0:02

Good morning. This is Laura. Today's

0:04

tip is to plan your weeks on

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Fridays. So this

0:09

will probably not surprise you, But

0:11

I like to plan. Okay,

0:13

fine, I love to plan. There

0:16

is nothing I like more than sitting down to plan

0:18

what I'm going to do with myself, what my family

0:20

members are going to do with themselves. Shockingly,

0:23

my family members don't always go along

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with these plans. Imagine that must

0:28

be fun to be married to or parented

0:30

by me. Anyway, just

0:32

because you're planning doesn't mean

0:34

you're doing it in the most effective way.

0:37

A few years ago, I made a change in

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how I plan that has really made

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a difference in my life and might be helpful

0:44

for you as well. So to start

0:46

my story, A long, long

0:48

time ago, I read the late Stephen

0:51

Covey's book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective

0:53

People. It's really a great book if you haven't

0:55

read it. He talks about planning

0:57

your life in weeks, and I think this

0:59

is really smart. Weeks

1:01

are the cycle of life as we actually

1:04

live it, not days.

1:06

I mean, what's a typical day for you?

1:09

Is it Tuesday or is it Saturday?

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They both occurred just as often, and they

1:14

both have the same number of hours, but

1:16

I'm guessing they look pretty different for you. Weeks

1:20

give you an accurate picture. So

1:22

after reading Seven Habits, I started sitting

1:24

down on Sunday evenings and planning

1:27

the upcoming week. Then

1:29

a few years after that, I got

1:31

the chance to interview David Allen. A

1:33

lot of listeners of this podcast probably know him

1:36

as the author of Getting Things Done. That's

1:38

also a great book. I mentioned

1:40

my Sunday planning to him, and he told

1:42

me that a lot of his clients reviewed

1:44

and planned their weeks on Fridays.

1:48

So I decided to try Fridays, and

1:50

specifically Friday afternoons.

1:53

I'm a big fan of the switch. Sunday

1:56

planning is great, but Friday afternoon

1:58

is even better. Here's why.

2:01

First, I don't know about you, but

2:04

Friday afternoon is not exactly my peak

2:06

productivity time. I am usually

2:08

doing nothing of consequence by Friday afternoon.

2:11

I am sliding into the weekend. I'm not answering

2:13

my phone, I am hiding out so no one can find

2:15

me. It is really hard to start

2:18

anything new on Friday afternoon, but

2:21

I can usually summon the energy to think about

2:23

what future me should be doing. And

2:25

by taking a few minutes on Friday afternoon to

2:27

plan the week ahead, I turn what would

2:29

have been wasted time into some

2:31

of my most productive minutes of the week. Friday

2:34

planning also gives me better weekends in

2:37

two ways. First, even

2:39

if you love your job, you can

2:41

always feel a little bit of Sunday

2:43

trepidation. You know what this is.

2:46

There's like an avalanche of work waiting for

2:48

you on Monday, but you don't know exactly

2:50

what or know how you're going to deal with

2:52

it. If you make a plan on Sunday

2:54

night, well, you've spent much of the weekend

2:57

cohabitating with that sense of unease.

3:00

If you plan Monday morning on Friday,

3:02

though, well you've got a plan so

3:05

you don't have to spend your weekend worrying about it. And

3:08

just as a side note, if this plan involves

3:10

meeting with people. Making your plan on

3:12

Friday means that you can call or email them.

3:14

They're probably still at their desks so they'll

3:17

respond, which might not be the case if

3:19

you try and get in touch with them on Sunday night.

3:22

Second, if you haven't thought about your

3:24

weekend, Friday planning gives

3:26

you a chance to call friends, make

3:28

reservations, buy tickets,

3:30

whatever you need to do. This vastly

3:33

increases the chances that your weekends are awesome

3:36

rather than forgettable. So if

3:38

you plan on Fridays, then I hope you will

3:40

just take a few minutes to think about the week ahead.

3:43

Make yourself a short three

3:46

category priority list career,

3:49

relationships, self. Making

3:53

a three category list reminds

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us that you should put something in all

3:57

three categories. It is pretty

4:00

hard to make a three category list and then leave

4:02

one of the categories blank, So

4:06

that right there is going to nudge you to have a

4:08

more balanced life. But anyway,

4:10

just a short list two to three items

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in each, look

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at the next week, see where they can go,

4:18

plan them in. Just like that,

4:20

you're putting first things first in your life.

4:23

I think Stephen Covey would approve of that. This

4:26

is Laura, Thanks for listening, and

4:28

here's to making the most of our time. Hey,

4:36

everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

4:38

You can send me your tips, your questions, or

4:40

anything else. Just connect with

4:42

me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

4:45

at before Breakfast pod that's

4:48

B the number four then

4:50

Breakfast p o D. You

4:53

can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

4:55

podcast at iHeart media dot Com

4:58

that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the

5:00

letters. Thanks so much, I look

5:02

forward to staying in touch. H