1 00:00:14,739 --> 00:00:20,379 If you know anything about me, you know that I am a planner. 2 00:00:20,459 --> 00:00:25,589 So today I'm going to kind of walk you through some things that I do each week to 3 00:00:25,589 --> 00:00:31,859 make sure my calendar stays on task, and that I get all of my priorities complete. 4 00:00:31,859 --> 00:00:34,859 One of my all time favorite quotes, and you could probably even call it 5 00:00:34,859 --> 00:00:38,969 my life quote, if you wanted to, is the Benjamin Franklin: "If you fail 6 00:00:38,969 --> 00:00:41,609 to plan, then you plan to fail." 7 00:00:41,639 --> 00:00:45,839 So I like to have everything planned out, and that way I know that I'm going 8 00:00:45,839 --> 00:00:48,239 to be able to get everything done. 9 00:00:48,239 --> 00:00:53,249 So while I do use a Google calendar for when I'm on the go, maybe I'm, you know, 10 00:00:53,254 --> 00:00:56,069 at a doctor's office and need to make another appointment, things like that. 11 00:00:56,069 --> 00:00:59,669 I put all of those kind of things in my Google calendar when I'm on the go. 12 00:00:59,949 --> 00:01:03,369 But as far as like my true plan for how I'm gonna get everything 13 00:01:03,369 --> 00:01:06,519 done, that goes on paper. 14 00:01:06,639 --> 00:01:09,279 So I like to sit down on the weekends. 15 00:01:09,279 --> 00:01:13,329 A lot of times I'll do it on Saturday mornings and I'll look at what has gotten 16 00:01:13,329 --> 00:01:18,159 put into my Google calendar, and then I lay it all out into my paper planner. 17 00:01:18,499 --> 00:01:21,949 When you write things down, they tend to kind of get in your mind a 18 00:01:21,949 --> 00:01:24,349 little bit better than, if you don't. 19 00:01:24,349 --> 00:01:27,079 So I'm a big fan of writing them down. 20 00:01:27,439 --> 00:01:29,779 Color coding is a big one. 21 00:01:30,049 --> 00:01:32,869 I honestly think my favorite thing at Christmas every year 22 00:01:32,869 --> 00:01:36,859 is my stocking full of fresh new pens and highlighters because. 23 00:01:37,309 --> 00:01:39,949 Everyone in my house knows not to touch my pens. 24 00:01:39,949 --> 00:01:40,909 It's kind of a joke. 25 00:01:41,839 --> 00:01:46,219 but I do love color coding, everything, and just being able to have a really clear 26 00:01:46,219 --> 00:01:50,449 visual of how my week is going to go. 27 00:01:50,729 --> 00:01:55,379 So first and foremost, also, if you've ever seen anything I've done, you know 28 00:01:55,379 --> 00:02:00,059 that I'm really big on meal planning and prepping now that I don't work, 29 00:02:00,149 --> 00:02:03,509 you know, a corporate America type job outside of the home all day, every day. 30 00:02:03,719 --> 00:02:08,759 I don't prep as much as I used to because I generally have time to actually cook 31 00:02:09,149 --> 00:02:12,299 in the evenings, but I still like to. 32 00:02:12,579 --> 00:02:18,759 Meal plan and have less time spent stopping at the grocery store all 33 00:02:18,759 --> 00:02:22,389 the time, or having to go out and get takeout or anything like that, 34 00:02:22,394 --> 00:02:24,069 which I'm not a big takeout fan. 35 00:02:24,069 --> 00:02:27,639 That goes into my, my budgeting stuff, but we're not gonna talk about that today. 36 00:02:27,909 --> 00:02:31,509 So the meal planning is really good when you're looking at 37 00:02:31,509 --> 00:02:32,889 your calendar for the week. 38 00:02:33,209 --> 00:02:37,619 Say you do have an evening that's going to be slower than others 39 00:02:37,619 --> 00:02:39,119 and you don't have a lot going on. 40 00:02:39,299 --> 00:02:42,359 Well, that's a great night to put lasagna on the menu. 41 00:02:42,359 --> 00:02:47,729 Something that takes a little bit longer to prep and cook versus maybe you have 42 00:02:47,729 --> 00:02:52,139 a ball game or a meeting or something that's gonna run into, dinnertime hour. 43 00:02:52,349 --> 00:02:55,529 Those are the days you want to, throw something in the slow cooker 44 00:02:55,529 --> 00:02:59,489 in the morning and be able to walk right in and have an easy dinner. 