Got Chaos? These 3 Strategies Will Help You Control It
Want to accomplish your business & personal goals AND have more time+freedom?
Evaluate how your week is going. Is it chaotic with a never-ending to-do list or do you have clarity around daily activities that are moving your goals forward?
Be honest… have you ever envisioned your Ideal Week? If you would have asked me to envision my ideal work week back in the early days, I probably would have laughed -- because I was so far off from having one. Even being my own boss, let me tell you, my work weeks were far less than ideal. It’s taken A LOT of trial and error (16 years of it, in fact) to nail it down -- but the good news is, I’ve finally perfected it.
That’s right, my friend -- I have set up my Ideal Week in a way that allows me to work towards my goals AND have more of a time+ freedom lifestyle to spend with the ones that I love.
It’s helped me be more focused, and productive, and… here’s the big one… I don’t even work onsite every day anymore. And I want the same for you in the new year!
Whether you have been an Early Childhood business owner or manager for a while or you are just starting out, if you don't have an ideal week and if you're not taking the time to set it up and commit to it, that's the part that's most important, well, follow these steps and your life is going to get a whole lot easier. You can create an ideal week for optimal focus, productivity, and well-being.
My hope is that you’ll be able to implement some of the strategies I will share so that you, too, can accomplish your goals AND live life on your terms. You will be able to implement these simple ways to stay organized and on-task. You will be able to live more of a time+freedom lifestyle. Sounds dreamy, right?
Well if you got chaos, these 3 3trategies will help you maximize your energy, increase productivity and help you control that chaos.
Plan Your Ideal Week
Identify Your Daily Big 3
Adopt some time management techniques.
Plan Your Ideal Weak
“You have a choice in life. You can either live on purpose, according to a plan you've set; or you can live by accident, reacting to the demands of others. The first approach is proactive. The second is reactive.” ~ Michael Hyatt, author of Full Focus
Cheers to being proactive!
I found that most traditional planners just do not work for me operating Early Childhood businesses. When you work with kiddos you do not have the luxury of deciding when is the best time to do something. Or taking time each week or each day to think about what you want to do. As you know, those daily fires happen EVERY SINGLE DAY. You cannot avoid them no matter how well you plan. You have to have a planning system that acts as a containment system and can control any chaos that comes your way. If you constantly try to eliminate it the struggle will exhaust and overwhelm you.
So I created my own planning process that has been super successful for me. With my Time+Freedom Lifestyle planner, I have more work+life balance that I could have ever dreamed. No, it’s not perfect. And yes, some days are really hard. But I no longer go weeks feeling like I am drowning and full of guilt because I am sacrificing my family for other people’s children.
Your Ideal Week is where you will plan out a typical week with specific action steps you take from your Quarterly plan. You will have time set aside for extended work on similar projects in order to streamline your week. Our Weekly Strategy Sheets guide you through the entire process.
The very last thing we want to do is stick to all of those beautiful goals and dreams and visions you came up with in your quarterly plan into a drawer and forget about them until next year. So from here, the key to success is keeping those goals top of mind and setting up your week to work towards accomplishing those big things in small steps.
I have found that there are three actionable strategies that when implemented will increase our likelihood of hitting our goals.
One, be able to connect every goal to a why, your purpose.
Two, by setting your goals as outcomes to a vision of a lifestyle you want to live.
Three, breaking down your goals into milestones and actionable steps.
Ideal weeks are just that. They are Ideal.
These Ideal weeks will not happen every single week. Your Ideal week is a template to follow as closely as possible while understanding things do come up, you'll never be able to execute it perfectly every week, and that's okay. I don't even know if I've ever had a perfect week with my ideal week; however, without it I would be a mess. It is a guide I use to navigate through those small daily fires. I can see what needs to be done and what might need to be moved to next week if one of those fires have to become a priority.
A weekly planning routine will ensure you no longer wake up in a fog but instead feel a sense of purpose and momentum in your life and your business. When you adhere to a weekly planning routine like this, you’ll experience more clarity and productivity. With this as a part of your morning ritual, you’ll begin every day focussed on the important things and on task so you don’t get distracted with work that doesn’t move your goals forward. This weekly planning tool will help you establish a daily routine that will pull together all the elements we have worked through so far.
It is a super simple question. Is the planner you currently use structured in a way that sets you up for success? A daily planning tool should do eight things:
Keep you on track to accomplish your Big Picture Vision & Strategic Lifestyle Plan
Help you experience a sense of purpose and meaning every day
Give you the clarity and confidence to make decisions when unplanned obstacles arise
Inspire you to work rather than procrastinate
Separate your important projects from your tasks
List your tasks and the most important things to accomplish that day
Keep you aware of your appointments
Remind you of your goals
Here’s why that question is important. By establishing a weekly routine of filling out your planner, you will gain the confidence and clarity to make sure you are not sacrificing your work or family. You will be able to achieve more work-life balance.
The Peake Crearive Time+Life IDEAL WEEK Purposeful Planning Process includes 9 steps:
Step 1 - Declare your daily affirmation statement.
Step 2 - Fill in the dates next to the day of the week.
Step 3 - From this year's Annual Strategic Vision Plan, take 3 Big Goals.
Step 4 - Complete the Morning/Afternoon Agenda sections.
