10 Best Practices For Planning Your Week

Achieving your goals starts with planning. If you want to be successful in anything, you need to make time for it and plan accordingly.

Being productive is a vital part of success! In this blog post, we will go over the best tips on how to successfully plan your week so that you can achieve all of your personal and professional goals.

1. Get an overview of your week with a calendar or planner

Calendars and planners are great tools to help you plan your week. These can be physical or digital, but both have the same goal- providing a visual overview of how your week will progress.

This is an excellent way to start planning because it forces you to take some time out of your day (or night) in order to look at how many appointments/projects/tasks you already have before getting into scheduling anything else for that particular day.

It also helps if someone who isn't too good with organization gets input from their partner!

2. Break out your to-do list into manageable chunks

Break out your to-do list into manageable chunks. This will make it easier for you and your team members to see how much is being accomplished, how much time each task takes, and how long the project as a whole should take if everything goes according to plan.

Break down these tasks into smaller ones that can be tackled one at a time (i.e., "write a blog post" becomes "create an outline," then break out sub-tasks such as research sources).

And remember not to procrastinate! You might think there are countless hours in the day--but they go by too quickly when you're in the moment of doing something else or trying so hard just get started on what needs to be done.

3. Prioritize tasks that need to be done ASAP, and the ones with urgent deadlines.

.If you have a deadline coming up in the next couple of weeks, then prioritizing tasks that need to be done ASAP is a must. But how do you know which ones are high priority?

Consider how long it will take for any given task and how much time there is left until the deadline: if your project has two hours left before the due date, then some important steps might need to happen right away--especially those related to advertising or promotion.

If deadlines come with an extended lead time (like publishing), make sure you're making use of all that time by setting reminders and checking them off as they pass.

4.  Use the Pomodoro technique if you get distracted easily when working on projects (25 minutes of work followed by 5 minutes of break)

The Pomodoro technique is a great way to stay on task when you have the tendency to get distracted by other things.  It's really easy to follow and works like this:

Work for 25 minutes straight without getting up from your seat or switching tasks, then take a five-minute break before starting another round of work.

This strategy will help you focus more intensely in short bursts while also giving yourself time away from your computer screen which decreases eye strain and fatigue.

5. Make sure you're getting enough sleep - this is so important! 

The hours of sleep you get each night can have a huge impact on how productive and happy you are. So make sure that you're getting enough rest every day so that everything else is easier!

6. Schedule in time for yourself and relaxation 

If you plan out how much time needs to be allocated for work, sleep, eating, and relaxation then it will help keep everything in balance. It can also make sure that if anything gets cut short during the week there's something left over for yourself or family members who might need more attention than usual.

Set aside at least one hour a day towards self-care or doing something relaxing like taking a bath. The schedule may not always allow this but just do what you can and take care of yourself along with everyone else!

7. Break large tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces 

Sometimes, it can feel like the tasks on your to-do list are too big and overwhelming. So how do you handle them? Break the larger task into smaller pieces that are easier to manage!

For example, rather than focusing only on how much work needs to be done in general for a project, break up those large tasks into sub-tasks with specific deadlines and more manageable responsibilities.

Now when one aspect is completed or becomes obsolete, you can move onto another without having wasted time working on something outdated

8. Be flexible - allow some room in your schedule for unexpected events or emergencies that may arise during the week

Being flexible is key for how to plan your week. If something comes up on Monday that requires you to cancel a meeting, or if the person who is supposed to present at a conference call has an emergency and needs someone else to fill in for them, it will be much easier to rearrange your schedule then if everything had been set in stone beforehand.

This doesn't mean that you should leave yourself completely vulnerable though; instead of booking every single possible minute of your day from six AM until midnight each day, give yourself some room for emergencies by leaving out chunks of time during different parts of the day so as not have too many things scheduled back-to-back.

9. Add in personal time - things you want to do such as exercise or meet up with friends

Personal time is necessary for your well-being, and you should not be neglecting it. You need to think about how much time you have available when planning your week so that personal time is included.

Personal activities such as spending some quality time with friends or going for a run are important parts of how we keep ourselves balanced but can often get pushed aside in favor of work demands. If you're taking care of yourself then in turn this will make you more focussed and productive at work which ultimately contributes towards success on the job!

So next time before putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), ask yourself how many hours do I want? What have I personally committed to already? How much solo alone space do I require each day/week?

10. Plan out meals and grocery shopping trips 

Planning out your meals for the week will get you off on the right foot. If you're not sure how to plan out your meals, then just start with breakfast and lunch for Monday through Friday.

Your grocery trips will go much more smoothly if you know what needs to be bought.

Planning how your meals are structured will also help with deciding how many grocery trips you need to make during the week, and when they should take place.

If you buy a lot of fresh produce and raw ingredients for home cooking, then it's best to plan at least one or two shopping trips into your weekly schedule.

Grocery stores can become overwhelming on busy days due to long checkout lines and other customers in the store vying for limited resources such as open checkouts, cashiers, carts, and parking spaces; so try planning your groceries around these factors too!

Final Thoughts

When you’ve planned your week, take time to review it and see how each day is going. If something needs adjusting or tweaking, do so as soon as possible while the idea is fresh in your mind!

You can always tweak things later if need be, but sometimes we forget what changes we have already made. By reviewing our plan at the end of every day (or even just once a week), we will not only know where there are opportunities for improvement but also remember all of those great ideas that floated by us during the busy days.

We hope these pointers help make planning your week easier and more productive- let us know if they work for you too!