45 00:02:59,759 --> 00:03:03,039 So that is first and foremost when you're looking for your meal planning 46 00:03:03,039 --> 00:03:07,809 and prepping is you want to make sure you plan your meals, in accordance with 47 00:03:07,809 --> 00:03:10,719 what else you have going on for the week. 48 00:03:10,719 --> 00:03:15,279 So the first thing I do is I take basically like a week at a glance, look 49 00:03:15,309 --> 00:03:19,359 calendar, and I time block the week. 50 00:03:19,749 --> 00:03:23,949 So this is really key of making sure the things you have to get 51 00:03:23,949 --> 00:03:27,159 done find space on the calendar. 52 00:03:27,459 --> 00:03:31,539 So you need to divide all of the tasks between have to do 53 00:03:31,769 --> 00:03:34,649 need to do and want to do. 54 00:03:35,099 --> 00:03:38,219 And that's not always the easiest task because a lot of times we want to put some 55 00:03:38,219 --> 00:03:43,349 of those wants ahead of the others, but you need to kind of categorize the things 56 00:03:43,349 --> 00:03:47,549 between have to, need to and want to. 57 00:03:47,609 --> 00:03:51,864 And so the first thing that hits that week at a glance time block. 58 00:03:52,304 --> 00:03:53,834 Is the have to dos. 59 00:03:54,194 --> 00:03:56,624 This would be, going to work. 60 00:03:56,624 --> 00:04:00,944 This actually also includes packing the lunchbox and things like that 61 00:04:00,949 --> 00:04:06,374 in the morning, so make sure that those things hit the calendar first, 62 00:04:06,614 --> 00:04:09,944 doctor's appointments, important meetings, all of those kind of 63 00:04:09,944 --> 00:04:11,714 things hit the calendar first. 64 00:04:13,214 --> 00:04:15,464 I also like to do one other thing. 65 00:04:15,464 --> 00:04:20,414 When I'm doing, these have-tos, so the morning routine, I just kind 66 00:04:20,414 --> 00:04:23,174 of block out the morning routine and that's let the dogs out, cook 67 00:04:23,174 --> 00:04:24,614 breakfast, pack the lunchbox. 68 00:04:24,614 --> 00:04:25,934 I know how long that takes. 69 00:04:26,234 --> 00:04:28,634 I block it on out on the calendar. 70 00:04:28,934 --> 00:04:31,484 But then things like, say I have a doctor's appointment or a 71 00:04:31,484 --> 00:04:33,104 meeting, things of that nature. 72 00:04:33,404 --> 00:04:37,124 If it's a, we'll say a two o'clock doctor's appointment. 73 00:04:38,009 --> 00:04:42,719 And it's gonna take me, you know, probably 10 to 15 minutes to get there. 74 00:04:42,749 --> 00:04:45,209 And then I gotta park and walk inside and check in. 75 00:04:45,214 --> 00:04:49,109 So I'm gonna need to leave the house 30 minutes before the appointment. 76 00:04:49,679 --> 00:04:52,614 And then I'm not sure how long the appointment will be. 77 00:04:52,844 --> 00:04:55,554 We all know that doctor's appointments tend to take way 78 00:04:55,554 --> 00:04:56,994 longer than we anticipate. 79 00:04:56,994 --> 00:05:02,664 There's usually a lot of wait, so I don't just block out, say from two to 80 00:05:02,664 --> 00:05:07,824 two 30 for this doctor's appointment, I will block out from one 30 to three 81 00:05:07,829 --> 00:05:15,114 or three 30 to make sure that I'm not trying to, create space in the day 82 00:05:15,114 --> 00:05:19,444 that doesn't exist because I'm going to still be at the doctor's appointment. 83 00:05:19,444 --> 00:05:23,974 So with your want to dos you, you start putting them on the calendar. 84 00:05:23,974 --> 00:05:29,404 So I put in workout classes that I do; the days I don't go to a workout class. 