3 Compelling Reasons to Create a Weekly Plan

Beginning the week with a plan enables us to get an overview of our appointments, review our objectives, and allows us the opportunity to adjust our schedules if needed.  

I don’t always focus on a weekly plan. In fact, most of the time, I work through a daily sheet in my bullet journal. But, this week, I took a look at my calendar and realized I needed to pull back and create a weekly plan. There were far too many objectives on Monday to get them all done, and I needed to adjust things before I got overwhelmed.  

This week, I have some contractors coming to the home to give us some quotes on exterior painting. I have blog posts to write, meals to plan, and my book just returned from my editor. Oh, and virtual school to supervise.

I looked at my Monday, and there were too many things to do and not enough time in the day. I decided to pull back and add a weekly planning sheet to my bullet journal. Taking that small step allowed me to see the week with more clarity and focus.  

Going through this planning exercise was a great reminder of how valuable this can be as we head into a new week.

Three Compelling Reasons to do a Weekly Plan

I let the weekly plan go when everything shut down for the pandemic. I didn’t have anything to do outside of the home, so I could do my chores whenever I wanted to. There was a considerable amount of flexibility, and my calendar was wide open. Why would I need a plan when I had nothing to do?

Fast forward a year, and while I’m not going out regularly, I am doing more things. I have writing goals both on the blog and also with my book. I’m adding more social media activities. I’m also trying to work on some summer planning as we look ahead to Ken graduating. My husband is in the middle of reconstruction after his skin cancer diagnosis. With that comes appointments, bills, and recovery planning. 

On Sunday, I looked at the upcoming week and realized that I needed to pull up before I crashed and burned.

One of the things that I love about my digital bullet journal is that it allows me to pivot instantly when my needs changed. I had weekly templates ready, and all I needed to do was drop in a page and begin writing.  

Here’s what I discovered when I began writing down my weekly obligations.

1. Overview 

I was able to see my week in one glance when I wrote down my appointments and my to-dos. I began filling in the things I had for each day, and I actually ran out of room on a few of the days. I had way too much scheduled for Monday, and I had plenty of open space on Wednesday and Friday.

I kept writing the meetings and the goals I had down, even when I had to write a little smaller to make it all fit.  

Then, once I finished, I took a look at what the week looked like. Having it all on one page allowed me to have a visual overview of my week.  

I looked at Monday, and I felt a wave of overwhelm come over me. There was no way I would be able to do it all. I needed to prioritize and move things around.  

I ended up doing a few things to ease the schedule on Monday. I did my weekly meal planning on Sunday evening when I had some downtime. I also ordered my groceries in advance. They would show up on Monday, but I wouldn’t need to take the time that day to place the order.

I also moved a painting estimate to a different day. This would enable me to have more time to write and upload this blog post!

2. Objectives

I noticed that having a weekly plan helped me to clarify my objectives for the week. What were the most critical things that I needed to do this week? I needed to reflect if I was prioritizing my time most efficiently and effectively to move these objectives forward.

One of the most important things I need to do this week is to review the most recent edits I have received on my book. Then, I need to write down a list of questions for my editor. We will have a Zoom meeting to go over my next steps and to answer any of my closing questions for her. After this final meeting, I will move into a different editing phase, seek out beta readers, and hire a copy editor. I must be prepared for this meeting so that we can be effective.

There are other things on my plan that are important as well. We need to have food for the week. I would like to make sure I stay on track to publish new posts on the blog. Laundry needs to get done.  

These things are essential. But if I’m not careful, I will fill my days with these routine tasks and skip the high-level tasks that will move my big projects forward.  

Weekly planning helps me to balance the day-to-day objectives with my long-term goals.

3. Opportunity

As I was writing down my weekly plan, I realized that I had a window of opportunity to adjust my days before they happened. A light bulb went off in my head. If I didn’t like the way a day was looking, I had an opportunity to move things around before I got overwhelmed.

I had a choice. I could keep it the way it was, or I could make a shift.

I embraced the opportunity to plan ahead in order to have the time in my day to write. I’m finishing this up on Monday afternoon, and I’m thanking myself for the decisions I made yesterday.

This opportunity to plan for a more peaceful week is available to us. We need to think creatively as we approach our obligations.  

If you are more productive at work in the mornings, then perhaps you reserve that time for the most critical parts of your job. Block out that time in advance and then communicate to your coworkers what your preferences are. 

If you like being the first in the doctor’s office in the morning, ask for the early appointments. I prefer afternoon appointments, so that is when I schedule my visits.

It is incredible how a few moments spent looking at our weekly plan can preserve our peace throughout the week.  

I felt stressed out when I first wrote out my schedule this week. After taking some time to look at the overview of my week, I made some shifts. I identified my critical objectives for the week and then took advantage of the opportunity to move my tasks around to suit my energy level.

How do you approach your week? Share your weekly planning strategies in the comments so that we can learn from each other!

And, grab my free weekly planning pages in the resource library.  Subscribe for access!