Achieving Life Goals Daily Through Weekly Planning

Everyone acknowledges the power of goals and goal setting for accomplishing what you want from life. Thanks to so much literature available on net and in books, setting goals and establishing priorities has now become quite simple. However, the real challenge is to ACT. No matter how well defined and realistic your goals are, how powerful your imagination and visualisation is, how knowledgeable you are, if you fail to plan and then execute that plan, you will not achieve your goals. So the toughest part is to follow your goals by planning and acting. When it comes to acting, the greatest hindrances I have observed are the lack of motivation (as there is no/less short term or instant gratification while working on tasks of long term goals) and lack of focus (urgent and less important tasks taking priority over important long term tasks).

Over the period of time, I have used different time management and organizing systems, with varying degree of success, to remain focused, motivated and committed towards my long term goals. However, for the last 5 years, I am following a “weekly planning with daily action plan” strategy with great degree of success. Some people only plan one day at a time; however, I prefer to be more forward looking than a single day. Therefore, I plan at least one week at a time. I use significant project milestones in my weekly planning and break those milestones into smaller components as daily tasks, accomplishing these daily. I have concluded that weekly scheduling is important for the overall success of bigger project/long term goal but it is the daily planning that will help me track my progress and determine whether or not I am on schedule. Following “weekly planning with daily action plan” approach, I had not only been productive but also enjoy my life more with a greater sense of fulfilment. I would like to give due credit to Stephen Covey and his book “First Things First”, on which this approach is based. Of course, I have refined it over the period so that it harmonises with my unique personality and work habits (or vice versa). Here is how I go about weekly planning for achieving my goals:

1. Top Down Approach For my weekly planning, I use top down approach. I have long term/life goals that I review every quarter and plan milestones/activities that I must reach/carryout to move me “considerably closer” towards my goals. This quarterly goal sheet is my blueprint for weekly planning and re-adjustments every month. So effectively, I am reviewing my progress every week and every month for my quarterly goals.

2. Whole Person Approach I plan my week for the whole ME; body, mind, heart and soul. Within these categories, I have certain roles; husband and father, GM/career/job, family member (brother, son) and friend, learner, teacher and guide, community worker etc (and now a Blogger as well). My weekly planning always covers the 4 areas. I try to accommodate some activity, no matter how small, in each roles of my life. It may be as small a task as sending an e-mail to an old friend, just five minutes to connect with my true self or a brief meditation session, but I make sure that each role of my life is touched during the week. Emphasis on a particular role may vary from week to week; however, I ensure that I maintain a balance over a longer period (1-3 months).

3. Dedicated Planning Time Over the period of time, I have realised that planning my week cannot be treated as a random activity. One has to dedicate a specific time slot for planning; making it a habit and doing it religiously. So I do my weekly planning Sunday mornings, mostly after my morning workout, when the kids are still asleep and I have a total interruption free and relaxed time. When I initially started weekly planning, it used to take me quite long. However, since the time that I have set my long term plans and goals clearly, it now takes me a maximum of an hour to plan the week.

4. Review of Preceding Week The planning process starts with a quick review of last weeks activities: achievements and shortcomings. I then consult my quarterly goals and adjust activities to offset the shortfalls and capitalise on achievements.

5. Adjust Big Rocks First This is one of the most important planning and time management concept that I have learnt. I took this idea from Stephen Covey’s “First Things First”. For those of you who have not read this book, I strongly recommend to have a copy and read it. I have found this philosophy very useful for my quarterly as well as weekly planning. I always adjust my big rocks first; long term goal setting, planning, process development, high leverage activities etc, for the individual days of the week. These normally occupy 2-5 hours of my daily time. I then fill in the gaps with less important (but may be urgent) activities. Since I am planning for a week, I normally have a good idea of comparatively less important but time critical activities (the deadlines) for the week. This way, I remain focused on bigger picture but at the same time, am able to handle day to day urgent issues.

6. Scheduling Interruptions No matter how well a person plans his time, there will always be new tasks or interruptions coming up throughout the day that need immediate action. I therefore never cram every minute of my day and normally leave 10-30% buffer time (depending upon expected “unexpectedness” of the week) to handle the unexpected. If nothing unexpected comes, great; I’ll use this time for other projects, planning and thinking. If volume of interruptions is too large, I follow Covey’s advice “exercise integrity in the moment of choice” to decide whether to entertain the interruption or not. The guiding principles for me are

a. Is it a good opportunity, aligned with my life’s mission/long term goals?
b. People are more important than schedules

If I decide to entertain the interruption and thus am unable to complete day’s tasks, I carry forward those tasks to next day’s buffer time.

7. Planning Entire Week I don’t plan the work days only, I plan the entire week. In fact, bulk of my social, family and personal development activities (sharpening the saw) are scheduled during the weekend. My weekend activities also affect my weekday plans. For example, if I have to arrange a dinner on Saturday, I’ll plan shopping on Friday or Thursday. On the other hand, I can use after dinner chat on Sunday evening with a business partner for some decisions, for which I’ll have to dedicate more formal time during my weekday. Over the time I have experienced that my weekend plans have a major contribution in my overall effectiveness.

