Weekly plans and its main benefits for me

I have created a plan for almost every week starting from January 4th 2020 until 28/10/2021. The plans were made on the Microsoft Excel program.

The first step in my plans would be to create a list of tasks that I wanted and needed to do that week. I would then put these tasks into 3 separate lists; career, personal, and leisure. My career list would include work responsibilities. My personal list would include tasks that could improve my overall life such as doctor’s appointments, self-improvement activities, and home chores. My leisure column would include activities that I enjoy such as contacting friends.

My weekly plan put simply is three to-do lists for the next week. I would have a calendar table above this list including all the days and hours for the next week. This could help me visualize my next week better if I needed to. I would make sure my bigger tasks are split into smaller 'chunks' that are saved onto the list.

I usually would complete this plan on a Sunday afternoon when I am not pushed for time. I would bold or highlight major tasks in yellow, to differentiate my most important tasks. I would highlight my completed tasks in blue once they were finished.

I would make sure to add any extra meaningful tasks that I would finish that weren't on the original list, no matter if the tasks were big or small. This action felt like I was giving myself self-recognition for the positive actions I had made in the week. I believe this created a positive feedback loop and reinforced the habit of continue making plans and completing positive healthy activities for myself.

An example of a week plan, I would check off the last week's tasks then keep the template for the next week using "Save As" then renaming it to the new week. I would add motivational quotes for myself and last week achievement's column.

My main benefits

Here are the major benefits I have found for myself using weekly plans (WPs) consistently.

1) Making regular weekly plans creates excitement about tracking measurable progress in my life.

The WPs act as a way to track the weekly activities that I can look back and notice ways in which I have been improving over time. For example, I could notice in a previous week's plan that I am completing more tasks and more important tasks when compared to a previous WP. In my experience, consistent WPs have provided me with a solid picture of where my life is, where can it be improved and what are the tasks that can help me get there.

WPs provide me with measurable progress I can support with evidence.

2) Weekly plans reduce my stress levels in more ways than one.

A plan for the week gives me short-term aims as well as a game plan to manage busy weeks. What a weekly plan also gives me is a place to store my most important ideas, tasks, and events. I find this helps to reduce the stress I might feel trying to remember these to-dos and relying solely on memory, like a lot of people do.

I am a very creative person with many ideas, so I find this function of the weekly plan especially useful. WPs give me a digital place for my ideas and easy access to find them again. I also use the website Trello to store my longer-term ideas.

3) By planning and having balanced weekly plans for myself, I have a more enjoyable and enriching life experience.

A balanced WP enables me to complete tasks that make me feel good and that I find meaningful, not just career-based activities. Every WP includes tasks from all living areas including career, family, and personal. By completing tasks in more than one area of my life during one week, I feel a lot of self-satisfaction and happiness.

I would try to complete tasks in all areas; career, family, exercise, and social tasks.

4) Consistently making weekly plans gives me a feeling of momentum.

This is similar to the first point, but there is a unique joyful feeling that comes from knowing my abilities and skills are growing over the weeks. I can store information on my running data each week and see the numbers slowly growing over time. This works for any other trait that you want to grow or develop. Weekly plans are an effective tool to build these skills, I would recommend using Pomodoro timers for carving out time for developing yourself.

5) Creating WPs is an empowering practice.

A WP gives me the ability to make my own criteria for success for myself in the week. I think the greater influence of social media and the constant comparisons can be stifling to personal progress. Sticking to this habit of making weekly plans, gives me the humility and excitement about improving my own life and relationships, one task at a time.

I started making WPs during the lockdowns and I found this beneficial to me since it helped me refocus on the things that are in my control.

Overall

I create my plans knowing that by handling the 'small tasks' well, my life will naturally progress in a fun and quantifiable way. When starting the process, I didn't expect myself to complete all of the tasks on the list. For me, I knew that if I completed 5/50 tasks in the first week, I would try to complete 6/50 tasks the next week. Improving my weeks by 1% or more every week is what I continually try and do. I try to stay humble and hungry for these small continuous improvements. I have now done so many weekly plans it actually excites me. I enjoy making WPs because I know these activities will move my life forward. I believe that making small positive adjustments in my life will have a large domino effect.

"Sweat the small stuff and the bigger things will look after themselves" - Myself