My Weekly Planning Guide

When my Monday feels like a tidal wave slap to the face, it’s because I didn’t plan. I can’t be too surprised, right? For 2 days, my brain builds a habit of ignoring deadlines. Not to mention being in a state of inviting distractions. When you carry that into your Monday morning with no prep, shit will hit hard.

“Oh wow, the REVOLUTIONARY 3 goals for the week trick”. I know I’m really differentiating myself here. We'll talk about lists in a bit. But before you rush to your emails that actually matter, writing a list is not enough to eradicate the ominous ‘Sunday scaries’. 

You need to break it down; Have a system and stay disciplined with it. Let’s brainstorm; Jk let’s not. If you follow the quick guide below, you should be good to go. 

First comes the foundation. This will include various sections where your goals/tasks will live. The sections allow you to categorize items for “Next week” or “Sometime later”.  These sections ease the anxiety, trust me. 

Do this week

Do today

Do this weekend

Do Next week

Do sometime later

It’s liberating to put something to ‘next week when you know you can’t get it done right away. Also, it’s not like you’re avoiding it, you’re prioritizing. 

The order matters because anything for next week or later I don’t pay attention to until the end of the week. Set your initial focus on what you’re going to do this week.

Wait..I know I made fun of the list of 3 goals, but it does have a place. Adding a theme to your week is important. It ensures that even amongst your detailed tasks, you’re staying in a narrow lane. 

Alright back to it. After the sections are set, line by line write specifically what needs to get done to cover those areas. For ‘Today’ I like doing it the night before so I can begin my day executing, not planning. 

'The weekend' section is set up for when my Friday procrastination hits. Other times, non-pressing tasks get stuck in my weekly to-do list and the weekend becomes a perfect time to get these done. 

On a Sunday night or early Monday morning, I migrate the ‘next week’ items into ‘this week’. Sometimes the tasks aren’t relevant anymore or I somehow got it done without realizing it. That’s it! Oh, and for what it's worth, I use Asana but a spreadsheet will do.

Stay Amazing,

Ardi Ghasemi