Ok…I know what you are thinking already…..An IDEAL week?????…..I am just barely hanging onto the day, never mind figuring out how the rest of my week is gonna go…But hold your horses! I have got you covered! I was that person who white knuckled it through each day and then went to bed and thought to myself, “Did I pee today? What happened to my day?” I am sure you have a lot of days where you barely had time to pee and didn’t know what even happened to your day. The thing was…I was having waaaay too many of those days and I was burning out. So I went straight to the gurus like Michael Hyatt, Brendan Burchard, and Amy Porterfield to figure out a system to create more flow, productivity and efficiency into my week.
I soon learned just how important it is to be very intentional with your time and how setting boundaries and themes can help me to get control of my spaces in the day and my life back. I found out that the earlier you start organizing and setting up your week to align with your goals, both personally and professionally, the quicker you’ll achieve them, the happier you’ll be, and the more focused you’ll stay (Porterfield, 2022). If you haven’t thought about setting up your ideal week, this blog post just might convince you otherwise! Like I said, I have studied high performers for a very long time and every person who has figured out a hack to create more balance has a very intentional plan for their time.
Once I really took time to take a step back and figure out why I was burning out, I realized a few things. I wanted to love what I do again. I wanted to not feel the mom guilt or the leader guilt that I wasn’t doing enough. I wanted time for me. I wanted to sleep the right amount of hours. I wanted to be happier. So I had to step into those ideas and dreams, manifest a plan, and then make it happen. I realized I needed to take back control of my own time. I began to step into my week feeling more focused and clear on what I needed to do, when I needed to do it and then stick to those containers of time and make iron clad boundaries. Once I did that I began to regulate my emotions better, I made traction towards my goals, had time with my family, and I had my me time back. If I did not plan my week, it usually went sideways. So I immediately decided to keep this intentional planning and sustain it for the long haul. Michael Hyatt states, “You can either live on purpose, according to a plan you’ve set; or you can live by accident, reacting to the demands of others” (Hyatt, 2019). I choose purpose always because I know it leads to rejuvenation, clarity and passion. Hyatt is someone whom I have learned a lot from. So most of these ideas come from him and Amy Porterfield but I really wanted to share them with you. The thing to remember is that your ideal week will look different than anyone else’s week because everyone has a different reality. The important thing is to set space aside to create a plan for your week and try to stick to it each week as close as possible. So here it goes!
Step 1: Open up a calendar, google doc, fancy journal (or whatever you use…you do you!) and set up a table with Monday to Friday.
Step 2: Fill out all the recurring things inside of that week. Make sure you schedule them at the same time every week to set up a ritual. Rituals are huge! They make your life easier because you never even have to think about them.
Step 3: Fill out theme days or hours. Hyatt’s book, Free to Focus is where I found this gem of an idea! This is kind of like batching. Set up days or blocks of time where you focus on one thing. If you are trying to do it all, all of the time, it is impossible to focus or get traction because you are just doing a little bit here and there. Some theme days for me are writing content for meetings and pd days, no meeting days, marking days, budget days, administrative tasks hour, video hours, etc. Make sure you give yourself themes to keep organized.
Step 4: Set up Containers or Boundaries. Be very firm with your time. I like to think of organizing my time kind of like the Home Edit System. I like to put my time into containers with an outcome label attached to each one. The outcome is what I want to have done or learned by the end of that specific time block. Set boundaries and stick to them 90% of the time. So for me, an example of a container of time that I block off is on Thursdays. I also still teach so every Thursday, I shut my office door for an hour at 2pm and I mark and plan for that class. It is my ELA container. Usually my outcome is to tackle the marking pile, or input evidence into the student’s digital portfolios, or plan lessons, etc. Be sure that alot of your containers and labeled outcomes throughout the week match towards quarterly and yearly goals so you move the needle forward on those the most. In fact, I always ensure that I have at least one container of time each day where I work towards my goals. So…if you haven’t set goals for yourself, make sure you also go ahead and do that so you know what you are working towards each week.
Step 5: If you have an admin assistant, let them manage your calendar. This will save you a ton of time! But make sure you teach him or her the steps and rules to creating the ideal week. Otherwise, get yourself a good planner where it reminds you to reflect on your week and whether or not your tackled the big rocks of that week. Hyatt’s Full Focus planner is good for that. Honestly, I followed his guidelines and added my own touches and inserted it into a google doc on my Notability app. That saves me money and keeps me accountable!
Amy Porterfield talks about reflecting on certain questions when setting up your ideal week. She says the questions that are really important to think about when planning your ideal week are what do you want your week to look like? How do you want to schedule things? How do you want the flow of your days to go? You are ultimately the boss of your own time. I know that we have certain hours and certain fixed tasks throughout the day but you get to choose how you spend that time and what you spend it on. You do have a choice to avoid burnout and get your life back, but it is going to take some real intentional work that eventually becomes a habit.
Here are your action steps. Set up a Monday to Friday calendar table of some sort and play around with the containers of time that you spend in it. Start with your recurring and your themes and then start to box out everything else. Look for patterns and rituals and cement those in. Be sure that you have your container of time where you are working towards your goals as well. Oh and do NOT forget to container in your ‘me time’! Stick with it and tweak it until it is just right! Soon you will find your ideal week flow! It will change how you show up for your leadership, for yourself, for your team, for your students, for you. Trust me…it is that good!
I have a free live masterclass happening on Wednesday, March 2 at 6:30 PM MST all about 3 Actions That School Administrators Can Do To Inspire and Motivate Teachers. Click here to join now!
Also, my signature digital course called School Administrator’s Academy is now open for enrollment. In this course, I will teach you step by step how to set up a system to solve problems, team teach with teachers, empower teacher leaders, manage your time for more productivity and efficiency, get teachers coaching teachers, and find passion and purpose in your leadership again. Click here to join before it’s too late! Doors officially close on March, 3 at midnight!
Hyatt, Michael. Free to Focus. Baker Books, 2019.
Porterfield, Amy. How to Create an Ideal Week for Optimal Focus, Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast, Jan. 2022.
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