It’s Sunday, and in a few hours I’m going to sit at my kitchen table to plan the next 5 days.
It’s something I do every Sunday night, before the start of another work-week.
“Oh, you’re one of those type-A planning freaks,” you say?
Yeah, kind of, but not really.
What I am is someone who hates it when colleagues start emailing me Sunday night.
They think they’re getting ahead of their week...
They request status updates on every project they can think of. They start asking questions.
They schedule meetings with me, with others, and drop action items in everyone’s inbox.
The fact of the matter is, while I appreciate the proactive hustle, they’re interrupting my day off, and they’re not helping themselves.
Firing off random emails Sunday night won’t set them up for for a week of success. It’s just busy work, which will make little meaningful impact on their goals before they leave for the
weekend.
Of course, neither can you have a successful week if you don’t know where you’re going. Working hard without direction is also busy work; you may get a lot done, but will probably get no closer to where you need to go.
And knowing where you’re going is half of what this Sunday planning is all about.
So, sometime before turning in for the night, take 15 minutes and do this exercise:
- Choose ONE project or ONE action you can accomplish over the next 5 working days. Something that will take you closer to your goals. Something that will be cause for a mini-celebration. Write it down.
- List every task you will need to do to finish this project or action. Every phone call, every meeting, everything. Write it down.
- For each task, schedule a meeting with yourself to get it done (invite others if you’ll need their help). Spread these meetings over the course of your week (front load them where possible to account for any slippage or unknown problems).
When you’re done, you should have a clear direction, schedule, and plan to get one step closer to your goals.
Happy planning. See you at the finish line.
⠀
PS. If you have another planning method you use Sunday, let us all know in the comments below!
About the Author
Michael Mehlberg
HUSBAND, FATHER, ENTREPRENEUR, BUSINESS STRATEGIST, AUTHOR, FITNESS NUT, ORGANIZATION FREAK, PRODUCTIVITY JUNKIE
I help high-achieving entrepreneurs live their passion and achieve their dreams by consistently saving time, getting productive, and being more efficient and organized.
Subscribe to my free, short, 60-second newsletter for tips, tricks, links, products, and other discoveries to becoming a more purposeful, passionate, and productive human.