The First day of school feels like a new beginning of the year for me. I start with a new notebook for my to-do lists and I plan out how I will spend my weeks to come.

One of the most effective tools I have used is a form I put together called “Plan Your Perfect Week”.  I adopted this system about 20 years ago and it had been a huge help in time management for me. It is a week at a glance calendar layout. The first step is to determine my time OFF! This may sound counter productive but I am a little bit of a workaholic. My family gets irritated because once I start to focus on something I am gone… I plan out the family schedule first so I can be present when they want me to be.

This includes date night, family meals and special time with my daughter. I have one child left at home and this last year before she leaves for college is precious to me.  Next I decide when I will do the ‘at home” chores. I work out of my home and it is easy to get sidetracked by something that seems really pressing especially when I have a work item that I am not that excited about! Then I break my work time up into three categories. Prospecting, Marketing and Housekeeping. Prospecting to me is the active time I spend with prospects either on the phone or in person making connections and sales. This is what I call “active” prospecting. There is also passive prospecting. This is email, direct mail etc., time that is spent sending things out into the wild blue yonder and waiting for a response. I know this is necessary but the results are out of your control. Passive prospecting falls under the Marketing task for my business. Also in Marketing would be the time you spend working on your plan and the effort you put in creating things to execute your plan. What you are going to do to get the results you want.  Last is housekeeping. This is where I lump together all of the tasks I need to do. Usually these items will not make me any additional revenue but they are necessary in running my business. Paying bills, organizing, doing the work for my clients. It is really easy to get hung up doing these tasks because they make us feel productive but if you spend to much time here and it causes you to not spend time actively prospecting you will be out of clients in no time.

I am a big believer in time blocking. I block out hours to be spent in the three areas. I like big chunks of time because I find if I jump around from area to area it takes me a long time to get refocused. Usually I will give myself a full day a week for the marketing, 2 days for house keeping and 2 days for prospecting.

This plan is my “perfect” week. Yes I am flexible but usually when things come up instead of dropping everything to do them I try to schedule items into my overall plan and find I am much more productive when I do.

If you would like a copy of the form I use go ahead and shoot me an email and I will be happy to share! alyssa@connexecute.com Now go plan your perfect week!!