Setting Weekly Goals and Planning Your Schedule

          I have a confession…….I’m totally old school when it comes to keeping up with my schedule. I have yet to jump on the digital scheduling bandwagon. It drives Kent nuts that I keep up with my schedule the old fashion way, pen and paper. He’s constantly showing me scheduling apps I can use on my phone or trying to get me to keep track of things through Google's calendar feature BUT I like tangible things ANNNND being able to cross items off my list so I have embraced the fact that I am not hip when it comes to my planner of choice! 

Actually I’m not hip when it comes to a lot of things! If you follow me on Twitter I’m sure you’ve caught onto this!

          I purchased an Erin Condren planner this year. It’s my 1st time using her planner and I’m hooked. Love how detailed it is. It’s perfect for an obsessive list maker/planner like myself.  It’s taken me a month or so to figure out how I wanted to go about using the planner and creating a system that works but I think I’ve got it down. Let’s chat a bit about how I layout my weekly goals!

 

I start every Monday with a cup of coffee and my Weekly Wishes. Yes I am lame and like to give things cheesy names. Come on you know you like to do it too! My Weekly Wishes are just that, my wishes or goals for the week. Things I need and want to accomplish.

 

I break everything down into categories (Health, Home, Work, and Relationships). Some weeks I may have more categories depending on what’s going on but these are always my core.  

 

Health: When setting my health goals for the week I come up with my workout schedule and other health related things I want to focus on. For this particular week I had been on a plateau so I really wanted to focus on my workouts and portion control. This week I’m focusing on my water intake as well as my diet. I have decided to drink a green smoothie as a meal replacement a few times this week. I’m happy to report that my plateau has been broken!  

Home: This is an area I struggle with. I put in a lot of hours in the office, hit the gym 7-8 hours a week, and am pooped when it comes to my keeping my house clean and organized. I’m just not motivated in this area. 2012 is my year of organization (see something else I have given a name to.) sooooo all the clutter and unorganized closets are going down! Each week I pick a home organization project. Last week I wanted to start working on my studio transformation. This week I’m tackling my nightstand! I also include things like change the sheets, put away all laundry…stuff like that. 

Work: I use my Erin Condren planner for work and my personal life so I also keep up with my work task for the week through this planner. Under work I write meetings I may have, e-mails I need to reply to, shoots on the calendar, photos that need attention, sessions and so on.

Relationships: I’m always striving to be a good wife/friend/daughter/aunt…... I am in no way the best which is why I’m always working on it but it’s an area in my life that is important to me and deserves focus. I think at times we get comfortable in our relationship whether it be a marriage, friendship, or even a relationship with your family member. We can take those closes to us for granted. Under the relationship category I write things like leave Kent a love note, tell him randomly 5 things I love about him, call my mom, send my friend a birthday card, set up a coffee date with a friend …..stuff like that.  

 

Once everything is all typed up I print it out, add a colorful tab to it so I can easily flip to it, and paper clip it to my planner.

The next thing I do is break everything down into days. I look over my Weekly Wishes and decided what I want to tackle each day of the week and jot it down.

 

*Note I NEVER write in my planner in a pen. It freaks me out! Yes I am weird!

 

As the week goes on and I accomplish my tasks I cross items off my Weekly Wishes sheet. At the end of the week I have a neon yellow highlighted beauty staring back at me and I can give myself a pat on the back! 

I have ADD (self diagnosed but I swear I have it) and this system is helping me a lot. Feel free to copy away if you think it’s something that would work for you. Create categories on your Weekly Wishes page that work for you and your lifestyle. 

 

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