The Ideal Week

“There is no one busy in this world; it’s always about priorities. You will always find time for the things you feel important.”

- Nishan Panwar

Life isn’t perfect, but you could have an ideal week. It is all about choices.?

You can either design your business wherein you’re in control, or your business controls you.?

You can live your life on purpose.?

Or you can draw yourself into reaction mode.?

These days, planning your week and thinking things seriously are two rare attributes of busy entrepreneurs today.

Entrepreneurs tend to go with the flow, spending their time agreeing to their business demands instead of making their priorities straight beforehand.

Most business owners complain that they don’t have time, especially if they’re wearing too many hats inside their business.?

But the truth is…

If it matters to us significantly, we will make time for them. So, shifting your mindset from having no time to having enough time is done by simply changing how you approach and clarifying your priorities.

And if you want to grow your business, you need to achieve clarity on high-value activities, which will significantly impact your business. If you’re clear with your priorities, you can do better, meaningful work that will pivot your business to the next level.

Being proactive in your business starts by mapping out your “Ideal Ordinary Week.”

?An “Ideal Ordinary Week” is a powerful tool that helps you design your week according to your needs and as to where you want your business to be. This is important because if you don’t do it, everything will fall into your calendar, and you will be lost.

You need to create a space, demarcation, and boundaries to really stay on the playing field of your game.?

So, for example, I have a simple rule which I always follow when it comes to protecting my boundaries:?

In the morning, I do my top 3 tasks because I have optimal energy in the morning. Plus, I have fewer distractions since most people are not working yet at this time. This is my time to create stuff for myself and my business while maintaining my pace and momentum. As a result, I get more things done in less time while growing my business faster.?

In the afternoon, I have meetings, joint ventures, and discussions about deals, business growth, collaborations, or coaching our coaches.

I know when to say YES and when to say NO.

Know when to say YES

and when to say NO.?

Your ordinary Ideal Week is NOT the too-far-away Ideal Week where you are spending time on an island and just surf the whole day.?

The real ordinary Ideal Week depends on how you operate, your patterns, strengths, and weaknesses. It’s like a binder that connects your best life and business with your daily specific actions that support your higher goals.

Most of it you can freely decide, so let’s design it.

If you can decide what your ordinary Ideal Week looks like, at least you have this blueprint, which you will have as an addition to a Google calendar or just put it on the wall. You’ll take many micro-decisions every day that will gradually evolve your week to become that Ideal Week.

Whenever somebody asks for a meeting, you can accept an appointment whenever you set it to be. For example, I want the meeting to be on Friday morning. So you move them gradually there. And that forms part of your ideal week.

Step # 1: Map Out Your Ideal Week

We recommend, for every day, you set an intention.?

Let’s just say a Monday is a “Sale Day,” that is if you are the setter.?

You can say...?

“My goal is setting sales calls for the closer to close on the phone.”

“On Monday, I will reach out to 200 people so that 10 of them get into a closing call for the closer.”

Or if you are a “closer,”... you can say “CLOSING DEALS.”?

You wake up in the morning, you have 10 calls there, and you try to close 5 of them. Then it is a “CLOSING DAY.”?

The other day might be the TEAM DAY where you are available for teammates to whatever pops up, and they need from you.?

The other day might be the “MARKETING DAY” where you record videos for your clients or whatever.

Basically, set intentions each week that will serve you and your business—no hard rules for this. Let your creativity do its magic.?

Step #2: Define what tractions mean for you.

After you’ve set intentions, then think about what are the elements of your week.?

Most of our Strategies Sprint clients have these elements.?

This is where you build the product. So usually, somebody is coding, building, building, coding. And another person is selling and selling in the first years.?

We call it FULFILLMENT.?The goal is to make the clients happy.?

Building the product, coaching, consulting, and teaching whatever your primary fulfillment is, we color it RED.?

This is the color we want to get away from you as soon as possible. Also, FULFILLMENT is a thing we want you to delegate soon - as soon as possible.?

Then, there is the TEAM TIME. The TEAM TIME is everything from daily to weekly meetings etc.

Then MARKETING is when you create content which may materialize long term, raise credibility and expertise.

?Then it is essential to have some ME TIME. Something that you do just for yourself like sports, meditation, yoga, reading. Whatever you think, whatever nurtures you and gives you energy.?

Then a GREAT LIFE. Let’s not forget we do business to create a great life and create conditions for a great experience. For others, having a great life means date nights, weekend trips, adventures with your friends, with your children -- with whoever essential people in your life.?

