Do you know that in America Sunday is usually considered the first day of the week? Look for a diary or planner over there and most of them have their weekly spread as Sunday to Saturday.
It makes planning a weekend a big ol’ fat pain. Especially if you’re going away as you have to plan it over 2 pages.
I asked a group in a planning and time management forum that I’m part of why on earth they would want their weekly calendars to start on a Sunday and not on a Monday. One answer I received was “Because Sunday’s the first day of the week? Duh.”
What??
Not in my world it ain’t.
Saturday and Sunday come at the end of the week, that’s why they’re called the week-end. Duh.
Of course I then had to google “what day is the first day of the week?” to set the record straight but there are indeed two schools of thought on that one and reasons for each.
Lots of people agreed that it seemed silly to start the week on a Sunday but it was just what they were used to and anything different they couldn’t get their head around and they kept putting things in the wrong days. I did the same thing when I tried to use a Sunday to Saturday planner.
Others said that Sunday was the day where they planned the following week. Business planning, life planning, menu planning… I can kind of see how that would be a good way to start Monday by knowing that you could hit the ground running, but Sunday for me is a day of relaxation and rest, for family time and me-time, and I don’t want to be thinking about that kind of stuff then.
Monday morning is the day when I like to look at my week. I look at what’s booked in to the calendar (I use Outlook 365 extensively for this) and I check my to-do list to see what is a priority for the week. If I need to schedule time in to the calendar for a priority I do so. I also check in with my monthly goals to see if how I’m spending my time is in alignment with them and to see what I can accomplish towards achieving them this week.
Then every day I do the same thing on a smaller scale, setting my intentions for the day and prioritising the important stuff. Note that I didn’t say prioritising the urgent stuff. That’s because the aim with planning, with having some forethought and with looking ahead, is to avoid anything getting to urgent. Doesn’t always work out that way but that’s the idea.
Once a month I do a monthly review, where I look back at the month just gone and note what worked and what didn’t, what lessons I learned, what I could have done better, and the wins. The wins are super important as we so often get caught up in the doing and with how much we have to do, and how far we still have to go. It’s important to recognise what we’ve accomplished and our successes along the way. It helps keeps us motivated and on-track towards our goals.
Then I look forward and plan the month ahead, setting my monthly goals and intentions, which are based on my yearly goals that I set over the Xmas / New Years break, which is when I take time off and within that time I go through a rigorous process (last year I used Leonie Dawson’s workbooks which I really enjoyed and have ordered again for this year) to figure out what I want for the year, both professionally and personally.
See how this works? It all starts with the big yearly plan, and comes right down to a daily focus. But everything works in alignment.
It’s amazing what happens when we “put it out there.” We do seem to attract whatever we focus on. Call it energetic alignment, or maybe it’s just our reticular activation system at play, whatever you like. Just know that it works.
This year, after my yearly review and goal setting, I have, so far this year:
- doubled my 2015 calendar year business income in only 9 months of this calendar year so far (full disclosure – last year was year one my new business so was low as a result, but I’m very pleased with the growth)
- gained multiple new clients, many through referrals from happy clients
- started a coaching group for women in business which is full and running into its 7th month
- joined a band with amazing musicians and we are recording an album including two of my original songs, as well as singing at big events and being featured on radio twice so far this year
- met the man of my dreams (honestly, all those corny words like soul-mate and best friend apply to us)
- deleted a toxic person who has caused me grief for years from my life
- maintained a great relationship with my sons
- joined a business mastermind group and met many other wonderful business people
- celebrated my birthday in exactly the way that I wanted to
- been on an overseas holiday to a tropical island with my man
- been to Australia to visit my mum for her birthday
- and by the end of the year I will hopefully have bought a house
Just writing all of that fills my heart with joy. So many of those things seemed far-reaching at the start of the year but I put them on my list anyway. And step-by-step I took action towards making them happen.
And so I guess that’s the last part, and probably the most important point of this post. It’s all about action.
When I talk about energetic alignment and so on, it’s not enough to just state what you want and then sit back and wait for it. Being clear about what you want is the first step, and then you take action.
In the case of my business many, many, many small steps were taken to achieve what I have this year. In the case of my music I created a Facebook page and posted my intention for music for 2016, which brought me to the attention of my now band-mate. And even then I took more action to make sure that I was well-prepared and professional. I still do that. In the case of my relationship I joined a dating site. And so on.
Set your goals and then take action, every day, and you will start to see great results in your life.
If you need help with goal setting, getting clarity of direction (sometimes it’s hard to know what we actually want, right?), and with planning and time management (who doesn’t, let’s be honest), then let’s chat, ‘cos helping you with this type of thing is what I do. 0800 HEADSPACE.
