The Power Of A Week: 168 Hours To Greatness

Last week, I took a week off writing. And it killed me. Posts were scheduled on my blog, they released without me editing them... and suddenly, I realised the power of the week... and the hours you have within in.

The truth is, I quit cannabis, had a bit of a mental breakdown... and a friend started playing World of Warcraft Classic, and got me into the game.

After my contract ended, I had all the time in the world to sit and game.

It was good to rest. But it wasn't good at the end of the week when I realised the days of played time I had on my character.

The power of one week is enormous. And it shouldn't be underestimated.

What can you do in an hour?

Twenty cold calls.

Plan and write a blog post.

Clean the entire house.

Spend a precious hour with your wife, child or family and build bonds that last forever.

An hour is a long time if you use it wisely.

And it can easily be wasted.

An hour leads to two. And that leads to three.

Before you know it, you've spent 168 hours on a game. And what do you have from that?

Not a lot.

If you spent that week planning for your business, what could be accomplished?

The work-week is nothing when you think about it

Thirty-five hours, forty hours. It's two days at the most, including your travel time.

Let's say you sleep eight hours a day. That's two days gone.

That means you have three entire days (in hours) of the week to spend how you desire.

You might have to spend one of them pruning yourself, dealing with the kids and your other commitments.

Two days.

Two entire days.

What are the possibilities? Could you start that side-hussle? Could you begin with your business plans and put them into action?

We give ourselves an excuse.

'Well, I work full-time. I deserve some time off.'

That might be true, your evenings may be precious.

But do you really need to give yourself all the time in the world?

The workweek is nothing. It's not even half of your week. It's a quarter of the week.

What will you do with the other three-quarters?

What you do this week will influence your life

This week is all you have.

Today is the start of the rest of your life.

What can you do today, that will help your future self?

This week matters. And next week will be dictated by what you do this week.

Want to become more educated? Start reading that book.

How many times have you said you need to go to the gym? Go today.

Have you got plans to open your business? Download a business plan.

There are limitless possibilities in the hours you have.

Spend them wisely.

Taking control of your week

How can you take control of your week?

What must you do so that this week contributes to the dreams you have in life?

I want to set you up for success.

I want to set myself up for success.

So this week, here is how I plan to take control of my week. And you can too.

Set goals and let them dictate your priorities

To determine how this week will go, you need to set goals.

Setting goals help you dictate your priorities.

You have a hundred and one things you want to do, that's for certain.

And what you do this week will be determined by how you prioritise those tasks.

Your priorities are set by how much emotion you attach to your goals.

And without goals?

You'll be forever drifting in video games or time spent in the pub.

And will that really help you?

At the beginning of this week, sit down and write down your goals.

Now ask:

'If I had to go out of town tomorrow, which one of these would I want to get done?'

Then list those goals in order of priority.

This will help you dictate how your plan will go for the week.

Plan every hour and stick to your schedule

The most notorious businessmen in this world, do you know what they have in common?

They stick to their schedules.

And their schedules are planned in hourly segments.

They do this because they know it's easy to drift.

They are no different from us.

They must prioritise. They must set goals. And they must plan their lives and stick to those schedules.

You should do the same.

Sit down and plan your week. What do you need to get done? When will you do it? And when the times comes, get it done.

Plan luxury time in advance, and don't go overboard

You don't have to be your own tyrant.

Nobody wants to feel like they are being overworked.

And when we do that, we become resentful of our lives.

And that's when we drift, forget about our dreams and slip back into old habits.

And the priorities slip, and we're back to square-one.

That's why we need to give ourselves time to do things we enjoy.

One hour per day, plan some luxury time, just for you.

Read a novel.

Play a video game.

Go to the pub.

But only do it for an hour, then get back to building your dreams and being productive.

Don't try to completely block out any luxury time. You don't have to live to work, that's not for everyone.

And planning luxury time means that you know when you can wind down, and recognise in the other hours, you better be going full-board on building your dreams.

Let go of all the distractions

When it's time to get down to work, get down to work.

Switch off the notifications on your phone. Better yet, if you can, switch off your phone.

Deep-dive into your work. Focus completely on the task at hand. Don't do something half-heartedly.

If you're working on your business plan, you can't also be watching the TV. Turn off the TV and get the pen and paper out.

If you are going to the gym, don't spend thirty minutes looking at your phone as you are there... get up there and get on with it.

And if you are travelling to work, you can utilise that time by listening to an Audible book, or reading an article online that helps you educate yourself.

You don't need to use that time to browse Facebook or 'sit back and relax.'

And if you do, recognise that is part of your 'luxury time.'

Push forward to greatness and don't settle

Today is a new day.

You need to recognise that.

Resting on your past accomplishments or achievements is not a great way to push forward and become great.

You read a book yesterday, so what? Read more.

You listened to an educational podcast for four hours on your travel time and early in the morning... so what? Listen to more.

It's not okay to go a little easier because you worked hard yesterday.

Keep going and don't settle.

And over the long-term, you can become great at what you do.

And then push forward even more, and make the world great.

Wasting an hour turns into two. And two hours turns into four. And before you know it, 168 hours have been wasted, which could have been used to push forward into your realm of potential and possibilities.

No matter how you spend this week, it will change your life forever.