At the very least, we should be making plans for the day ahead of us. That way, we have a game plan for our day, and we’re not at a loss for what to do. We also don’t want to be forgetting about important tasks, until we suddenly remember them at bedtime. And the frantic energy of not having a clue what we’re wearing today, or what we’re having for lunch, is not doing us any favors either. Not only does it leave us feeling flustered, but it also wastes quite a bit of our precious time. And we most certainly don’t want to waste our precious time and energy on decision fatigue.
So, needless to say, we should all be going into each day with a strong plan. A plan of what to do, what to wear, what to eat, what to do for fun, etc. Honestly, the more we plan for, the more time we save when it’s time to get to it.
Now, what if I told you that you could save yourself even more time and decision fatigue by planning out many aspects of your week for your entire week? Perhaps, as a part of your weekly reset routine. Or as a productive way to keep yourself busy when you intentionally choose to disconnect from the digital world. Although, you may also want to utilize a digital planner. That way, you can set up notifications to keep you on track throughout the week. Whether you opt for laying everything out on paper, or in your calendar app, give yourself a moment to sit down once a week, and prepare for the week ahead.
Why should you plan your entire week in advance?
As I said previously, it’s important to have a plan for each day. That way, we have a sense of direction as we go about our day and important tasks don’t get forgotten about. We also don’t want to fret over what we’re having for dinner, when we’re already tired from work. Nor do we want to stress over today’s outfit when we’re still half-asleep in the morning. But I must say, as the week progresses, sometimes I find it difficult to stay on track with my weekly goals. Some days, I’m also a bit tired when it comes time to plan for the next day. Sometimes, so tired, my brain doesn’t want to make decisions for the next day.
Needless to say, it can be helpful to have something to guide us throughout the entire week, to put some ease into planning out our days. Plus, breaking down our weekly goals into smaller daily tasks makes it easier to accomplish them. And even simply knowing what you want to wear on Thursday saves you the extra trouble on a sleepy Wednesday night. Honestly, even just loosely planning out various elements of your week has numerous benefits.
A Few Benefits of Planning Out Your Week In Advance
- Reduces decision fatigue as the week progresses.
- Enables you to prioritize your weekly goals throughout your week.
- Helps you break down your goals into smaller and more manageable steps.
- Gives you a timeline to help you stay on track.
- Allows for better time management, and enables more balance in your schedule.
- Allows you to prep for the entire week, and prepare in advance.
- Prevents weekly tasks from being inadvertently forgotten.
- Helps eliminate excuses that might prevent you from living your best life!
So, let’s set ourselves up for success, and lay out our entire week before it even begins. Regardless of whether your week starts on Sunday or Monday.
What can I plan out about my week to set me up for success?
Depending on what’s important to you, you can honestly plan just about anything and everything about your week. That said, I would be sure to allow for some flexibility as you lay out your plans for the week. Obviously, sometimes things come up, and plans may need to be adjusted. But having a strong basis to build your week upon, and not having to think too much about your plans later, truly helps to set you up for greatness. It guides you in setting intentions to elevate your lifestyle and gives you direction towards your best life. While giving you more time to live your best life.
Perhaps you’d like to save yourself some time as you prepare for your workout by lining up your workout plan for the entire week. Or maybe, you want to make only one trip to the grocery store, so you plan out your entire meal plan for the week before you start shopping. There may also be certain tasks that you’d like to allocate to specific days of the week, rather than trying to cram them all in on Monday. Or hope you remember them before Friday. Perhaps, you even want to plan out your outfits to ensure you look put together all through the week. If it’s important or relevant to you, plan it out on a weekly basis.
Your Meal Plan for the Week
I’m not sure if I even want to know the cumulative hours that I’ve spent standing in the kitchen trying to figure out what to eat. We’ve all stood in front of the pantry hoping a meal idea would just come to us. Sometimes, only to end up ordering something we’ve ordered many times from DoorDash. Or, we can’t even decide what we want to order, and we end up just eating random snacks for dinner. Then, there are also the times when we know what we want to eat, but we don’t have the ingredients to make it with. So it’s either time to make a pit stop at the grocery store or forget about your meal idea. Back to square one.
Needless to say, taking the time to make a meal plan for the week spares you quite a bit of trouble when mealtime rolls around. When you’ve already decided what you’re having for dinner in advance, all you have to do is prepare it. And by planning your meals for the week, you can prepare your grocery list accordingly. With that said, don’t forget to add snacks and treats to your meal plan for the week. You’ll likely want something to snack on between meals. And you know that you deserve that sweet treat at the end of the week.
Your Outfits for the Week
Putting outfits together is one of my favorite art forms. Coordinating my outfits is not something that I ever want to feel rushed doing. This is why I lay out my entire outfit in the evening, down to the smallest hair clip that I’ll be putting in my hair. It’s wonderful to not have to think about what my outfit is going to be when I’m still half-asleep in the morning. When the decision process has already been done, all I have to do is get myself ready for the day.
That said, as much as I love putting outfits together, I don’t always have the brainpower to decide what I want to wear the next day. As is life, some days are particularly tiring. Some days, I’d also simply prefer to allocate my time and creative energy elsewhere. Be it into content creation or some other creative venture. So, with that in mind, I like to plan all of my outfits for the week ahead on Saturday. I’ll write down a description of the main pieces I’d like to wear, and even a few specific accessories. Then, all I have to do is lay everything out the night before it’s time to wear it.