85 00:05:29,404 --> 00:05:33,004 I block out time to go for a walk or run. 86 00:05:33,004 --> 00:05:37,114 And again, like with the workout classes, it might be a one hour class, say 87 00:05:37,114 --> 00:05:42,304 from eight to nine in the morning, but it takes me 12 minutes to get there. 88 00:05:42,304 --> 00:05:45,394 I've gotta park, I've gotta go in and set up my mat and all of 89 00:05:45,394 --> 00:05:49,684 these things, and then at the end, clean up, walk my car, drive home. 90 00:05:49,684 --> 00:05:51,964 So instead of blocking out eight to nine. 91 00:05:52,384 --> 00:05:57,574 I block out seven 30 to nine 30, and that's where a lot of people mess 92 00:05:57,574 --> 00:06:04,234 up their schedules is not giving time to do things like that, like 93 00:06:04,234 --> 00:06:08,434 the drive time and the park and the walk in that stuff takes time. 94 00:06:08,439 --> 00:06:12,694 And when you don't block it out with the activity, then you think 95 00:06:12,694 --> 00:06:17,824 you have more time in your schedule than you actually do, and that's 96 00:06:17,824 --> 00:06:20,464 when stuff starts to get stressful. 97 00:06:20,464 --> 00:06:24,814 And then once you've put in the need to dos, then you can put in the want to dos. 98 00:06:25,054 --> 00:06:27,334 This is a massage maybe. 99 00:06:27,369 --> 00:06:32,259 Or lunch with friends or maybe really want to do a little sewing 100 00:06:32,259 --> 00:06:34,749 project and make some new throw pillows or something like that. 101 00:06:34,809 --> 00:06:39,819 So that's when you find the space in your calendar that's not filled, 102 00:06:39,819 --> 00:06:44,589 and you go ahead and you set a time for yourself to do your want to 103 00:06:44,594 --> 00:06:47,859 dos, whether it's you know, with friends or something on your own. 104 00:06:48,099 --> 00:06:52,839 That is you creating "you time" and putting it on the calendar 105 00:06:53,139 --> 00:06:55,479 and making it a priority. 106 00:06:56,110 --> 00:07:00,550 So I love to make a to-do list, and I'm sure you do too, and 107 00:07:00,550 --> 00:07:02,020 checking those little things off. 108 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:05,410 I am guilty of, if I end up doing something that wasn't on 109 00:07:05,415 --> 00:07:08,050 the list, I'll write it on the list just so I can check it off. 110 00:07:08,340 --> 00:07:09,570 Maybe that makes me a huge dork. 111 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:15,030 but that is something I do and my husband always makes fun of me for doing it. 112 00:07:15,030 --> 00:07:20,370 But anyway, so if you are a list person and you like to check off that to-do 113 00:07:20,370 --> 00:07:25,710 list that to-do list can get very stressful when you make the list and 114 00:07:25,715 --> 00:07:28,290 you don't get everything checked off. 115 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:33,240 So it's really important to when you make that list, you make sure 116 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:38,175 that there's time on the calendar to get everything on the list done. 117 00:07:38,775 --> 00:07:42,735 Making a realistic checklist for the day is key. 118 00:07:42,795 --> 00:07:43,125 Okay? 119 00:07:43,125 --> 00:07:46,635 So say you have a Monday is super, super busy. 120 00:07:46,845 --> 00:07:50,265 Don't put a lot of things on that list to check off. 121 00:07:50,605 --> 00:07:54,080 Wait until Tuesday or maybe Thursday is not nearly as busy. 122 00:07:54,080 --> 00:08:00,050 And try to put those tasks on those days so that your to-do list not 123 00:08:00,050 --> 00:08:05,210 being checked off does not become a source of stress or overwhelm for you. 124 00:08:05,210 --> 00:08:10,310 And after you've done your time blocking, when you have your haves and your needs 125 00:08:10,610 --> 00:08:15,815 and your wants all blocked out, if there is still some white space, leave it there 126 00:08:16,355 --> 00:08:22,715 because life happens, something's gonna come up, and that white space allows you 127 00:08:22,715 --> 00:08:28,775 to deal with those little life happens things without them becoming overwhelming. 