All right. Let’s dive into AMAZING topic because it’s really fun. I’ve been thinking about this and this is something that I continually work on in my business and in my life. It’s really something that benefits me on both sides.
And over the last year, I’ve really been refining the idea of having an ideal week and determining what that looks for me and what tools and how I want to structure that. And I have finally got to this place where I am really loving it, it’s feeling good, I’m making really serious traction on spending more and more of my weeks in that ideal format that I’ve created. And I want to share that here with you.
So not only do I work on marketing strategy and business strategy with my clients, but a lot of times that work and that strategy turns into productivity, getting things done, thriving in our businesses and thriving in lives.
As busy business owners and executives, we need to really, really have this nailed down and have all of our productivity tools really sharp and working well for us. I mean the fact is that we are overwhelmed by promoting, marketing, delivering to our clients, maybe inventory if that’s something, or content creation if that’s something that you do, social media, all the things that come up with our lives as well. Maybe family activities, kids’ activities, planning for spouse time, keeping up the house, keeping up with the homework, all the things, all the extra activities, maybe you’re volunteering.
So really putting that on paper and having it planned out is critical. We often know we are busy but it’s hard to really understand everything we have going on until we take the time to document it.
The other thing that is very, very detrimental to us being content, being happy, being productive, is all the distractions and the interruptions.
We cannot completely eliminate these in our lives, especially as moms, this is just part of that job. It’s part of the life that we live. But what we can do is we can design our days and our weeks and our lives to reduce them significantly and do it better. Do it more productive, have an actual plan, have boundaries and have a framework that we design and we implement into our lives and into our business so that we can minimize those things. We really put our brain power to work when we want it to, where we want it to and get way more productive and quite simply just enjoy life more.
So that’s what we’re going to talk about today. I’m going to be sharing what I’ve come up with with you. I think you’re going to love this because truly, there just has to be a better way.
I think you’re going to find that something like this, or maybe even this exact plan, is going to work great for you. So we’re going to be focusing on the really important things at the right time.
I don’t really care if I have a super busy day or a super relaxed day. What I want is I want to have a productive day. It can be busy, it can be relaxed. I’m really fine either way. I just want to know that I felt in control and that I felt productive.
At the end of the day, I think that I was focused on the right things and I made progress towards the goals that I’ve set in my business, in my life and with my family. And I think those are the aims and the goals that you guys can all really relate to too.
So as I’ve been researching this and studying what other people are doing, I have learned the important have aiming for (not necessarily hitting) my Ideal Week. So that is one way that I’ve heard it described. I’ve also heard stuff about blocking calendars, so time blocking, and then the skeleton calendar is another strategy that I’ve heard.
I’ve looked into all of these and I’ve taken bits and pieces and formed what really works for me. So the concept, the general concept behind, let’s say, what I’m going to mostly talk about today is a skeleton calendar. So this really does overlay with when I hear some people call it an ideal week.
All of them have mild differences in how you implement them or maybe how you lay them out.
Let’s start by letting me introduce you to the concept of a skeleton calendar.
You have these main categories or chunks of time in your life, and this is where it gets really unique to us designing this as busy professionals.
We have our business and we have our families and we have ourselves. Maybe we have some volunteering or extracurricular activities that directly relate to us. And we have some things that I call maintenance and I’ve heard this used by other people as well. I like to think of maintenance everything it take to keep the car running smoothly.
It’s also worth noting I like to separate it out from family because I think it’s important to identify quality family time versus maintenance time. So I just wanted to point that out and we’ll talk a little bit more about that as we go.
So your categories or your domains in your life might look slightly different than what I have. But I would really recommend that you try to keep it to about four, no more than five. So for me, these domains are family, maintenance, business and me. So let’s talk just a little bit about each one and let’s talk about maybe some other ones that I’ve seen people using. I have seen people have a category for volunteering. If you spend a significant amount of time volunteering in your daily schedule or your weekly schedule at least, that might be a category that you put in there.
I do have some things that I don’t consider domain, but I do consider non-negotiables. I have seen some people put those in as a domain. I feel like I work those into the me part of my skeleton planning schedule and they fit really nicely for me.
I am at a place in life right now where I am passionate about my business. I get some joy out of that. A lot of joy out of it, as a matter of fact. And then I’m also very passionate about my family. So I think it’s really, really important to have me time. But I know that before I had kids and before I was married, I had a lot more me time. That was just what life was back then. And I know that someday my kids will grow up and they will be much more independent and go off and have these amazing, brilliant lives of their own. And I will get to have more me time and John and me time when that time comes as well.
