Planning your day

I’d like to extend a very warm welcome to all of my readers! This week in my series of tips for making your dash count, I’d like to talk to you about planning your day and reviewing your day. Yes, most of us have calendars, but do you really plan your day out?

I try every evening to look at the following day, because I like to plan my day out. Of course I have to review it again the following morning, to ensure I have planned my day efficiently. When it comes to planning, it’s not enough to just have a list of things to do the next day. I think it’s important to decide how much time you want to spend on a task. And when you’re coming up with this list, especially for people who are in business, or if you have a specific project you’re working on, you have to examine your goals. You then need to decide what objectives you need to meet within a specific timeframe to be able to complete your goals.

Tasks versus planning

That’s the key takeaway here – it’s not just about writing a list. I have my task or ‘to-do’ list that I work on, and it’s separate to my day plan. I work on those taks during the weekend, things like cleaning and cooking. Anything that doesn’t bring me closer to my goals goes on this separate task list.

When I’m working on my objectives, I don’t like to have 20 things to do in one day, because I would never be able to get through everything. What I like to do is decide what I want to do that month. I break it down to the weeks, and then down to the days, and finally to hours. I give myself a good timeframe to complete the thing that I want to do. It’s important when you are trying to plan your day to be very specific.

Making time for loved ones

Since I’m all about making your dash count, each day you should have time set aside for your family. This could be either for your spouse or your children, or both. One of our followers shared with us recently that she deliberately comes home every evening in time to do homework with her kids. Do you know what it is that you’re going to do to connect with your children each day? What will you do to connect with your spouse every day?

This is something you need to plan out at the beginning of the day, or even the night before. Otherwise, it might not happen. We have to place importance on these moments with our loved ones. It’s extremely important to plan your day out, right down to the smaller details. Yes, there are always things that crop up that you won’t be aware of or have planned for. You can always deal with them as they come.

Reviewing your day

One other thing that I really like to do is reviewing my day to see how it went. What did I achieve? What did I not achieve? How should I improve? I give myself feedback on how I did for the day.

I want to challenge you all to out there and really plan your day. Decide on how much time for need for each task. At the end of the day, review what you’ve done. Don’t forget the most important thing though. Make sure you’re making time for the most important people in your life. Even if it’s just a 5 minute call, a text in the morning, a dinner, an evening to wind down and goof off with the kids. Depending on what age they are, it’s always going to be different.

Planning your day will help you to be more productive and effective, but it also means you won’t miss out on the important things in life either.

I'd love to chat with you about making your dash count and how planning your day can help you achieve your goals. Why don't you book a consultation with me here and we can see if we are a good fit?