Enjoy it. Remember that life is short of having a great time. Make it count. If you want to do that, you have to put it on the calendar; otherwise, it won’t happen.?

Step #3: Put time blockers into your calendar

SALES. This is important. In the BLUE part, we want to have more and more of the blue part. We show you an example of how this can gradually evolve. Sales are essential, like closing deals and revenue generation.?

GROWTH. Sales are also part of the GROWTH, but GROWTH is more than that. GROWTH is the business of business. It is when you work on the form, fit, and function of your sales process, marketing process, and fulfillment process.

The GROWTH is when you really work “ON” the business. The vision, the positioning, the joint ventures, the collaboration, the franchise system, the affiliate system, your blue ocean strategy, how can you DIFFERENTIATE, hiring, and firing.?

The CEO topics which are growth topics, you should have more time for that because it is important. And it will help you in your journey in scaling your business.?

Then I used my TOP 3. I used the “Get Things Done” (GTD) system, one list of ten projects that I am working on.?I even pick the top 3 tasks for the next day, then in the morning, they will be my top 3 tasks. So I have the TOP 3.?

Step #4: Respect your personal energy patterns

Sometimes I have to review the projects list, so they are always updated. I killed the projects that are done or the ones that I am not running well. I discontinue them. So I updated the list. I make sure that there is a next one for every project, which is actually my NEXT TASK ACTUAL SYSTEM.?

So you go here (calendar/hourly schedule template) and say to yourself...?

“This is how I want my IDEAL WEEK next week.”

And start with it.?

When I started my first year at Strategy Sprints, this was my first week. It is FULFILLMENT FULFILLMENT and FULFILLMENT. Every day the intention was fulfillment.?

Then, I try to have a great life in the evening. It didn’t always work.

My family missed me. On Friday afternoon, I tried to update my project list just to have a little bit of control of my week, but I had no power at all.?

Basically, I am trying to get as many clients as possible to make them happy. I was coaching them. But of course, I was also the IT department and then every department because that was the first year when you create something when you found (built) something.

Then we started the team meeting when we brought people on board and distributed work a little bit. So this was the first year.?

In the second year, you see the RED part becomes less. I went out from FULFILMENT. This is what I recommend everybody to do. Get out of working “in” the business to start working “on” the company.?

It is easiest to start with SALES then later on with GROWTH activities. These are usually joint ventures, collaborations, affiliate systems, and franchise systems.

You have to create time by getting out of FULFILLMENT. Teach people to do FULFILLMENT. This means you need to make the first system to do that.?

The first system we teach in SPRINT, you get out of the fulfillment because the fulfillment is systemized; you have time for sales.?

I made sales for one year. So I created the sales script, created the sales numbers, etc. When all of these were done, I went out from Sales, too.?

Year 3, I was kind of out of SALES. I am doing more GROWTH.?

Then, in some months, I went back to SALES. In some months, I was completed out of it.?But this was the time basically when everything was systemized.

You see, in the morning, it becomes necessary for me to have inoculated and protected time to do my TOP 3.?I also started my morning routine, having ME TIME, by doing things that are good to me.?

I do them early in the morning before I have breakfast with my kids because I have small kids.?

You can set ME TIME depending on your context.?

How many kids do you have??

How many people do you have in your life??

What age are they?

This is the idea: Create something that fits your current context.

As general advice, try to get rid of the RED stuff as soon as possible, and the BLUE stuff is the good ones you want more of. Less RED MORE BLUE. This is how I helped myself. Of course, more GREEN.?

In the fourth year, I was entirely out of SALES. I have a lot of BUFFER time. There is nothing in there because I just do what pops up, whatever I need something from.?

Like on Monday, I have a coach meeting that’s WHITE, a fixed thing. But also, the coaches need stuff that surrounds it.?

I do the TOP 3’s and GROWTH activities. I have a GREAT LIFE, and I have TEAM TIME. This can be an example of year 4.

The red ones are FULFILMENT. Then you have the SALES, MARKETING, and GROWTH topics.?

Start with your IDEAL WEEK. Otherwise, others will set their priorities on your calendar. You don’t want it.?

You want to set your priorities because it is hard enough to be CEO.?

You have to create a condition to have that system sustainable, or else your business will reach its end.

Always remember…

If you don’t have time, you don’t have priorities. Define your traction, so you know what your distractions are. You either work on your priorities or the priorities of others. You have to make time to create the system and on your system; to work on the business, and not in the business.