We have different energies at different times of year, at different times of the month, at different times of the day.... Every day can look a little bit different and you can start to learn what that might be as you’re planning in advance.
On this episode of the Plan Simple Meals Podcast, I’m so excited to talk about planning your week, and the weekly 3 for moms. As I get ready for another year of FLOW 365 and prep changes for the next round of the FLOW Planner, I’m thinking a lot about how I plan and why it matters. I am also gathering as much of the science behind planning as I can.
As we shift into summer, I’m thinking about setting up for a summer that feels good for my whole family. I recently did a whole series on summer planning. If you missed the planning sheets, you’ll find the link below.
Planning the summer can help you have the summer you want, but it’s important to think about each week too! I’ve been reading Michael Hyatt’s Free to Focus, and I really recommend it, but … there’s a lot of masculine energy around it. Based on my own experience of finetuning how I plan and helping so many women plan their days, weeks, and seasons to get more of the life they want, I’m sharing some of his ideas with my own tweaks.
Planning Your Week Steps
First, I’ll say that I love to plan on Fridays. Michael Hyatt says he usually plans on Friday, Sunday, or Monday morning. For me, Friday works best. It gives you the weekend to prep for the week and set up and support you need.
- Find your magic moments
Michael talks about wins, but in the FLOW process, we find the magic moments each day—in all the areas of our life.
- Review your week
Analyze how things went. See what you can learn. Get curious instead of judgemental. Again, look at the whole picture of your life—your work, your family, your food, your self-care ...
- Make a master list
Michael talks about reviewing your list and notes. This step in the FLOW process is Masterlist. It is therapeutic to get everything out of your head onto paper. Plus once things are on paper, you stop using up brain space holding on to it and you have it in a format where others can see it, whether for accountability or support or whatever. There’s also another step that matters—a process for reviewing that list and crossing things off or saying no to things that don’t serve you and your goals right now.
- Check your goals, projects, events, meetings, and deadlines
We’ll talk about how Michael presents this … and a more female version based on different types of cycles.
- Set your 3 Big Rocks
One of the key things here is to remember that some of your big 3 might be about work, but some might be about family or home. We set ourselves up for more success and feeling better when we look at our life as a whole. That also means leaning into our own cycles of when things get done.
- Plan your rejuvenation
This is step 6 for Michael, and it’s an important one. For me, there is certainly a need to plan for rejuvenation—in the FLOW process, there is a whole strand called OM, which is about spirituality and self-care and downtime. But part of the planning process is also about understanding the ebbs and flows of your energy, throughout your day, your monthly cycle, or the seasons of the year.
I really loved reading Free to Focus for the process, but also to really highlight for me some of the ways that my FLOW process really fits for women and moms.
I love seeing what happens when women embrace the planning process and get the support and accountability they need to make big changes. And those changes are so different—getting a huge project done or getting more sleep at night have big impact. I’ve interviewed four of the amazing women from FLOW 365, and you can hear their thoughts on the process and program and the changes they implemented!
The next cohort of FLOW 365 starts in August! Want to join us?
Also coming up soon:
- An amazing new master class
- An updated FLOW Planner
- A sale on the old FLOW Planner (numbers limited)
If you aren’t on our email list, join to make sure you get updates on all this good stuff!
I mentioned a lot of resources and episodes. Here they are:
Doable Changes from this episode:
- FIND YOUR MAGIC MOMENTS. Take time at the end of the day to find your wins. Key piece of this doable change: look at all aspects of your life. Calling your mom or snuggling with your baby count as much as signing that new client. Look for little moments and big that were sins for the day.
- NOTICE YOUR ENERGY. Our energy changes throughout they day, throughout our cycle each month, throughout the different seasons of our year. Planning based on your own energy cycles is smart, but the first step is starting to notice your own energy patterns. Just notice your energy throughout the day. Are there times of ay you have more energy or feel more creative or contemplative? Are there specific routines or activities that drain you? How does your energy feel throughout the week? Where are you in your cycle? Track your energy to see what you can learn about your own rhythms. As you start to see patterns, you can adjust your planning.
- SET YOUR BIG ROCKS. Does your planning for the week start out with a list of appointments and meetings and places your kids need to be? What happens if you start with the 3 big things you want to focus on and fit other things in around it? Look at your week. Block off time for your three big rocks—the 3 things you most want to move forward. Then start to fit in other projects and responsibilities. You may find things you need to leave out or adjust or ask for help to make things work around your big rocks, but by putting them in there first, you get them in.