128 00:08:28,780 --> 00:08:32,375 So say something breaks and you've got to wait for a repair 129 00:08:32,375 --> 00:08:33,515 manner, things like that. 130 00:08:33,515 --> 00:08:38,740 That white space gives you ability to shift other things that were time blocked. 131 00:08:39,095 --> 00:08:40,745 Out if you need to. 132 00:08:41,075 --> 00:08:45,215 So white space is ideal to have when you're finished doing your 133 00:08:45,215 --> 00:08:46,835 time blocking for the week. 134 00:08:47,345 --> 00:08:51,845 Every single day might not have it, but it's great to have white space 135 00:08:51,845 --> 00:08:53,675 at least a few days in the week. 136 00:08:53,865 --> 00:08:58,545 So if you are trying to get your calendar and schedule and everything organized, 137 00:08:58,545 --> 00:09:03,915 I really, really encourage you to start by doing a week at a glance time block 138 00:09:04,275 --> 00:09:09,165 and color code it, you know, maybe do the haves, the needs and the wants, 139 00:09:09,165 --> 00:09:14,995 different colors or you do family work, me time, those different colors. 140 00:09:14,995 --> 00:09:19,855 There's not a set way you need to do the color code, just one that works for you. 141 00:09:19,860 --> 00:09:23,545 That when you can visually look at the week of the glance, your 142 00:09:23,545 --> 00:09:29,095 brain kind registers what the activities are and how they, fit. 143 00:09:29,095 --> 00:09:31,705 You know, whether they're something you have to do or they're a work 144 00:09:31,705 --> 00:09:36,325 related thing and it helps your brain know what is priority and you kind 145 00:09:36,325 --> 00:09:37,855 of remember it for the whole week. 146 00:09:37,855 --> 00:09:39,685 And that's, that's really great too. 147 00:09:40,015 --> 00:09:45,355 So I will link a week at a glance, download that you can, get from my 148 00:09:45,355 --> 00:09:52,345 website for free and use this to do your time blocking for the week and 149 00:09:52,345 --> 00:09:55,165 get your calendar super organized. 150 00:09:55,585 --> 00:09:59,785 If you like to use a daily agenda that's, you know, can have a lot 151 00:09:59,785 --> 00:10:01,825 more detail in it, that is great too. 152 00:10:01,825 --> 00:10:04,285 I actually like to use a daily agenda. 153 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:08,550 So you can take that week at a glance, you can map it all out, what 154 00:10:08,550 --> 00:10:12,750 it's gonna look like, and then put it down onto your individual days. 155 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:17,430 So that will give you room to do those little to do checklist on 156 00:10:17,430 --> 00:10:23,160 your daily agendas for the days that there is time to do those tasks. 157 00:10:23,338 --> 00:10:27,958 So I hope this has been helpful for you to prioritize the things you have to get 158 00:10:27,958 --> 00:10:32,968 done, as well as creating, you know, some self-care, me time, whatever you wanna 159 00:10:32,968 --> 00:10:38,098 call it, with the wants, by prioritizing them on your schedule ahead of time 160 00:10:38,098 --> 00:10:41,998 for the week, instead of just trying to squeeze them in whenever you can. 161 00:10:42,418 --> 00:10:46,008 And we oftentimes want to do the wants more than the haves. 162 00:10:46,008 --> 00:10:50,988 And so having those have to dos clearly mapped out and being able to check them 163 00:10:50,988 --> 00:10:55,398 off and getting the stress of, of the pressure, of getting them done complete, 164 00:10:55,698 --> 00:11:00,888 then it gives us time to relax and really enjoy our needs and wants in our schedule. 165 00:11:01,085 --> 00:11:05,555 So I hope you have a super organized and productive week.