Notes on Effective Weekly Planning

Introduction

I consider the following as key building blocks of having a good week. If you are the type of person who likes to optimize themselves, this post will help. There’s three parts to effectively setting expectations for yourself:

Monday Vision
- You can do this the weekend before, so you set goals for the upcoming week.
Daily Outcomes
- Everday, you evaluate your day and set goals.
Friday Reflection
- Here, you check how your week went, and whether you were able to accomplish what you wanted to.

Iterate, repeat. That’s how it works.

Monday Vision:

On Mondays, you simply identify three key results you want for the week. This is your vision for the week. It puts you in the drivers seat and you get to decide what you want to accomplish. Rather than get lost among the sea of things to do, you bubble up the three most important outcomes for the week, and these three outcomes help guide you throughout your week. This simple pattern has a few benefits:

Each week is a fresh start.
It’s a way to make your week more meaningful.
It’s a way to help you prioritize and focus.
It’s a way to help you improve your results.

Daily Outcomes

Here are three steps you can use to create your three compelling stories to drive your day:

Identify your three key outcomes.
- You choose what your three key results are. For example, maybe your three most important outcomes are: “I mowed the lawn, I completed my project plan, and I had a great lunch.” If you’re feeling really off, maybe your three outcomes are, “I enjoyed my breakfast, I enjoyed my lunch, and I enjoyed my dinner.”
Turn your three outcomes into one-liner stories.
- Stories help you add an emotional connection to your tasks.
- You can even be the hero (“Today, I conquered the mess in the laundry room.”)
Connect your stories to your values.
- You can connect your stories to things you value. For example, maybe you don’t like to rake the leaves, but you like to do your part “to help.” Maybe you don’t like doing spreadsheets, but you like “to improve.” Maybe you like “adventure.” Maybe you like “achievement.”
- To build on the previous example, “Today I conquered the laundry room with skill” which is a contrast to slogging my way through to victory. One of the things I like to do each day is “master my craft.” Get creative. Find the play in your day.

The real beauty of Daily Outcomes is that you can wake up any day and simply ask yourself, “What are the three things I really want to accomplish today?” That’s it.

Friday Reflection

For Friday Reflection, simply think about your past week and identify three things going well and three things to improve. It’s a chance to celebrate your wins, no matter how small. It’s also a chance to figure out what’s not working for you. Whatever you learn, you can carry forward into the next week, and use this to continuously improve your results each week.

It creates your personal learning loop for growth and greatness.

Ask yourself, what are three things going well?
- The key here is to look at your approach. You can’t always control your results. Instead, focus on whether you made smart plays based on what you wanted to accomplish. Pat yourself on the back for making your best moves, independent of the results. No matter how good a baseball team is, you win some, you lose some. The best you can do is play your best. Where you made smart moves, pay attention to why it worked and how you can use it in the future.
Ask yourself, what are three things to improve?
- This is the tough question, but it’s important to own it, and look at it objectively. Once you put it down on paper, you don’t need to over-analyze it. You simply need to see if you can identify the root cause, but then more importantly, identify some specific ways to improve. Brainstorm here and let your imagination run wild. The key is to quickly shift to “how” questions, don’t keep asking “why?” For example, “How can I be more effective in that situation? … or “How can I be more resourceful when that happens again?” … or “How can I prevent that from happening in the first place?”
Identify what you’ll change next week.
- You’ll likely come up with a laundry list of simple things you can test to improve your results. Just pick a few you really care about and add them to your bag of tricks. Rather than over-analyze your ideas, just write down a few things that you can test next week and get feedback on. The idea is to learn and improve, not beat yourself up, or wallow in pity.

If you schedule it, it will happen, and it’s one of the simplest ways to improve your results every week.

Summary