So I just touched on the seasons of life. So my domains might look a little bit different later. They’re definitely going to be proportioned different at different times in my life, but these are the categories that I like to use right now.
Family Domain:
Family time for me is really when I try to focus on things that maybe need to get done, but they’re quality family time. So for me, I actually put our chores in this. I put dinner time in this, I put working on homework in this, and I also include just playing, maybe game night, maybe when we go out to dinner as a family, when we go to sporting events as a family, vacation times, all those kinds of things, I consider that the family domain or a circle or a sphere, if you want to call it that. I’ve heard it called multiple things. I like to call it the domain, that domain of my life.
Maintenance Domain:
Maintenance is different, and I for a long time did not separate the two of these. I think it was a really big mistake. It has been so much better to separate these, to pull them apart, and it was this sticky, awful gooey putty that your kids have, maybe been around too long and trying to pull those two apart. It took way more strength than I thought it would or that it should, but it was so worth it in the end.
So what maintenance time for me is maintenance is those things where I am planning out the kids’ activities, registering them for upcoming events, activities, recreation, sports, where I’m planning our calendars, when I’m planning our menu, when I’m ordering our online groceries. We love to order groceries online and go pick them up just to save some time.
Cleaning the house is maintenance, meal prep is maintenance. Those are the things that I need to happen in order for the business of our home to work. So that might be tracking our expenses, looking at our budget and where we’re at with that and trying to make adjustments. So right now, we are wrapping up a huge house remodel project. So it’s been a real strain on the maintenance domain because all of that is stuff that I’ve had to manage and it fits into that. And it’s really pulled on family recreation and business. So super looking forward to that being done and being able to just enjoy the benefits of that project, that that fell into the maintenance section.
So when I sit down and I consider my brain dumps, which I’ll be talking about in a future blog, I consider that part of maintenance time. I try to do that once a week. Sometimes if I’m feeling a little overwhelmed, I’ll do some mini brain dump sessions. And I consider that maintenance because it ends up being business and family things and maintenance things that need done that I need to get out of my head and on paper so I can clear my brain up. So those are the types of things that go into maintenance.
Business Domain:
Then there’s all my business activities, those go into business. That is my client calls that is working on my marketing strategy. That is working on a brand script for a client. Doing Deep dive Vital Need Sessions, etc. Onboarding a new client and all the things it takes to run my business.
So those are all the things that go in there. Maybe it’s also maybe writing the content for an upcoming workshop that I’m doing for the online clients or for my one-on-one consulting clients. Those are my business activities and the time that I’m going to allow for that.
Me Domain:
Last, but not least, is the me time. And in me time is things where I get my workout in. I get myself ready for the day because I try to make that something that while it doesn’t last for an incredibly long time, I like to keep that routine short. It’s still me time and it makes me feel good and it makes me feel put together. It’s time where maybe I work on stretching if I feel like my body is just tight and needs a little extra maintenance. It might be where I am doing some prayer or reading the Bible, or just trying to be quiet and sit still for a little bit.
Sometimes this means that I veg out on a great podcast that has nothing to do with business, or if it were me, sometimes it is a business podcast. These are the things that I do in my time. Like I mentioned earlier, that time’s a little bit more limited at this point in my life. But I absolutely protect it. Sometimes I need to shut my brain off, sometimes I need to just take a deep breath and it’s really important to focus on my health and my maintenance and taking care of myself so that I can be there for my family and for the business and for the people that I’m trying to serve as well.
** Special note about our key relationships**
As for my husband, that relationship is important too. And I do want to say that even though John and I’s relationship doesn’t get its own domain, and sometimes I think I should give it that, I really see that, especially in the evening, some of my me time goes to John.
For me, just spending time, even if it’s just sitting next to him and we’re both doing separate things, that is really great me time too, just to know that he’s close, he’s there, we’re spending time together. A lot of the times that we are taking dates or spending time together are either in the me time or the family time when I look at my schedule. So those are the times when I do that. But I will sometimes take time out of my business blocks and we grab lunch together or something like that. I definitely prioritize this and I do go back and forth about possibly even giving it its own domain, because I think it’s really, really important that we lead with that relationship in our families. Fit that in wherever it feels appropriate for you.
Laying Out The Week:
The next step in this process is laying out your week. So making either a square or a circle or a column for each day of the week, and then laying it out. Starting at the beginning, when do you get up in the morning? And as you build this out, you may say, “Hey, I need to get up a little bit earlier so I can build in that me time.” I know I hear a lot of busy business owners saying that, but make sure you’re getting enough sleep too.
