{from Mateo and Tobias}Â
Do you dread Mondays? Or do you get all fired up at the beginning of a new week?
I know there’s the old cliche of ‘the office worker who dreads Mondays’; but even those of us with passion-driven jobs or businesses can have our moments of dread when a new week starts.
Especially when we’re under the gun (which, let’s be honest, is OFTEN!) with so much to do… we can start off the week feeling a bit panicked and wondering ‘where will I find the time’?
The way I feel come Monday pretty much depends on how much work I have ahead of me, and how organised I feel! For example, I know this week that I need to:
- Finish 2 Epheriell wholesale orders
- Complete a stack of online orders
- Complete a number of specific tasks for the next issue of *bespoke* (like laying out the draft so far to see what is missing, contacting past advertisers etc)
- FINALLY finalise my Autumn/Winter collection and hopefully start photographing
- Blog as usual
And more – there’s always more! – but those are my key tasks. I know this because I sat down with my day-to-a-page diary last night and actually thought about the week ahead, and what my priorities are.
I often get so caught up in just keeping my head above water that I neglect to do this. Taking that little bit of time to just STOP and actually plan ahead can make all the difference to your mental state and help to battle those feelings of overwhelm!
I like to use the ‘rocks-pebbles-sand’ approach made famous in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. I read this book for the first time as a teenager (I think my Dad may have given it to me!) and some of the lessons have stuck.
The process is this:
- Think about the week ahead, and decide what your key tasks are. These are the urgent + important tasks {rocks} that you MUST get done.
- Pull out your diary/planner and place these tasks into your week. Block out the time you think will be required to complete them.
- Any other pebbles/sand (i.e. smaller, less urgent tasks) can then be scheduled around these key tasks.
- Possibly the hardest part of the plan… stick to it!
Do you have a similar process for organising your working week, or do you do something different? I’d love to hear about your process.
***
Want more Epheriell-y goodness? Subscribe to Epheriell Designs! Also, you can follow me on  Twitter!
I’ve been struggling with my process of late but like you say, I’m starting to learn that planning out my week helps! I bought a planner the other day (which is very strange for me because I usually keep everything in my head or on my computer) and I’m hoping that will help me visualise my weeks better. Plus, it’s a pretty planner… so that’s got to help… right? 😉
Hey Jess,
Best wishes for getting through your list this week.
I am great at getting the to-do list written out but I have a lot of work to do on getting through it. Perhaps I need to look at Weight Watchers for accountability tips :o)
Cheers, Caylie
Thanks Jess,
You have inspired me to keep planning my weeks in my diary! (I can be a bit slack with this).
P.S I purchased your Etsy Success Stories Ebook and I am loving it! 🙂
Cheers, Liz
Aww, thanks Liz! Glad to hear you’re finding the book helpful 🙂
Hi Jess, so good to hear how you plan your week. When I am overwhelmed with things to do (which is quite often!) I just write down everything that comes to my mind. Wow , it is such a relief to get it down on paper. After that , I think your suggestions are brilliant , and I will be giving them a go. Thanks so much for sharing 🙂 Jane
I tend to lack a plan…I really need to change that, so I actually get stuff done!
I’m not that bad really (I do have to-do lists), but I could definitely improve my planning.
I tend to do the same (but I love the rock, pebble, sand analogy!). I use Evernote and I have different notebooks for different projects. I have to-do lists in Evernote for rocks, pebbles and sand!