8. Personal Time Scheduling some “personal time” is a must for my weekly plan. It includes some time for exercise (I normally have at least 2x30 minutes sessions in the morning and 2-3 sessions in the evening every week), quality time with the family (normally aim at going for joint activities such as visiting a new town together, watching a good movie together, playing together, teaching kids something new etc) learning something (sharpening the saw), or just that occasional lazy letting go time (which is normally unplanned but adjusted in the schedule afterwards) to have the feeling of “going with the flow”.

9. Adjusting Daily Activities I adjust my daily activities to optimise my use of time. This could be in the form of combining activities (listening to a podcost/music while exercising), grouping together similar activities (research for an article and some fun time on net, walk with shopping) etc. I also experiment with planning prolonged sessions of mental work and alternating between physical and mental work. It is totally personal choice; through experience, I know which mental sessions I should prolong and which mental activity will need to be interleaved with physical activity for better results.

10. Frequent Reviews Frequent reviews of daily plans and activities are very important for re-adjustment and re-defining of the priorities. In my case, I review my daily plan and activities 2-3 times everyday for about 2-4 minutes each time. These reviews are random; however, I always review the day at night.

11. Breaks My breaks during the day are planned as well as random. These do not necessarily mean rest; these may be switching of tasks. If I am stuck in a task and am not making a headway, I prefer to have a break or do something entirely different and then comeback to the task.

12. Organising and De-clutter Time Couple of years ago, I used to view de-cluttering as irritating and time wasting. Not any more. I have observed that 10-15 minutes of de-cluttering daily and a 30 minute de-clutter session on Friday afternoon is a great investment. Organising and de-cluttering is now a regular feature of my weekly planning.

13. End of Week Review At the end of each week I ask myself important questions like “What did I learn from this past week? Did I focus on the most important items?” etc and analyse how well the week has gone.

Practical Implementation

What tools are to be used for practical implementation of the planning? It is a matter of personal choice. I have tried different approached; PDA, organisers, palmtops, different software etc. But the best I have found is pen and paper, with computer and PDA just playing a small support role.

a. I use a diary with complete week on two opposite pages, facing each other, so with one glance I am able to see how my schedule looks for the 7-day period. Top of the page shows dates, days, day No of the year, remaining days and month’s calendar on the top right. Under the date for each day, there are lines representing the hours, so I can write each task or event at the correct time. I carry my diary with me all the time.

b. When planning my week, I have red, green and blue pens with me as well as a pencil. I write my “big rocks”, “Must Do” and the important tasks in red. Other tasks are written in green and blue, depending upon importance. There are certain other tasks which are my “may be” lists. These I write in pencil, so if required, I can erase and replace these.

c. I staple two blank pages on the next pages of the diary. On one of these, I write additional important and urgent tasks which come up during the week. I adjust these tasks in the weekly planning for that specific week or the next week. On the other page, I write ideas, “may be”, general information which I translate into useful data and file/act afterwards.

d. My quarterly goals for the present quarter are stapled on the first page of diary. Also, I keep a 2-3 page summary of my long term planning/goals in the inside jacket of my diary.

e. Whenever I complete a task, I circle it in green. A task which is not completed on schedule is circled in red and shifted to an available time slot in the week, with an arrow showing the shift. Greater number of green circles, better the week is. SIMPLE.

f. I do shift some of tasks on my computer planner. These are normally long term tasks which need analysis/further data.

Results

1. I have been following this approach since last 4-5 years (improving gradually over period of time) and have experienced really great results in terms of productivity and fulfilment. This approach connects bid goals with small tasks. So as I understand the link between a small task and big goal, I feel the motivation to accomplish the task. Accomplishing the task, no matter how small it is, brings me closer to a bigger goal, which is extremely satisfying. This turns in to an upward spiral: More motivation, more satisfaction, greater desire to accomplish more tasks, more satisfaction, more motivation ….. At times I keep on working for hours and hours on tasks which I dreaded to start a couple of years ago. I now see the end results and feel more energized to accomplish the linked task.

2. I am able to build and maintain momentum on a daily basis and hence achieve extraordinary results.

3. I have a better accountability and review system. I know where I stand at any given moment and know what to do to reach my desired position.

4. I rarely find myself short of time. The expression “I wish there were 48 hours in a day” is the thing of past. I have more time and more importantly, quality time.

5. Carefully planned breaks keep me energized to work on and complete tasks.

6. Weekly planning and daily actions have greatly reduced my stress quotient. Planning gives me the peace of mind that things are under control, I have plan for projects and am getting closer to my goals with completion of each task. Having buffer time for emergencies enables me to tackle the unexpected with out any stress.

7. I now have better control over my life.

8. I am not missing any part, any area of my life. My bodily needs are met. My social and emotional relationships have improved. I pursue my passions, spirituality and learning. So overall, this approach has really delivered for me. My sincere thnaks to Stephen Covey.


So, what are you waiting for? Plan your week right now. Or at least, earmark a time slot within next 2 days for this activity.