I used to laugh at myself any time I got caught off guard by an event that “snuck up” on me. The information was out there, I was just choosing to react to life, rather than proactively plan.
Now, in addition to my weekly planning I take extra time the last week of the month to forecast what life is going to be like for me, my business and my family. In fact, my husband and I generally intuitively sit down quarterly when we start to feel our calendars filling up in the future.
So how can you effectively employ this same strategy and keep your poop in a group on the reg?
- Review your upcoming month on your existing calendar.
- If you have meetings, go ahead and schedule follow up appointments with yourself.
- Review your upcoming projects and schedule time to actually DO the work to get those projects done.
- Be sure weekly recurring activities (church, volunteer meetings, mastermind meetings, professional development) to your calendar so you are already looking at your time in a realistic manner.
- Check shared and global calendars at work to ensure your personal calendar is up-to-date with relevant dates and appointments.
- Check school, community organization, church, and other calendars online to see if anything has been added that you did not already have on your calendar. (And make note if you need to stop on the way home from dinner on late nights, sports nights, etc…so you set your menu and grocery shopping up for success that week, too!)
- Check Facebook for any birthdays you may want to get ahead of that aren’t on your personal calendar.
- Ask your spouse, kids, employees, business partner, boss, etc…if there is anything on the radar that you need to be aware of.
With a LITTLE extra time at the end of the month you will be able to save a ton of time and spare the anxiety for an entire month!
What do you say, will you commit to trying this this week? If you practice this already, what did I miss in my tips?
