Claire Robbin - London Ghostwriter

WEEKLY PLANNING CHECKLIST: Made this checklist from one of my favorite episodes of @managertools called "Sunday Evening Planning" (from 2013 and still gold): 1⃣ Put Your Family On Your Calendar First: 1.1. Consult Your Spouse: ✅Have you coordinated with your spouse (or any other responsible family member) on family events for the week? - If not, How can you align your calendars to prevent overlaps and maximize family time? 1.2. Family Events: ✅What family commitments or activities do you have for the week that should be on your calendar? - What's your contingency plan to ensure work doesn't conflict with these commitments? 1.3. Personal Activities: ✅Have you accounted for exercise, reading, therapy/coaching, and external events? Are they blocked on your work calendar? - How flexible are these items, and where can they fit into gaps in your schedule? 2⃣ Add Your Big Rocks** Next: 2.1. Identify High-Impact Tasks: ✅What are the top 3 high-priority tasks that align with your annual goals? - Have you blocked time on your calendar specifically for these? 2.2. Rituals: ✅Are there rituals, reminders or habits instituted to drive accountability, quick decision making and unblocking of these priorities? - What reminders or emails need to be sent out to keep strategic priorities on track? Have you scheduled meetings essential for advancing your top priorities (e.g., cross-departmental syncs)? Is there a recurring time block for reviewing key metrics? 2.3. Calendar Conflicts: ✅Are you overbooked with meetings? - If yes, what adjustments can be made either this week or future weeks to make room for priority tasks? 3⃣ Consider If What's Planned Is Still Needed: 3.1. Relevance Check: ✅Are there any planned actions/meetings that are now irrelevant due to changing conditions? - If so, what's your strategy for reallocating that time? 3.2. Prep. Time: ✅For remaining actions/meetings, is there adequate time scheduled for preparation? - Have you identified what exactly needs to be prepared ahead of time (slides, documents, etc.)? 3.3. Efficiency Audit: ✅Are there simpler, quicker ways to accomplish the planned actions/meetings? - If yes, what changes need to be made? Have you allocated time for deep work, and is it scheduled during your peak productivity hours? 4⃣ Write A High-Level To-Do List for the Week: 4.1. Inboxes & Notes Review: ✅Have you reviewed all inboxes (email, Slack, etc.) and previous's meeting notes for tasks? - Are these tasks now part of your master to-do list? 4.2. Task Prioritization: ✅Have you sequenced your to-do list based on priority and deadlines? - What's your strategy for tackling today's tasks? 4.3. Recurring Actions: ✅Are there tasks that are showing up frequently? - Could these be automated or delegated? ** Your Big Rocks is an expression from Stephen Covey's book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". These are the things that relate most closely to your biggest priorities for the year. NOT the things that are being shouted about the loudest or which are burning most brightly. The only way you can achieve your big revenue, sales, project or people goals for the year, is to take them a week at a time. cc/ @mahorstman