How To Create a Weekly Focus

Whenever I am planning my week ahead, I always set aside a separate space in my planner for a weekly focus.  This section enables me to make sure that I am giving myself direction each week in whatever area of my life and goals that are most important and relevant that particular week. Sometimes the focus might be simple and other times it might be a big focus that will need to be prioritized to accomplish a bigger goal. Creating a weekly focus helps to keep one on track to keep moving forward and to act as a reminder throughout the week.  Below are some tips on how to create a weekly focus as well as some examples of what a weekly focus may look like.

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HOW TO CREATE A WEEKLY FOCUS

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• prioritize what area you are wanting to focus on for the week

Each week when you sit down with your planner take some time to think about what you want to really focus on for the week.  Which area of your life are you wanting to improve? This can be areas like health, style, career, money, self-care, relationships, home, etc. If you are currently working toward a bigger goal such as your health, then you probably want to create a weekly focus around this area, so you will list this at the top of the page for your focus.  It’s not that you might not have other areas of your life that you want to focus on, but when we do one focus for the week, we can build up the good habits and systems so that they become just a part of regular day and then we can move on to the next focus area to work on.

• create a few tasks for your weekly focus

Now that you have pinned down which area you are wanting to focus on for the week, from there you will want to write out a few tasks that supports your weekly focus.  What items would you like to have completed by the end of the week? If for example you wrote health as your weekly focus, you may want to write in tasks such as weight train twice this week, cardio three times this week, take a daily walk after lunch, drink “x” amount of water, eat veggies at every meal, eat less sugar for the week, etc.  Think about what it is specifically that you are wanting to do for the week to accomplish your weekly focus. Also try not to schedule more than 4-5 tasks as too many may get overwhelming.  We are already busy women; you want to schedule the tasks as sporadically as possible unless you want to dedicate a whole day to something like your home focus tasks.

• schedule your tasks

Now that you have your tasks written down, think about when you will be able to make time to accomplish them.  Some tasks may be daily things like eating more veggies at mealtime, but some tasks will need dedicated time carved out such as cardio three times a week.  You want to be very specific about these tasks in terms of when they need to be done.  So, for the cardio three times a week, as an example you may schedule them after work, so you will write this task in your planner for the three days that you have chosen to do the cardio.  Scheduling tasks is important to have a plan to execute, otherwise if you simply write out “cardio three times a week” without scheduling it, you might try to procrastinate completing the task and may even abandon it altogether.  Only you know your schedule intimately as well as the best times for you to accomplish things, act accordingly and schedule the tasks.

• create a system for ticking off tasks

Part of what drives us to keep accomplishing goals or tasks is the feeling we get once we have completed them.  There is a great feeling of being productive, getting your life together, becoming the woman who you want to be, accomplished, fulfilled, and so much more.  Once we can understand the psychology of why we do things, then we can hack it to create even more results and that is why part of creating the weekly focus is also creating a way of ticking off the tasks.  When I say ticking off the tasks, I mean in a physical way in our planners.  This small action may seem insignificant, but it’s not.  It first provides the initial feeling of pleasure and accomplishment of being able to tick off the task as complete, and then as you tick off more tasks, you see that you are able capable of completing scheduled items and that you are a woman who shows up for herself.  My favorite system for ticking off tasks is by using highlighters in varying colors.  When I complete a task, I will highlight it and then by the end of the week when I see all of the colorful highlights of all that I have accomplished, I give myself a mental praise for prioritizing myself and my goals, even when there were times that I am sure I did not feel like it.  This drives me to want to do more and provides physical evidence that I can get things done, even when life seems busy.

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SOME FOCUS AREAS AND TASK EXAMPLES

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If you have never done a weekly focus before and need some examples to get you started or inspired, then here are some examples of focus areas and tasks that I have used before in the past.  If you are working on a certain goal currently then you can also repeat the focus area from week-to-week until you feel like your overall goal is getting accomplished and no longer needs to be a focused on as much (such as if you have your workout schedule in place and now, it’s a habit you show up for regularly). Always plan your focus around what you want to accomplish for that week and be sure to show up for your tasks as much as you can, that’s where the magic happens.

My Weekly Focus: Health

• strength train 3x a week (Mon, Wed, Fri before work at 6:00 am)
• interval cardio 5x a week (Mon-Fri after work at 5:00 pm)
• 15-minute sauna session 3x a week (Mon, Wed, Fri after strength training)
• morning journaling before work

My Weekly Focus: Finance

• make my lunch everyday instead of eating out
• save $500 this week into investments
• read “x” finance book this week for inspiration
• check on budget to make sure it’s aligned with our priorities and goals

My Weekly Focus: Productivity

• analyze current time management for any improvements
• reduce my screen time by 2 hours each day
• schedule in planner next month’s blog posts
• take mini breaks throughout the day for better performance and mental clarity (15-minute break at 10:00 am and a 15-minute break at 3:00 pm)

My Weekly Focus: Style

• plan my outfits for the week
• go through my closet and look for any items that are not currently being used/loving to possibly be donated
• peruse Pinterest for outfit ideas with pieces you already own (Mon, Wed, Fri 7-8 pm)
• look through Banana’ Republic’s website for inspiration and see if there are any items that you would like to incorporate into your wardrobe (Saturday, 12-1)
• take some time to play around in your closet and try new outfit combinations that you have not tried before (Saturday 2-4 pm)

My Weekly Focus: Home

• clean out and organize pantry and fridge (Saturday 1-3 pm)
• declutter the bathroom closet and drawers (Saturday (3-4 pm)
• deep clean the shower (Sunday, pre-treat 2-4 before, then scrub clean right before your shower)
• descale the Nespresso machine (Saturday after dinner)
• clean on top of high surfaces such as light fixtures, fridge, cabinet, pictures, etc. (Saturday 12:00 pm)

My Weekly Focus: Self-Care

• do 2 facials for the week (Sunday after shower, Thursday after dermaplaning)
• manicure/cut & paint nails (Friday 7 pm)
• do an exfoliating peel for face (Wednesday as part of nighttime routine)
• schedule quarterly facial at spa (schedule online Monday morning)
• face dermaplaning (Thursday after work)