3 Steps To Easily Organize A Productive Week (And Avoid Holiday-time Overwhelm)

In those insanely busy, hectic times, don’t you wish you had something like a simple 3-step process to organize an effective and productive week?

It is clear that when things are planned and organized, you can manage to do much more!

If you find it hard to fine-tune your time management skills, or if you have times when you feel overwhelmed by everything you have to do, then this is for you!

Everyone suffers from the same chronic problems – stress, tension, haste, lack of patience, etc.

This is not just about your life at work – today, people want to shine in every aspect of their life, and they strive to keep up with all their many responsibilities and roles.

Our problem is that we waste so much energy focusing on day-to-day “emergency” and “urgent” problems.  This makes us fail to see the whole picture and forget our overarching goals.  There is always someone, who needs our energy, but if we always give it away, we will end up feeling ineffective and useless, which will lead to feelings of unhappiness and dissatisfaction.

I’m sure each of you reading this article could add to the list. So let’s look at the three steps to help each of us organize the daily life we want.

Step 1 – Define 5 to 7 roles in your life

Think of all the roles that you play or want to play in your life and write them down.  Here is a very typical example to make it clearer:

Role 1: Parent
Role 2: Husband / wife
Role 3: Manager of the company…..
Role 4: Individual
Role 5: Friend

Continue for as long as you want. Be as specific as possible. For example, specify that you are the manager of a sales department of 10 people at Company X, or a parent of two children, etc.

Step 2 – Identify 3 goals for each role

Following the above model, start recording 3 or more goals (at your discretion) you want to accomplish in each role you perform.

Try also to be as precise and specific as possible. Think carefully about what you would like to accomplish in the next week as a parent or manager.

As you know, the goals you set should be accurate, clear and measurable.  When setting your targets, you should be sure that it is a feasible goal that you could realistically achieve.

For example, under manager, you might write: submit monthly report; meet with employee X; hold focus groups with customers on new product Y; etc.

As an individual you might record: exercise three times a week; buy book X; save Y% of your salary; etc.

If you have any major goals for the year, month or other period, try to record short-term goals that are in sync with your bigger goals. This way you will get ahead.

Once you do this with all the roles you have written down, move on to the last step.

Step 3 – Record each objective in a notepad / calendar for next week

I use Google calendar, which is linked to Gmail, and is extremely convenient, free and useful.  Of course, you can also do it in a notebook, phone, or whatever is convenient for you.

You will focus on some goals at very specific times, others all day long. If you have strict working hours, you will obviously focus on your professional goals during that time, and save your personal and family goals and objectives for the evenings or weekends.

Now all that is left is to act. Have you set clear goals?

You will feel motivated to achieve them, because they are your goals, personally selected by you!  Don’t let anything distract you from meeting them – there is nothing to do but get started and take action!

Prioritize these tasks you have put in your calendar.  If you focus on these tasks first, nothing can stop you from reaching your goals!

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and tips how YOU manage to avoid stress and overwhelm during busy times!

Photo Credit: David Reber