by Mandy Green, Busy Coach
Let me let you in on a little trick that I learned from Darren Hardy, author of The Compound Effect (which is an amazing book for coaches to read by the way).
I used to prepare for the week on Sunday night. The problem was that I ended up thinking about the week all weekend long. It was like an open loop in my head.
So now I prepare for Monday on Friday. Before I shutdown my computer on Friday, I open up the daily planner that I created for college coaches.
This is the process I go through each time-
- I do my review of my performance from the previous week. (what went well, what was frustrating, what took too long, what were my wins?)
- I set up my ideal week-I write out when I have practices, meetings, on-campus visits, kids stuff, workouts, when I go to bed, when I wake up, etc. Then I see what time is left over for big projects.
- I prepare for who I am going to reach out to every day first thing in an effort to build a relationship,
- I map out what my top 3 priorities will be based on what I accomplished the week before,
- I figure out what tasks for the week will be a distraction and put them in another list of things to avoid,
- Then I block time off in my calendar for when I am going to work on my big 3 priorities for the day (ideally when I have the biggest chunk of uninterrupted time).
This whole process takes less than 30 minutes.
The biggest impact this has now is that I can fully engage in my weekend without the open loop and lingering thoughts that I still have yet to prepare for next week. If I remember something else that needs to get done, I just write it down, so I don’t forget it, and move on with the rest of my weekend.
Sunday night, I go to bed with a plan. Monday morning, I wake up with a purpose and I am in full swing before most coaches have rubbed the sleep out of their eyes and start to wonder what they should do to start their week.
Try it. On Friday of this week, I want you to plan next week before this week is out then sink into your weekend. Engage and enjoy it fully. You need the rest and recovery so that you can crush it again next week.
Mandy Green works with hundreds of college coaches to help them become more productive and efficient with their time. If you want to set up a strategy call with Mandy, email her at Mandy@busy.coach.