Step 5 - Self-care.
Step 6 - Add your 3 big tasks you hope to accomplish today.
Step 7 - Complete some of the time+freedom lifestyle goals.
Step 8 - There is a section for you to think about your weekend.
Step 9 - Each day, review, update and make any needed adjustments.
DAILY BIG 3
It's part of the Time+Freedom Lifestyle planner strategy and it is where you focus your daily actions on the three most important tasks to be completed on any given day. The majority of people start their day with a to-do list that's a mile long. And then you feel defeated at the end of the day, and you couldn’t get to those to to-dosu set.
My goal is to get these three things done. I know that no matter what, I might not work on parent boards. I might not record a reel, and I might not make my favorite lunch on this day when I did this, but I'm definitely going to get those first three things done.
But if something were to go wrong, at least I know I've got to get those three things done. So again, these three daily tasks are based on what you need to accomplish that day. I always say, no matter what daily fires pop up, these are going to get done. And also that you have to look at, okay, what do I need to accomplish this week? What are the three tasks that are going to get me there? What do I need to accomplish this month? What are the three tasks that are going to get me there? What are the things I need to accomplish this quarter? As we discussed with your quarterly goals, what are three things I can do today to make sure I knock out those goals?
So narrowing it to three items forces you to prioritize your high-leverage work. If you are confused as to what your would be your high leverage work, and you did this for a few or for a week or two, for a few weeks even, you'll start to see what's most important to you. What are you putting in the top three?
The key is doing the most important things first when you're free of distractions; when you do it, it brings you momentum and a sense of accomplishment that will help carry you through the rest of the day. So having a daily big three is your guide to making sure you feel a sense of accomplishment every day.
Adopt Some Time Management Techniques
Guided responses - or as I like to call them, email templates. So these are responses to things you get asked all the time. And you can do this in any email platform you use, and it will save you a ton of time retyping the same message over and over, Just copy and paste the template, then edit to make it personal.
Email auto-responder - We are usually not sitting behind a desk for most of our day. Don’t fall into the trap of feeling like you have to check your email all day long. Set specific times for checking email. I only check our inboxes and respond back to parent requests twice a day. I set up an auto responder that says, “Hi there, so glad to hear from you. We are currently taking care of and educating our students or with a parent, so we will get back when we are available. If there is something needed immediately, please text the parent texting line. Thank you.”
Parents respect the boundary and you are not at their mercy.
There are going to be times in your day when you will feel overwhelmed by all the things and you might find yourself spiraling. And when you are time is fleeting fast. If you find yourself in that situation we put together some tips to control that chaos and thrive. Take a breath and remember to think about how your are reacting to the situation. Help get your mind clear. You will find our Chaos Control R.E.A.C.T. printable at kelleypeake.com where you will find the info about this episode. Print and laminate it. Put it up where someone may need a few reminders throughout the day. The bathroom, the office, the hidden behind a classroom door. Taking a minute to gather your mindset and get a little clarity will help you from losing valuable time in your day.
Write it down - I have been a big believer for years now that there's something really powerful about writing things down, having it right there in front of me all day on my desk. I also use my Google calendar, Trello and Slack. They are fabulous project management tools. But for those of you who use like to use a physical planner, I highly, highly recommend it in addition to your digital tools. Pencil to paper really makes a difference.
I'm so old school, I just love a few sharp pencils, some colorful sticky notes, and space to write. So I am obsessed with the Time+Freedom Lifestyle Planner. That's why I've I am so excited to share it with you. But the key is to make sure you have a purposeful planning routine. You can use whatever you want, shoot, you can just get a spiral-bound notebook and just write down what you're going to work on and when.
But I cannot stress enough how writing it down is really powerful. All right, speaking of what's powerful, you now have a strategy to maximize your energy and increase productivity for the things that matter most.
It’s time to be intentional about how you spend your time, giving yourself some grace along the way.
Okay. So, are you ready for your action steps, or should I say, are you ready to create your ideal week? I hope you just let out a big, “Oh, yeah!” I really hope you are excited about this. I want you to take it seriously. So the big question is, what do you want your week to look like? How do you want to schedule things? Do your daily action steps move your goals forward or is it just one long to-do list?
One of the most beautiful things about being an EC business owner or manager is that you are ultimately the boss of you and of your time. One of the reasons, actually, one of the top reasons I left the corporate world was that I didn't want to be on someone else's schedule. And I wanted the time+freedom to do the things I wanted to, when I wanted to.
Resources
Be sure to checkout our WORK+LIFE Strategic Planning Bundle . I’m so excited about this exclusive planner and training! I wanted you to feel confident about planning out your new year. So, what better way than to plan alongside me? Together, we’ll go through the process of planning your new year so that you feel confident about reaching your goals AND having time off to enjoy your family, friends, and life outside of work. What I call a time+freedom lifestyle. I truly believe that when you plan with strategy and intent, you’re bound to have an even better year.
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We give Early Childhood business owners/managers the operational strategies and tools they need to grow their profitable businesses with more joy, confidence, clarity, and less overwhelming.
You will learn how to spend less time on small details and daily tasks. You can spend more time doing the things you truly enjoy. Focusing on the things that really matter, your top priorities, your key relationships, your most important projects, all the things that will bring you more joy and your business more success.
