My weekly planning tool is Trello. Trello is a list manager that is intuitive to and great for sorting/prioritizing many items.
Populate a List
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Start generating a list of outcomes by reviewing the following:
- Current ‘backlog/to-do list’
- Notes and reference documents I gathered throughout the week
- Upcoming commitments by reviewing next week’s calendar and reminders list
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In a new column, generate a second list by thinking of ‘opportunities & desired results’. While thinking through the categories below, I picture myself at the end of the week saying: “WOW, that was an amazing week!”…Then ask “Why?”):
- Go through personal areas of improvement (health, skills – personal & professional, relationships, lifestyle, finances)
- Go through business models/plans
- Go through your project major deliveries list
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In a new column, generate a third list by thinking of ‘threats & things to avoid’ during the week. I do so by picturing myself at the end of the week saying: “Wow…that week was a disaster!”…Then ask “How Come?”).
- Identify obstacles I might face
- Identify distractions I might encounter (people, environment, etc.)
- Identify excuses I might have for NOT achieving my goals (time, resources, experience, etc.)
- Identify which of these items most threaten my success (critical items)
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Create a fourth and final list containing remedies and counter-actions to the ‘threats & things to avoid’ items listed in the third column.
Now, prioritize the lists by using the 50% elimination method in Trello. See the following video for details:
Schedule and Finalize (outside Trello)
- Time Specific Items → Schedule Population
- Time Sensitive Items → Reminder Population
- Critical Weekly Initiatives → Index Cards
- cut 3×5 index cards in half
- write down one initiative on each card
- carry these index cards in your pocket throughout the week
- Nice-to-Haves (do it when I have more time) → Backlog List (electronic list that I keep in Evernote)