How to Plan Your Week for Maximum Efficiency

Do you find yourself feeling constantly behind in your work? Or unfocused and easily distracted  by all of the tasks you’ve got to accomplish from the one you’re working on? I know I have been there. So today I’m sharing my system for how I plan out my work for maximum efficiency. 

Prioritize!

Prioritizing is absolutely key. Otherwise, it is far too easy to look at your to-do list and jump around from task to task without actually accomplishing your projects or plans. I know this sounds way too simple, but I promise you that this one small shift will make a huge difference in your productivity level. I know it did mine! 

The Top 3

At the beginning of each week, I pick my top 3 ‘must-do’s.’ These are either small tasks or sometimes larger projects that I know need my devoted attention that particular week. I write down the top three at the top of my weekly planner (I am old school and LOVE a paper planner to write in for this!), so that I can continue to reference them throughout the week. This way, if I get distracted by other things that come up unexpectedly, I can evaluate if I have time to work-in the additional tasks based on where I am on completing the top 3 most important tasks that I previously identified.

Work/Life Balance

Depending on the week, I often will create two separate lists – one for work tasks and one for personal tasks (schedule an oil change for example, or send a birthday card to a friend). This way, as I’m working away and something reminds me that I need to buy that birthday card, I’ve already dedicated time to take care of that personal task and I can stay focused on what I’m doing, rather than stop to think about it. The personal tasks are things that fall outside of my normal routines and workflow. By scheduling time for them I take away the distraction of feeling like I need to stop what I’m doing to take care of them when they pop in my head!  

• I keep a running list of small personal tasks like this that I do randomly remember throughout the week, which is what I reference when picking my top 3 each week. 

• Sometimes, during extra busy times, I will pick the top 4 things to focus on. Not more than that though. Of course this doesn’t mean that I’m only working on 3 or 4 things all week long, but by identifying what the absolutely most important items are, I know I’m guaranteed to get those things done. 

How to pick your Top 3

I pick my top 3 based on what my goals and plans for the month are. From there, I break my goals down into smaller, actionable items that then become the important tasks of the week.   

You can even adopt the top 3 concepts for your days in addition to your weeks, if you want to take a more micro approach to scheduling your days.

Paper Planner or Tech?

I absolutely love, and use, Asana as a project management tool in my business and with my clients. And you could totally use this fabulous program (or any of the other software based PM tools) to create and manage your top 3 list- but for me there is just something about writing down a list that makes me feel like I am committing to it even more. 

I hope you find this concept of prioritizing your tasks on a weekly basis and picking your top 3 helpful, and I would love to hear how you adopt it into your life! Leave a comment and tell me how you prioritize!