Workshop 6: Plan Your Week

Welcome back to the Living ROI Workshop Series. This is the last workshop in the series, and it’s where get to jump into the weekly practice, which will become one of your most important habits.

Let’s get started your life is waiting!

With the initial part of your journal complete, you are now ready to start your weekly practice! That is really the heart of Living ROI. Your soulful life comes from your consistent actions. It’s really the difference between living a life that just happens to you, versus making life happen. This is your life, each moment, each day, each week. That’s where it happens.

The first step in the weekly practice each quarter is to step back and look at what you’ve accomplished the last three months, and look at the big picture for the next three months.

Once you’ve been doing the weekly practice for a full quarter, it will be much easier for you to reflect back on the big events and projects from that time. And you will be amazed at what you’ve done. I’ve found, even on a weekly basis, we forget what we’ve accomplished, and that’s why looking back, acknowledging and celebrating, is part of this process.

The next part of the quarterly practice is to look forward as well. Here you identify what you know is coming up. And, even more importantly, you can determine what specific actions you’re going to take towards your goals.

Before we begin, I wanted to share few fundamentals that I have learned after spending more than 20 years studying and practicing the art and science of visioning, planning and living.

First, Find one or two kindred spirits to join you in the practice.
Second, Schedule time on a weekly basis for planning.
Third, Follow a consistent and simple practice.

The first action each week is to remind yourself what your top goals for the year are. That keeps them front and center as you plan your week.

Next, you will get to acknowledge and celebrate all that you accomplished last week, big and small. And let me tell you, I know for a fact that you did more than you can remember off the top of your head. Use your calendar, your email, your journal and even your social posts to help you remember.

The next step is to think broadly about your week. What are the most important things that can happen to make this a great week?

In the “my habits” section, you get to identify which habits you will focus on this week, and how many times. You can actually fill in which days you plan to do each habit, or you can just indicate how many days that week you will do the habit.

At the end of the week you add up what you actually did. I have to say that I’ve never been 100% on these habits. Sometimes I adjust my expectations week to week based on how I did the previous week and how busy I may be this coming week.

You can change up habits too. Sometimes a habit becomes so ingrained that you don’t need to write it down anymore, and you can add something new.

In the “my activities and actions for the week” section, you can get into the details of each day. Identify the big uses of your time; meetings, events, travel. From a very practical perspective, this is an opportunity to make sure you’re not double booked, and that you’re prepared for what’s coming up in the week.

There is a place for you to list your morning and evening rituals too. As well as space to identify a few things that are “just for you” – those activities that really feed your soul, that you will fit into this week.

In the inspiration section, you can list books or podcasts or other content that you plan to seek out to inspire and educate you. You can also capture quote or ideas from the past week that move you.

As you go through that activity, look at your calendar, think about what is coming up for your week, you will inevitably think about tasks and ideas that you want to capture, and we’ve created a separate page for this. In addition, there’s a full page for journaling throughout the week.

Testimonial from Jennifer:
Barbara and I have been friends for a number of years, and we made a decision to do a weekly practice, and she’s steered it beautifully. The benefit for me of a weekly practice has been coming back to my list of things to do, but with the tuning fork of my goals in mind.

Testimonial from Jo:
The weekly practice with Barbra & Jennifer has been really valuable to meet with 3 other business owners. We help keep each-other accountable, while also making sure that we follow our own priorities that we have set for ourselves. It’s been great, because Barbara is such a curator of the best ways to be successful and to be productive. From all that, we have gained all this valuable knowledge of how to really hone in on our priorities and make them happen on a weekly and daily basis.

Once you’ve completed your weekly practice, you can update your calendar. Also, be sure to communicate key activities with those who might be impacted, friends, co-workers, or your family. You might be home late one day and you need to let people know. Or maybe you have some travel coming up. Or Is there an event that you need to let others know about that they are a part of?

I’ve found there are fewer surprises and more delights in my weeks.

Through this weekly practice, you get to see if the way you’re actually spending your time, day-to-day, is lining up with your vision and goals for your life. And if it’s not, this is your opportunity to change it.

Thank you for taking the time to watch these workshops. My sincere hope is this practice will change your life, one week at a time, in ways that will astonish you.

Keep it up, and keep coming back. Your life is waiting!