How to schedule your goal weekly and daily
Have goals in the new year? Me, too! Here’s how I make sure I give my goals the appropriate time and attention. This planning is specifically for 30-day goals that I want to achieve.
Who else is a planning nerd? Get those #2 pencils out!
And the bonus part? It’s all really SIMPLE.
No fancy planner.
No fancy journaling or symbols to figure out.
Just paper and pen.
Goal planning made easy.
1.Start with a Monthly Snapshot
I print out a simple monthly calendar that blank, like from here (Worksheetworks.com).
I like WorksheetWorks because you can start your month from whatever date — no need to wait for the “perfect” day to start.
Don’t wait until the 1st of the month to start your goal.
Don’t wait until Monday to start that new food plan.
Be a rebel and start your goals on a Wednesday!
This is basically you, starting a goal on a regular Wednesday.
Seeing the next month of your life laid out will give you a proper overview of the next chunk of time for you.
Mark down the Big Events to consider, like holidays off, vacations, planned trips - anything where you’ll want to plan around when it comes to scheduling your goal.
Then start backward.
What’s the result you’ll have at Day 30? Write that down on the calendar.
With that end goal in mind – where will you have to be at Days 7, 14 and 21?
Make note of this on the calendar.
And check in:
Do these milestones actually make sense given the Big Events that are coming up this month?
Are the milestones realistic?
If so, move on to the next step.
If not, reassess and adjust your end goal.
We’ve just broken up your monthly goal into weekly goals!
2. Start with the Weekly Snapshot
This is kind of like when we used a homework planner in school. We’re listing all the subjects we have this week, and the daily assignments.
You can do it on a piece of lined paper or an Excel spreadsheet.
The perfect reason to go and buy lined paper again!
On the top line, write down the days Sunday through Monday.
On the left side, write down the categories of Stuff That Needs Attention in your daily life right now. It’s like listing out the School Subjects you used to have (i.e. Math, Science, etc.), but now it’s Life Subjects, like:
**Appointments should be the first category
Your 30 day goal
Morning habit stack
Evening habit stack
Business obligations / goals
Personal obligations / goals
Family obligations / goals
Spiritual practices
Social outings
Kids’ practices/games
Meal prepping diinner
Making kids’ lunches (this gets its own category so I can plan ahead)
The things that require time from you during the week.
NOTE: THIS DOESN’T NEED TO BE PERFECT! Let’s not make this harder than it needs to be. Give it a good 5-10 minutes, but do not overthink it. You’ll see what’s missing when you put it into practice.
Here’s an example of my categories for the week:
Days on top, subjects on the side. Yep, I use a lot abbreviations!
3. Fill in your Weekly Snapshot with the work for each Life Subject.
First, make note of all the appointments for the week so you can see what you have to schedule around.
Then for your 30 day goal, take your Monthly Snapshot milestone for the week and break it down into daily goals:
What needs to be done this week in order to hit that mile stone by Saturday?
Break it down into the daily result that needs to be produced to move you forward.
Put that daily result on the Weekly Snapshot
Then fill in the rest of the Life Subjects.
Here’s what mine looks like:
Gibberish to you, but a weekly plan to me!
4. Create Your Daily Schedule
Like the Monthly and Weekly Snapshots, the Daily Schedule is appealing in its simplicity and quick in its implementation.
Here’s how to create your Daily Schedule:
Get a sheet of paper (blank or lined will do).
Fold it in half, long ways.
I like to put the name of the day in the right hand corner.
Then down the left side, write down the hours you want to schedule for.
I write down from 6am to 7pm, but that’s personal preference.
Here’s what my blank Daily Schedule looks like:
This is how I do my daily schedule: one sheet of paper, folded in half.
Then with your Weekly Snapshot in hand, looking at the day you’re scheduling for (say, Monday), schedule your things into your Daily Schedule.
I like to boxes around appointments so they stand out.
Then just start executing your day.
This is what my completed Daily Schedule looks like for a Sunday and Monday:
Sunday on one side. Monday on the other side
*AND* as a bonus way to keep you on track, here’s the EXTRA thing that I absolutely live by.
5. BONUS: Set Alarms!
I love love LOVE doing this.
Since I’ve implemented it, it’s kept me so accountable with following my planned schedule.
After I have my Daily Schedule, I set alarms on my phone for the big stuff:
Appointments definitely get an alarm that goes off 10 minutes before I need to leave.
Project goals get an alarm so that I have Butt In Chair at the designated work time.
Rest times get an alarm so that I don’t skip the binaural nap that helps recharge me to execute the rest of the day.
Any new habit that isn’t automatic for me yet gets an alarm as an extra reminder to say “HEY! This is important! Go do it!”, like getting out of bed at 5:05am - which I’m still working on.
And that’s how I plan my goals into my actual life.
Monthly Snapshot: see how the goal fits into your actual life and break it down into weekly milestones
Weekly Snapshot: see how the weekly milestones fit into your actual week and break it down into daily progress and results
Daily Schedule: make time to create results in your actual day
Daily Alarms: extra reminders and accountability
How does this work in practice?
I do the Monthly Snapshot at the start of my 30-day goal.
I do the Weekly Snapshot on Sundays.
I do the Daily Schedule the night before. I sit down for 5 minutes (if that) with my Weekly Snapshot and fill in my Daily Schedule for the next day.
So when I start each day, my schedule and expected results are already laid out in front of me and I just GET. AFTER. IT.
Wake.
Work.
Rest.
Repeat.
It has been the system I’ve relied upon for years now to achieve my goals.
It’s simple.
It’s effective.
There’s no time spent coding or coloring - we just write it down and get to work.
Let me know if you try this and how it works for you!
If you have any questions, email me below and I can help:
Hi, I’m Pearl! I coach mom entrepreneurs and I love helping you achieve your goals. We figure out how to accomplish your business and personal goals while getting that work-life balance.
Think this might be for you? Book a free discovery session with me by CLICKING HERE. Seriously, meeting entrepreneurs and talking about their goals is what I love - let’s chat!
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