Table of Contents
Create a weekly routine
Make Work Easier
I’m willing to bet that sometimes you feel guilty for spending your time the way you do. When you’re cleaning, you’re worried that you should be catching up on email. When you’re working, you’re afraid you should be spending more time at home with your family.
I have 100% been there.
A tool I use to combat this constant guilt: my weekly routine!
Like budgeting your money
When you have a budget for your money, you’re creating a plan for how it will be spent. It’s not perfect, but it’s a guideline. You do two things when you budget: 1. Create smaller buckets of money from your overall pool. And 2. Ensure that every area you spend money has a bucket.
Once this is done, it frees you from constantly worrying about every little purchase. If you want to spend $20 at a restaurant, and you still have $60 left for restaurants, you can rest assured that it’s an okay expense. The money is there for restaurants and for all of the other things you have to pay for.
Weekly routines accomplish the same thing!
It works exactly the same for a weekly routine. Instead of looking at the entire pool of time and trying to decide what to spend it on, you 1. Create smaller buckets, and 2. Ensure that every area is accounted for!
Then, when you’re spending time working, you know that you’ll have leisure time coming up. It’s accounted for, so you can focus on the now.
Remember, a routine is an ideal
Just like a budget, a routine is an ideal. In other words, it’s your plan for how you’d spend time if you could control every minute.
Obviously, that’s never going to be possible. But, the framework helps put your mind at ease and allows you to focus.
My (current) weekly routine
Here’s a screenshot of my routine. Keep in mind that it’s a living document, so I’m tweaking it all the time! But, this is what it looks like right now:
Some issues I can already see with it: I’m not sleeping for long enough. Also, I don’t have enough leisure time (green). Will fix!
Things to include in your routine
Here are some ideas for buckets to include:
- Work
- Time for rest / rejuvination
- Buffer time (helps keep you on track, even after distractions)
- Process time
- Startup / shutdown time
Thanks to Michael Hyatt
Big thanks to Michael Hyatt and his book Free to Focus. Many of my ideas on this topic were made much more solid because of his work!
Download my weekly routine template!
Want to grab the template I used? I’m happy to share!
Plus, I’ll include a copy of my routine as a sample.
Gratitude
Make Life Easier
We’ve reached the end of season 2. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the folks who helped make the show possible:
Friends & Family
- My boyfriend Kevin
- My friends Janet, Colleen, Mary, and Christa
Easier Guests
- Amanda Freeman
- Shelbi Moore
- LaTasha James
- Brendan Gallagher
Thought Leaders
The ideas these folks share in their books and podcasts are a major source of inspiration for this show. They’re in no particular order.
- Michael Hyatt / Free to Focus
- Carl Pullein / Tutorials on Todoist (YouTube)
- Amy Porterfield / Online Marketing Made Easy
- Cynthia Kane / How to Communicate Like a Buddhist (Book) & Talk to Yourself Like a Buddhist (Book)
- David Allen / Getting Things Done (Book)
- Joe Pullizi / Content, Inc. (Book)
- Keith Cunningham / The Road Less Stupid (Book)
- Matthew Dicks / Storyworthy (Book)
- Dan Charnas / Work Clean (Book)
- Emily Wapnick / How to Be Everything (Book)
- Gretchen Rubin / Happier with Gretchen Rubin (Podcast), The Four Tendencies (Book)
- Josh Kaufmann / The Personal MBA (Book)
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15 Strategies for Getting More Done in a Day
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