly schedule sheets. On the first or second day of the month, I draft a rough monthly schedule of what I need to do (blogging, client work, research, teaching, preparation, speaking engagements, organizing events, etc.) Then, I break down those monthly plans to weekly schedules, including the number of hours I am devoting to each task. I also pencil in the personal time, including seeing my friends, doing laundry, etc. And then I just re-adjust the monthly plan as changes come along.
Do you have a monthly planning tool? Or how do you plan your workload?
Related posts:
- It’s OK to Plan Ahead… #BreatheYYJ @Breathe_Now (Session 1)
- Adding a data plan to a smartphone: A pretty smart idea
- Taking stock of your projects at the end of the month
- Planning for the month ahead
- Friday night plans
Wow, great tips.
At work, I use a to-do list and try to keep everything I’m working on on that list (along with aiming for inbox-zero).
But at home and in the rest of my personal life it’s much more chaotic and I haven’t made too much of an effort to be organized and plan, which means I end up wasting a whole lot of time.
Thanks for this post!
Glenn,
What I do is I apply all my tips to both my personal life and my work life
hehehe Glad the post is useful!
[...] so it makes sense that he values the importance of organization. Every month, Raul sits down to plan for the month or week ahead, laying out the tasks that need to be completed and how long each of them will take. How much [...]