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How to Be Productive in One Week

The concept that life is finite is really put into perspective when you lay out the average number of weeks in a human’s life. According to Wait But Why, the average person lives for about 4,732 weeks. Here’s what that looks like.

How to Read: Each small square represents a week and one row represents a whole year in a person’s life. 

Visualized this way, it’s much easier to realize two things: a) just how limited our time is in existence and b) how important — and impactful a single week can be! 

While I enjoy a good philosophical discussion, I will leave the rumination to the philosopher. What I can offer instead is a useful guide that can help you enrich your week so that you do and accomplish things that you will feel proud of.

Add a deadline to your dreams

Always aim high and shoot for the stars. After all, you’ve only got one life. What things would you like to do? What experiences do you want to give to yourself? Write them down and then give each of them a deadline.  

When in doubt, this quote from Anais Nin comes in handy.

Image Credit: http://www.studynet.jp

Set a weekly goal

Now, how do you intend to get there? If you dream of writing a bestselling fiction, what can you do in one week to make that ultimate dream happen?  

Treat the week as a stepping stone. Set a mini-goal for that week that takes you closer to the ultimate dream.  

Maybe you can join a writing group? Perhaps join a conference for writers where you can meet publishers and other people who also want to do the same thing? Networking is definitely a step in the right direction. Or perhaps you can aim to spend a combined 20 hours to actually write! Now that is a good goal. 

The key to setting weekly goals is to focus on tasks that are meaningful instead of trying to finish as many tasks as possible.

Draft your weekly plan

Here’s how you can properly plan a week. 

1. Dedicate a time and place for planning. 

2. Use a planner or digital calendar to note everything down. TaskSpur is a perfect app for this. 

3. Set realistic goals. If you’re just starting out, aim for goals that are easier to accomplish to give yourself a confidence boost once you achieve them. It’s a great motivation to continue doing it next week. 

4. Set deadlines for everything. Deadlines work. 

5. Schedule downtime. Especially downtime. Rest is simply a non-negotiable. Find a way to effectively switch off and not be on your phone instead. 

6. Leave some buffer time between big tasks. This will allow you to be more flexible and leave room for unexpected tasks or events. 

7. Plan every day. Then, review every night. 

8. Write your to-do list for the next day before you go to sleep. This will help you rest by giving your brain an absolute closure to your day without making you worry about tomorrow.

Image by Bich Tran on Pexels 

Just start

Now you’re done with planning. What’s left is the execution. People love to plan, but not many actually follow through on their word. Now, it’s your time to decide which kind of person you want to be: the person who wastes time making plans or the one who follows through? 

Just start. And see where it goes. When you fail, start again. 

Focus on finishing one task at a time

Here’s the rule to getting things done: do not do anything else while you’re doing it. Multitasking has been debunked. It doesn’t work. So stop trying to make it work. 

Do that thing and nothing else. It’s the only way you can put out anything of quality.  

Regularly revisit your goal

Keep your goal written down somewhere you can easily refer back to. That way, when things get tough and you're feeling discouraged, you can take a quick peek at your goal to remind yourself why you're working so hard in the first place. It can really help re-energize you and keep you going!  

In the middle of the week, try to have a goal review not only for the motivation boost but also to assess what has been done, what’s left to do, and what you can do if there are issues encountered.  

Ask for help, if needed

The first mistake people make when trying to finish a goal is trying to do a lot. Think of it as going to the gym. If you’re new, you won’t try to lift something over your own weight. It’s the same with goals. Don’t try to do 10 things in one day and feel like a failure when you end up not doing all of them. Your focus and willpower still need to be honed and practiced. 

If you’re feeling overwhelmed with tasks, delegate. Ask (or pay) someone else to do it. Or simply say “No”. There’s only so much you can do in a day. Focus your effort on the ones that matter most.

Image by Kumpan Electric in Unsplash 

At the end of the week, review

Make sure you dedicate a time of the week to review. The best time to do it is before you do your weekly planning so that your understanding of the past week is still fresh in your mind and you can plan with more clarity. 

Repeat

After you’ve gone through a week of planning and focusing on your goals, make a conscious decision to do it again the next week. Make the weekly review and planning a part of your weekend schedule and try to stick to it religiously. 

Do this, regardless of whether you failed your first week or not. In fact, if you fail, then deciding to do it again is even more important. It’s the decision that actually matters. 

Some more tips

Unfortunately, there’s no exact way to measure the effectiveness of your weekly plan. But as someone who has had to build a habit of planning myself, there are a few tips that you may find useful. 

  • If you think you have a lot on your plate and feel the pressure to do all of them, you may have overplanned. 
  • Start with a comfortable level of goals. Don’t try to write a short novel by the weekend. 
  • Don’t try to fit a lot of things into your day. Again, it’s not quantity but quality. 
  • Work when you are most active during the day. Take advantage of your body’s natural wake times. 
  • Protect your sleep as if it’s sacred. The long-term havoc that poor sleeping habits cause is disastrous for your well-being and overall quality of life. 
  • Just do it. Show up. Start.

Final Word

Planning is both a skill and a habit. It takes time to build and that’s why it’s so easy to see the difference between those who do and don’t. As a manager and entrepreneur, I see it in the people I work with. They show up, are reliable, and they deliver.  

Hopefully, you can use these tips to show up in your own life and fill the rest of your 4,732 weeks with personal fulfillment and success. So long.

About the Author

Bernard Boodeea is the CEO of Life Intelligence Group and original engineer and founder of TaskSpur, a goal management app and passion project. Bernard hopes to incorporate agile principles into the design of products that help individuals achieve their goals in life.

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