Bonjour. This is Cyril from Work Smarter, Live Better.
In this video, I want to talk about the importance of making the time once a week to stop and plan your week ahead.
I am currently in Noumea New Caledonia. It is so good to come back to my French roots. New Caledonia is part of France, yet it’s only two and a half hours away from Sydney. How great is it to find French cheeses, French restaurants and being immersed in French again. ‘Formidable!’.
Yesterday, I was working with a group of managers. We spent a whole day focusing on how to plan your time, how to prioritize and how to clarify your priorities. One of the exercises we did is the weekly plan. Every week I suggest that you stop and plan the week ahead. I suggest you spend the time to really think about your key priorities, the next steps for each and you book meetings with yourself in your calendar. Having gone through the weekly plan exercise, it was interesting to get the following feedback:
One of the participants used the word ‘excitement’. I asked why she was so excited?. Her response was: ‘Because, now, I really understand what I need to do next week. I’m not going to sit down every day wondering where to start with all my to-do list. I’ve really planned it. I’ve organized it. I made some tough choices, and I’m actually quite excited about my next week.”
Another person used the word ‘apaise’ meaning at peace. She stated: “The fact that I spent the time to really plan my week ahead, which I had never done before, makes me feel in control and actually not stressed about the week ahead.”
I can’t stress enough how important it is to spend half an hour to 45 minutes every week planning your week ahead. Look at all your top priorities. Look at your to-do list. Make some tough choices, some tough decisions about what you will and will not do, and move the selected tasks in your calendar. A very, very important step.
This is this week’s Work Smarter: Live Better tip. I hope you enjoy it. I’m actually taking the day off. I am now off to go spearfishing, which is a passion of mine.
Bonne journee