Start with that when are you getting up, when do you ideally want to get to bed. And then start building this day out. What I like to do is I like to start with the me time. I’ve gotten pretty used to knowing about how much I can squeeze in a day. It may take you a little bit of adjusting. I know that I can only get those little bits and pieces, and I know exactly where I put them. I’m a morning person. I intentionally get up and build that into it.
Then I look at the necessities. If you happen to be a parent like me, the necessities may be the hours when you’re getting your kids up and ready for school. And then also when they’re going to be coming home from school. So those are the things that I know I need to maybe shift my office hours, my business hours, and my me time around. For other people this may be morning workouts, committee obligations, and any other reoccurring commitments.
When you have either childcare, when your kids are in school, you also have to be available for their activities and shuttling them around. So those are the pieces that I start with. And then I start building my work hours around those.
More on Maintenance:
If you’re confused on that maintenance, I know I get a lot of questions like, “Well, what’s this maintenance piece again?”
Remember, that is not family time.
Those are the things you have to do to keep your family and your house running. Those are the pieces I start with. I start with me and family, and then I build in maintenance because it’s really important. And it’s not that your business is not important, but it might be more flexible, especially when you’re at different stages in your business or with young kids, you may be doing some of your business work after they go to bed at night for a couple hours, or you might be getting up and doing that. It all depends where you’re at in life.
But you need to lay out all seven days of the week. You need to make sure that you’re putting enough time in there for recovery and you’re putting the time that you realistically need to be available for the family. And then you build out what does an ideal week look like?
What does an ideal skeleton schedule look like for you?
You’re not going to hit this every single week 100% of the time. The goal is to get there as much as you can.
If you haven’t gone through this process and you haven’t mapped it out before, then you’re never going to get there. You’re never going to hit it. But if you map this all out and you know the activities that you need to get accomplished, you’re going to get laser focused because you’re going to actually have a visual aid that shows you exactly what it can look like and how much you’re going to need to get done.
So this is helpful in a lot of ways. It’s going to help you get laser focused. If you keep this in front of you every single week, if you are doing a brain dump, which we have an post coming up on that, and you are putting in the things that are really important, you’re breaking into categories what belongs in your family domain, what belongs in your maintenance domain, what belongs in your business domain.
When we do brain dump and we get into that, we’re going to be looking at what you maybe delegate, things that you delete, all of those really important things so you can god to increase your productivity.
The thing about this is you are going to get better and better and better at this. You are going to hone it, refine it, really get it dialed in and get super effective.
Take a look at a few of mine over the last year.
The COVID Version
I hope this was really helpful in terms of introducing you using a skeleton calendar to outline your Ideal Week. Also in showing you how you could implement it into your life and why it can be really incredibly powerful. And it’s very liberating and it’s very good for your brain to be able to release that stress of trying to force yourself to get everything done and be dealing with all the distractions.
So let’s circle back. Early on, I said we’re going to talk about how this can help with interruptions and distractions. So if you imagine this process and you do it like we have just walked through it, then you know that during these hours you can focus in on work. If you get a phone call from school or an urgent client matter pops up it is helpful to have this tool right in front of you to come back to and get refocused.
What To Shoot For:
These are what our ideal weeks look like if we can pull them off and we’re shooting for as much as possible. That may be 50% for you right now. But you know what? That’s probably better than what you’re getting right now. You’re probably more at two to 5% if you haven’t really made some effort like this. So we’re shooting for that 50 to 70%. If you can get there, imagine the productivity increase that you could get.
This is going to change when you’re on vacation, when your kids get sick, when there’s an emergency, when life events happen, of course. But the great thing is when you’re on it, when you’re rolling in it, you’re going to know when you need to set work aside and be focused on family time and you’re going to know when you are freed up to focus on business. You’re also going to know and have that sense of relief that you know you have committed time set aside for maintenance. You’re going to be able to keep your life running like a well oiled machine.
So it just gives you a sense of relief. It lets your brain know that you’ve got a plan and it just relieves some of that tension that sometimes is in the back of our minds, distracting us from the productivity that we’re trying to have as we execute on things every single day. So lots and lots of value in putting a system like this in place.
I hope this was helpful. Like I said, I really want to hear what you come up with. I would love to see your ideas. I would love to see your notes on this. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn and share your experience, tips and tricks to creating a great week.
