Are you ready to maximize your efficiency, time, and productivity?
Most of us want to get more done in a day but the honest truth is βΒ the end of another day comes and you’re not sure what you even did. Or maybe you did a lot, but now you’re questioning if any of it was the right stuff?
I’m sharing my fool-proof system for daily planning.
Listen, I know that you probably have so much to juggle between your business, family, and home life. I get it! Once you start adding hobbies, friends, and holidays to the mix, well your days can probably get a bit long and exhausting. This is exactly why you need to start the practice of daily planning.
Once you see my system for taking control of my day, you’ll see how using a daily planner – in whatever form you like – can make a big difference. I created a printable (that I’m going to share with you)!
STEP 1: Plan Ahead
You choose what works for you. You may use the night before to schedule the day ahead, or you plan a week at a time. But the big thing you don’t want to do is to sit down at the start of a fresh day with no plan. You’re automatically behind.
Personally, I do a bit of a hybrid.
I plan my entire upcoming week in a rough format (usually on Friday afternoons). I look at my big goals and projects plus what meetings I have and I pencil in how I think the week could be structured. Then each day when I’m wrapping up, I take a look at the tentative plan I’d already made, make needed adjustments and I’m ready to enjoy my afternoon/evening because I know exactly where to pick up tomorrow.
When planning, it absolutely has to be written out. Well, it could totally be electronic, it just can’t be in your head.
If you want to try the exact planner that I use, you can download my Daily Planning Printable (along with my entire library of goodies). This daily planner has been a game-changer for me! It helps me stay focused on what matters most and make consistent progress toward my big goals.
That’s why today I’ll be teaching you 3 Tips to Power Up your daily planning and gift you with my daily planning printable that will add balance to your days.
Step 2: “Put First Things First”
I have a system for prioritizing my day which involves sitting down and identifying the 5 most important items that I need to do each day. Not 100 items on a to-do list, not 1 thing that is unattainable or too easy, but 5 impactful priorities for each day.
They could be either career, home, or family priorities but they are the 5 things that, if you do nothing else today, really move the needle forward for you.
An example of your top 5 could be:
- Contact someone you’ve been wanting to partner with
- Prep for this week’s client meetings
- Batch this month’s newsletters
- Pay business and/or household bills
- Schedule out Social Media content for the week
Step 3: Time Block Your Day
If you read my recent post on managing time as a busy mompreneur, you know I love time-blocking.
The truth is it’s really easy to think things will be easier/faster than they are. We frequently overestimate how much we can get done in a day and underestimate how long it will actually take.
This can lead to keeping some very unhealthy work hours!
That’s why I started time-blocking. I would organize my day, set first things first by prioritizing what were the most important items, then I’d stack them accordingly.
Next, I’d guesstimate how much time I thought I needed to get that project done. Most of the time, I didn’t guess right but it at least got me thinking about how long it would take instead of jumping into my day thinking I was going to get 8 things done that in reality were 37 hours worth of work.
I have provided 6 blocks on my printable for you to block out your schedule for the day. An example could be:
6:30am – 9:00am: Morning run, devotionals, make breakfast, and prep kids for school
9:00am – Noon: Tackle my “Daily Five” Followed by lunch (yes, lunch and a break)!
1:00pm – 3:00pm: Answer emails, send client contracts, write up next weeks email newsletter
3:00pm -5:00 pm: Wrap up the workday and enjoy the kids
3:30 – 5:00 Kids come home. Focus on them!
5:00pm – 7:00pm: Prep dinner, family time, clean up/evening chores
At the bottom of my printable, you’ll see a very clear call to action. It’s where you determine what time you’ll be done working for the day.
Why is this so important? Because, a big part of daily planning is determining what your business hours will be, how you’re going to feel, and what you want your days to look like. You are the author here.
If you’ve been following along with my recent blog posts, you might see that our family practices Power Cleaning but we also have weekly family activities, and I love to prioritize being a mom and spending time with my family (which is why you’re here in the first place, to learn how to REPLACE BUSY WITH BETTER ). Friend, this is only possible if you set a firm boundary for work (and work time) to end each day.
You began your career to set your own hours, NOT to work around the clock and forget to live.
So, set that boundary, determine when your work day ends, and then set a healthy schedule and STICK TO IT.
The emails, phone calls, and marketing can wait until tomorrow. LIFE IS ABOUT BALANCE.
Links you’ll want from this post:
Want to download this amazing daily planner and start regaining control of your days and time?
π Get the daily planner and access my entire gallery
π To read about my weekly planner and get the free printable, click here.
π In a slump? How to get yourself out of a slump
π Tips to move past overwhelm, click here.
π Want to come up with your own daily routine? Check out Oprah and Tony Robbins here.
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