How I Plan My Week As A Startup Founder
Kevin Fischer
Accelerating productive teamwork with Tetheros. Productivity wonk & technical founder. Aspiring polymath.
Weekly planning ensures I'm working on the right things every day to achieve my goals. Here is my 5-step process.
A few months ago I left a nice corporate job to build a startup.?And although it's pretty cool to be my own boss, I have a limited amount of time to successfully launch the company before I have to go get a "real job" again, which is why it's super important to make sure I'm working on the right things every day.
It starts Sunday night after the day has wound down: I pour some fresh tea, put my Inspiration playlist on, and contemplate my future while staring at a blank whiteboard.
Here's my process.
1. Reflect on last week
I start planning by asking a few questions about the last 7 days:
Did I leave any work unfinished? I want to make sure I don't leave anything behind.?If it didn't get done last week, maybe it didn't have to be done in the first place, or maybe it needs to be a priority this week.?These items are usually not priorities.
What major decisions and obstacles did I encounter last week??I'll sit and process moments that stand out to see what I can learn from them.?I'm not very good at this type of self-reflection because I tend to make decisions without looking back.?Most decisions are reversible, after all.
Did I over-plan or under-plan??I compare how much work I thought I'd do with how much I actually did.?Like most people, I usually overestimate what I can do in a week and underestimate what I can do in a year.
Reflection lasts roughly 5 minutes before moving on.
2. Identify my weekly goals
I try to anchor everything I do in a week to a larger purpose.?Some call this their "why", but I just use the simple term "goal".
I ask myself, "What are the main things I want to accomplish this week?"
Not just activities, but outcomes.?I try to build a few goals based on the following categories:
It's not a perfect science.?For example, I don't always have 1 goal for every category every week.?Most of the time I aim for 3-5 goals in a week.
For example, a few weeks ago I had the following weekly goals:
Although I only had 3, they were an important 3, which is another tenet of these goals: they align with my long-term vision for life.?Every weekly goal is a necessarily small step on a long journey.
I don't recommend filling your week with a bunch of lofty or simple goals.?The point is relevance and meaning: quality over quantity.?I use two different goal types: stretch and committed.?
Committed goals are goals you are "committing" to accomplishing no matter what.?80% of my goals fall into this category.
The other 20% are Stretch goals, which are designed to push me outside my comfort zone.?They're not so lofty that it's impossible to hit, but they're not a given either.?I'm usually able to complete Stretch goals if something goes really well during the week.
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3. Review my calendar for critical events
Before scheduling plans, I need to make sure I'm aware of what's already on my personal docket.?These are usually family or industry events I've made a priority (otherwise they don't make it to my calendar).
This is also the moment to check out what's happening this week or next that I need to be part of - conferences, meetups, networking, etc.
Other critical events to bring to my attention are birthdays and anniversaries of family, friends, and acquaintances.?I'll literally make notes on my calendar and whiteboard to connect with people on those days so that I don't have to actually remember it (yes, I'm a terrible person with a great system).
4. Plan main details of each day
I wake up at 4:30 am most days and only have so much mental and physical energy.?The last thing I want to be doing that early in the morning is figuring out what I'm supposed to be doing.
The answer??Build a loose plan for every single day of the week.
Knowing exactly what I need to do every day is one less thing I have to spend time on in the morning - I can hit the ground running on whatever the day holds for me.
I split every day in half and note the "micro" outcomes I want to accomplish that day.?It's not an extensive, detailed checklist for everything I need to do - more like highlights of the main activities I want to work on that day, or even questions I need to answer.
I line up my activities to support my weekly goals so that Future Me is pleased that I accomplished the things I wanted to accomplish.
It's a little ironic though - if I actually do accomplish everything then I didn't plan my week very well.
There's an art to planning.?The goals should stretch me to the point that I don't actually hit 100% of them, but not so much that I don't get close - that's a good week.
I use two main strategies for plotting out my activities: themes and priority.
Themes
I try to build days that are focused on related activities.?An example would be a creative/content day where everything I'm doing relates to marketing or content creation.?Another day may be dedicated to writing code or studying the market.
Fridays are typically a day I spend learning and reading, sometimes on subjects far outside the scope of what I worked on all week (which is a good way to expand perspective).
Priority
Certain tasks are more important for my bottom line, and I try to front-end my week with items like that.?Anything I find to be the most important thing to do gets put on a Monday or Tuesday when I have the largest amount of energy and a free mind.
I also use this philosophy on a daily basis: tackle the hardest work first and the rest of the day is comparatively easy.
5. Close all outstanding emails
With a fully planned week ready for me to take on I head to the last item on my agenda - cleaning out my inbox.
It's usually not my favorite activity, but dealing with all outstanding emails or messages ensures I enter the week fresh.?
Funny enough, the emails I waited so long to respond to usually don't take as long as I thought they would when I reply to them on Sunday night, and the feeling of a clean(ish) inbox provides a boost of dopamine to boot!
What works for me may not work for you, but building routines and intention into your week are powerful tools for accomplishing your goals.