How This Works:
To gain control of your time and your sanity, we have to be proactive and organized! The problem is when we overcomplicate things.
The Prep & Plan Method will keep your week on track without burdening you with a heavy new discipline that you can’t sustain.
The key is to KEEP IT SIMPLE. Don’t overthink or overcomplicate this. If you are diligent and do the steps listed, you will be able to grow and scale your business!
You can have a business like a bike, where you do all work, pedaling to move things forward OR you can have a business that is built like a car. When you create systems, you’ll have a powerful engine (not your legs) growing your business so you can go further.
You can stop pedaling and instead, get in your car, gas up, drive, map out your route, and impact your family’s future.
And if you stumble? If you run out of gas? Just start again. It takes time to start a new habit. There is no shame in slipping back into your old ways (we all do it). Each week is a chance to begin anew. Every Sunday is a reset. Follow these steps and you WILL see your efforts pay off!
The goal: Time Wealth.
Systems are like the engine of our car. We can use less effort when we are using the power of systems.
When you are rich in time wealth, your marriage wins, your family wins, your sanity stays intact.
Systems are the key for a successful life and a successful business!
If you are so busy pedaling and pushing, you won’t be able to have any extra energy for the emergencies that come along.
A lot of coaches and experts will yell “PUSH, HUSTLE, GRIND!”
But, I’ve found this produces a life that is filled with burnout, stress, and illness.
Instead, when you have a car with a powerful engine (systems), you can stay in business for the long haul.
Your systems will allow you to live a life that is sustainable (Even if you have a new baby, even if you get sick, and even if your family needs you desperately).
The foundation for a successful life and business starts by PREPPING & PLANNING. This is where all the systems begin. Let’s get started!
1. Get Alone & Focus
The first thing you need to do is go into your bedroom or your office and shut the door.
You can use 1 hour this weekend to set up your entire week, but not if the time is filled with distraction. The more you honor this time, the more successful you will be. Gather all of your supplies and shut the door.
You will need:
2. Start With Gratitude
Focusing on what you are thankful for is a secret that every successful person swears by.
Many books have been written on this topic!
I have also seen this to be true in my life as well.
The Bible says: “The joy of the Lord is our strength,” and I believe that we tap into that strength when we start with gratitude.
Gratitude and thankfulness allows the joy to bubble up in our chest.
When we focus on what is GOOD then we can tackle what needs to be improved.
No matter how hard life gets, you can always find something to be thankful for.
When you get into the habit of starting with gratitude, you’ll find that controlling your thoughts leads to controlling your life.
3. Choose your 5 Focus Tasks for the Week
There are two types of people:
Over-achievers who think they can accomplish more than possible in a week
And those who get overwhelmed easily and shut down when they see everything on their list of things to do.
Both problems can be solved with clear, manageable focus for the week.
On Saturday or Sunday night, get into the habit of determining your goals for the week.
You only get to choose 5!
The reason for this is that you WANT to succeed.
If you choose too many tasks to do, you’ll constantly fall short and feel like a loser, even if you actually accomplished a lot of things.
The key is choosing on the weekend, NOT on Monday morning when everything is hitting the fan.
You’ll use the template in this guide to choose your 5 tasks.
Do NOT overshoot this.
Focus on 5 tasks that you can easily accomplish within your week for maximum productivity.
4. Update Your Kitchen Whiteboard Calendar
Every Saturday or Sunday night, update your family whiteboard.
Put it in plain sight for the whole family to see.
For many years, mine was on the back of the oven (under the microwave).
Now mine is on a desk in the kitchen.
You can get as elaborate or be as simple as you want, but the whole family should be able to view the plan for the week.
Write down all the activities that are coming up.
Mentally prepare for what is coming.
If you can, write your meal plan on the board so everyone can see what’s coming up!
This whiteboard will give your entire family a sense of security.
Even though it might be hard for you to do, when it’s done, you’ll have a sense of order and calm that you will love!
I color code my calendar so my kids know their activities at a glance.
I also use the number system for who is assigned to “kitchen duty” for the day.
Items to add to the kitchen family whiteboard calendar:
❏ Your kid’s activities
❏ Your spouse’s work schedule
❏ Garbage day
❏ Appointments for the kids or the family
❏ Your meal plan (work up to this slowly if it’s a new habit!)
❏ Household chore schedule for each family member. ( I love to schedule each child their own kitchen/household tasks to do.)
LINKS:
For years, I used this whiteboard.
Then I used a slightly bigger one.
Now that my kids are all young adults or teens, we share a family Google Calendar and a monthly white board calendar is in the kitchen.
Get yourself some good dry erase markers! You can color code for more organization!
5. Chunk your Time
After you’ve filled out the kitchen whiteboard calendar, now it’s time to plan YOUR work time in chunks.
This is the secret sauce for all of your systems.
By chunking your time and planning when you will work, the whole week will flow more smoothly.
By assigning tasks of your business to a chunk of time, you won’t constantly feel behind or fall into the trap of only responding to emails.
I like to plan my schedule on my calendar on my phone. I have also done this on my paper calendar.
There are 4 chunks of time that you need to plan for during your week:
Client time is the work IN your business. This is the time that you need that produces your income (usually). If you have people who work for you to produce income, then you are already starting to scale your business and you’ll need less time for client time. In the beginning, this chunk of time might be the biggest.
Eventually, as you hire team members and scale your business, client time will go down and you’ll focus more on leading your team and marketing.
Marketing time is the work you do to GET clients. Writing emails, posting on social media, responding in Facebook groups, or working on your website.
When you chunk time every week for marketing, you will stop having a business that operates on feast of famine.
By planting marketing seeds, you will continue to have a steady stream of clients coming in consistently.
If you neglect this, your clients will dry up and you’ll wonder why your business isn’t growing or making money.
Admin time is the time you need to do bookkeeping, deal with emails, pay bills, and do other office work that your business requires.
If you don’t chunk time for admin time, these tasks will take over your week and you’ll be constantly shuffling papers and emails instead of working with clients or getting new prospects.
Learning Time is the time you take to work on your Challenges, research solutions to problems, watch a video, or sharpen your skills. This time should never leave your schedule. A successful business owner is always learning.
The amount of time needed for each of these areas will greatly on the size of your business! A baby business won’t need as much time as a young adult business.
What is most important is to see the different categories and PLAN time for each.
Now look at the family whiteboard. Where can you find time for each of these areas this week?
You may discover that you need help with the kids one day a week or for your spouse to pitch in so you can work without distraction.
You may need to stop certain activities that are crowding out your work time.
You may need someone to help drive your kids around so you can get in your chunks of time for clients, marketing, and admin.
Maybe you work best early in the morning, or maybe late at night.
Do what works for you!
Try it for a week, and then you can re-evaluate next week and make adjustments!
Print this document and keep it on your desk for the whole week. Prep and Plan PDF
You can make several copies or use a dedicated notebook for your Prep and Plan time.
Do not file this away!
Don’t just keep it on your computer.
Print and keep it where you can see it and stay on track for the week.