Your Business/Work and Goal-Related Tasks for the Week
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, or you work a corporate job, you want to be sure that you’re getting everything done that needs to be done. You also don’t want to be overworking yourself by trying to do everything all at once or trying to do it all every day. Especially if you’re an entrepreneur alongside working a day job. Nor do you want to be in a mad rush to get everything done on Friday. And as a goal-oriented queen, you also want to have a plan to work toward your goals and be able to track your progress. Especially when you have a relatively big goal that needs to be broken down into bit-sized smaller goals or tasks.
So, as you begin gearing up for a productive week, sit down and consider what needs to be done each day of the week. Are there any tasks that need to be done on specific days? Mark them down in your schedule, so they can’t slip your mind. Are there any tasks that can be allocated to different days throughout the week, rather than be done daily? Can some of your larger projects that can be broken down into more manageable tasks over several days? Break it all down and spread it out throughout the week.
Remember to be realistic, and don’t over-schedule yourself with business, work, or goal-related tasks. Also, my lovely, a part of planning out your girl-bossing tasks in advance is ensuring that you have a good work-life balance. So hustle hard, but don’t forget to schedule some breaks and daily stopping points.
Your “Must Dos” for the Week
We’ve all noticed something in our home that needed to be cleaned and told ourselves we’d get to it “sometime” this week. But we never set an intention to actually clean on any given day of the week. Then come Saturday night, it’s next week’s problem. Or maybe we knew we needed to bake something for the charity fundraiser on Friday, and it completely slipped our mind until the morning of. So donuts from the grocery store it is, because there’s no way you’ll have those cookies ready by noon. When something isn’t already a part of our regular weekly routines, it can be easy for it to slip our minds on the day-to-day.
So, rather than just hoping we’ll remember to clean under the couch or bake the cookies on Thursday night, let’s schedule it into our week. Perhaps, you know you’re not particularly busy on Mondays, so that’ll be the perfect cleaning day in the upcoming week. And because you know that the bake sale is on Friday, baking the cookies is already written into Thursday’s to-do list. With all the baking ingredients already in your grocery list for your trip to the grocery store that you scheduled for Sunday.
Your Workout Plan for the Week
By the time I’m rolling out my yoga mat, or putting on my shoes, I’m ready to get going with my workout. I don’t want to lose that motivational momentum by spending 15 minutes just looking for a workout video on YouTube. And on the days that I’m not feeling particularly motivated to workout, I especially don’t want to put additional effort into figuring out my workout. Often leading me to just skip it. Especially if it also happens to be raining, so I can’t simply go for a walk. These are just a few of the reasons why I like to plan out my workouts on a weekly basis. Along with wanting to be sure that I’m switching it up so that I don’t get bored.
Personally, I like to look at the weather forecast and take it into account as I’m planning out my workouts for the week. That way, I can look for workouts that can be done outside for that day. The same goes for local workout classes that I may be interested in participating in. Planning my workouts for the week also ensures that I remember to get some form of cardio in. And that I don’t “accidentally” forget arm day. Because that can totally happen when you’re basing your daily workouts on your current mood.
Schedule Leisure Time into Your Weekly Plans!
My lovely, taking time to care for yourself and enjoy some leisure time is not optional. It’s absolutely necessary. Leisure time is not something that you have to earn, it is something that you deserve for simply being human. So, let’s be sure that we’re scheduling some self-care and leisure time into our week as a non-negotiable appointment with ourselves. Personally, I’d recommend setting aside at least one to two hours every day for leisure. That way, you’re giving yourself plenty of time to decompress from the responsibilities of life.
What you choose to do with your leisure time is entirely up to you. You can choose to color, play video games, watch a movie, have a spa day, or anything else. As you plan out your week, be sure to include at least one leisure activity each day for your weekly plans. That way, you won’t have to decide what you want to do for leisure each day. Perhaps, Monday is your night for cozy games this week. Then, Tuesday night is the night for breaking out your coloring books. Wednesday night is your mid-week spa night. And so on! Just remember, your leisure time is non-negotiable. Don’t be trying to cancel your self-care time as the week goes on!
Conclusion
Our time and energy is precious. We don’t want to waste any of it constantly trying to decide what to do next. We also want to forget the things we are supposed to do. Anything can end up slipping our minds if it’s not written down. Important things may also get thrown to the wayside until the last minute if they’re not planned out. Besides, we all know that we’re more productive when we have a solid game plan. So why not plan out your week as much as you possibly can, to ensure you stay on track with everything? That way, you can make the most of living your best life all through the week.
Take a moment each week to plan out the next week for success. Grab a cup of your favorite beverage as you lay it all out in your bullet journal or planner. You can also use a weekly planner, such as the one that I offer for free for subscribers of my email newsletter, Stridefully Magazine. You may also enjoy some of the more specific planner pages that I offer, such as my weekly outfit planner.
What are some of the things that you like to plan on a weekly basis? How do you delegate various tasks throughout your week? Do you like to take it a step further, and also plan things on a monthly basis? I’d love to know!
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