My Weekly Planning Ritual: 2nd of 3 Posts
Most Sunday mornings, you’ll find me tucked into my favorite table at Starbucks accompanied by two notebooks, my laptop and one single cup of hot coffee. It’s my weekly planning ritual—a focused 45 minutes that sets the tone for a week that feels calm, productive, and aligned with not only my goals but also how I want to move through life.
It’s currently a seven-step process. I know that sounds like a lot, but trust me, it takes less than an hour. These steps didn’t come together overnight; they’ve been fine-tuned over the years to create a system that works for me. As I always say: try what resonates, leave the rest and tinker until you find what works for you.
Ready? Let’s dive in.
Step 1: Rewriting My Dream Life
I start by rewriting the 12 things I have—or will have—in my dream life. (Stay tuned for a future post where I’ll share more about this!). But suffice to say, I’ve done a fair bit of thinking about what my dream life looks like and what it includes and, what I discovered through that process was that I can have most of the things on my dream life (not all but most) simply by making different choices. Rewriting it each week reminds me of the choices I want to make.
Step 2: Set Reminders
Next, I write my current three or four reminders — these are things I want to be sure I keep top of mind, things I sometimes lose track of in the hustle and bustle of life. These change over time, but here are my current ones:
Don’t overstuff my days. The goal is to stay the right amount of busy.
Have fun. If I don’t plan it, it won’t happen.
Nurture my community. A deep and strong community, which is important to me, requires intention and action.
Consciously build the life I want. Full stop.
Step 3: WWW (What Went Well)
I find three to five things that went well the previous week. Even during the most challenging weeks, I can always find at least three things that went well.
Step 4: Review My Daily Notebook
I scan my daily notebook—a catch-all for to-do lists, ideas, and reminders—for any unfinished tasks. If something still needs attention, it gets added to the plan for the coming week.
Step 5: Review My Calendar
I take a close look at my calendar for the upcoming week. This helps me anticipate what’s ahead, identify any conflicts, and I always ask myself, What can I do to make this week easier? Sometimes it’s as simple as canceling a meeting, confirming plans, or carving out time for something important.
Step 6: Interrogate My To-Do List
I scrutinize my to-do lists, including my “On My Radar” list (for future tasks) and my weekly list. Each item is questioned: Is this something I truly want or need to do? If it doesn’t align with my goals or the life I want to create, it gets crossed off. It’s amazing how many things lose their importance after a second look.
Step 7: Set MITs (Most Important Things)
I identify five trackable priorities for the week—my MITs. These are the needle-movers, and I make sure they’re genuinely the most important things I can focus on.
Bonus Steps: Meal and Workout Planning
Some weeks, I’ll plan meals or map out my workouts for the coming week. I’m not quite sure why neither of these two have really “stuck” in my weekly planning ritual, I suppose they are two potential additions I’m currently playing with. We’ll see if they make it into the ritual … or not.
The Magic of Ritual
That’s my Sunday morning routine—my simple yet powerful recipe for starting each week with clarity and calm.
If this sounds like something you’d like to try, I encourage you to experiment. Start with these steps, adapt them to your needs, and tinker until you find a version that works best for you.
Important: Write your steps down. Keep them somewhere you can refer to each week, like the back cover or last page of your notebook. Whenever I start a new notebook, it’s the perfect opportunity to revisit my process, refine the steps, and ensure they still serve me.
I’d love to hear how you adapt this ritual to your life—and the impact it has. Share your tweaks, insights, and wins with me on social HERE.