How To Design Your Ideal Week in 3 Easy Steps
I’ve a confession to make ….
Last week I just worked in the mornings. Started early. Stopped by 2. Had lunch. Went for a walk. Shopped for ingredients for a meal that I’d planned that morning. Cooked tea from scratch. Saw the kids when they got home from school. Watched really engaging TV with my partner and even had a conversation about it. Good days.
Noticing that I felt happier, more balanced and more energised. (I was also off social media all week but that’s a story for another day!)
It got me thinking about what’s our ideal work week and the expectations we have for ourselves around that (real or imagined).
Some other examples that have come to my awareness …
A friend is working a 4-day week – Fridays are now for LIFE things like family, ageing parents, hobbies and friendships she wants to give more time to, caring for her own health.
A client is setting up a regular rhythm of ‘No Meetings Wednesday’ for her team. It’s a break in the week to catch up, take a breath and work on critically important projects. She’s only a few weeks in and already seeing massive impacts with key projects making faster progress, her team feeling more energised, less grumpy and happy to see each other on Thursdays!
Another client is setting up 2 full weeks in the calendar year where there are no meetings across her team and department. Their diaries are kept clear for rest, creative thinking, learning programmes, deep work and uninterrupted project time to progress key goals. After the cumulative exhaustion created during the pandemic, she’s expecting this to have really positive ripples in her team and organisational culture.
When we run our own business we may feel like we need to be ‘always on’.
When we run our own teams or part of organisations, we feel the constraints of the system around us, and we’re hard wired to fit in and not rock the boat.
But if the last two years have taught us anything it’s that we can work more flexibly and we know that productivity, morale, motivation – everything that makes our work lives better – is increased when we trust people and give them the flex they need and works for their lives #flexappeal.
It’s about the boundaries that we want to set, the permission we want to give ourselves and then it’s about the conversations with others to make it happen!
So how about you?
What boundaries are going to help you thrive in 2022 ?
But before we get to that, let’s allow yourself to dream a little … what does your ideal week look like?
What’s your morning routine after you wake up ?
How do you set your body and brain up for success?
When do you start work?
When and how do you refresh yourself, how will you take breaks through the day?
What does your work day involve?
When do you finish work?
How many days are you working each week?
What do you do with your other days?
What is your weekend like, how does it restore and refresh you
Use your imagination here picture yourself at each stage of your day, each stage of your week.
Allow yourself to can you dream a little …..picture it … what does it look like, feel like, sound like, what are you wearing, how are you moving …
Now let’s see what you can tweak to move towards that dream.
If that’s the ideal …. What can you start to tweak? what can you do more of or less of to move just a little bit closer to the ideal?
I noticed that starting work earlier and working till 2, then stopping for walk and a break is really suiting my energy through winter. I need that boost of light, and the fresh air and fast walking peps me up for the afternoon. If I book myself back to back with meetings through the day I’m hemmed in and less able to make space for that refreshing recharge.
I know you’ll say to me you don’t have choice on your schedule, or on your set hours, or the overall pattern of your working week.
We often have more wriggle room that we think we do and there will be positive ripples for you and your team and family.
Can you ask your partner to cook tea on the night you want to meet a friend for a cuppa or go to the gym? Can you talk with your boss about what you’re noticing in your productivity when you start earlier/ later/ take a lunch break (or whatever it is you need!)?
Here’s your 3 steps to moving closer to your ideal work week:
Dream about your ideal work week and see what comes up in your imagination. Give yourself permission for some possibility thinking!
Identify small changes you can start to make to move a little closer to your ideal work week.
Have the conversation with your partner, boss, team to reset your boundaries and start to flex.
How will you create and then start living into your ideal week?
You can order your copy of Katy’s book Change Makers a Woman’s Guide To Stepping Up without Burning Out here.
Join the waitlist for the next Change Makers group programme here.
Katy can run a Creating your Ideal Work Week or Creating Your Ideal Workplace webinar or keynote for your team or conference – find out more about inviting Katy to speak at your event here.