This week the Tranquility by Tuesday Challenge has been focusing on Rule #2: Plan on Fridays. As the TBT week starts on Fridays, hopefully you got a chance to plan your weekly priorities — career, relationships, self — last Friday and have reaped the benefits this week! Hopefully you are excited to plan tomorrow as well!
Or maybe you planned and things didn’t go as planned (that happens). Or you couldn’t plan, or you ran out of time with planning or…In any case, it’s time to reflect.
- How did planning on Friday (or your chosen day) affect your week?
- What challenges did you face while implementing this week’s strategy?
- How did you deal with these challenges?
- Did you need to modify this rule? If so, how?
- How likely are you to continue planning on Fridays?
Also, we shouldn’t lose sight of last week’s rule, Rule #1: Give yourself a bedtime. You can reflect on this too — did you continue to observe a bedtime this week? The rules layer on top of each other, and planning an ambitious, joyful, and tranquil week feels more doable with adequate rest.
In other news: If you haven’t picked up a copy of Tranquility by Tuesday yet, would you consider doing so? It would mean a lot to me!
Also, please check out this TBT In Real Life video on how one reader found Rule #2: Plan on Friday to be helpful in her life.
Reporting in from Thursday afternoon…. a full on week with an impromptu housing crisis (spent a night in a TERRIBLE hotel before relocating to an airbnb), but I think the pre-planning really helped me regroup. I’ve made good progress towards things – but looking at my plan, I should have been more realistic about how much writing I’d actually get done in a very meeting-heavy week. Looking ahead to next week, I’ll set more realistic goals.
The Friday planning actually helped me think about my monthly planning as well – and I’ve scaled back on things because it is annoying when things just get moved from month to month.
I didn’t build much fun into this week, and it ended up being quite stressful (sad desk lunches, etc). So I’ve emailed a few folks to book lunches next week. I did, despite the housing turmoil, make it to yoga Tuesday and will go again tongiht, so that’s a victory.
@Coree – sorry about the sad desk lunches. BUT! I do think you’re right that planning helps us regroup even when life doesn’t go as planned (which it never does perfectly). When you know your priorities, you can focus on those and make sure those happen even if much else does not.
When I was in the test group (before the book came out), I had a much different job (lots more time/flexibility during the day), so it was not a big deal to fit everything in. I realized this time around that I need to figure out when I’m going to do things like study for the classes I’m taking. It’s funny that it took me this long to figure that out because I’ve been doing this planning (though on Saturday mornings) for awhile now. I just worked it in before, but lately that’s been more difficult.
@Lynn – glad to hear you’re still doing weekly planning. Different phases of life call for being a bit more granular than others. So this is probably one where you need to plan more tightly to be sure stuff will happen.
I planned on Friday and incorporated some fun into the week. I also saw that I was taking a child to a birthday party but wouldn’t need to stay, so I went to a coffee shop and wrote for two hours on my next book project–something I consider fun because it’s out of the normal! Things changed this week due to an ice storm in Texas that closed the school where I teach for 3 days. So, while I didn’t do some things I had planned (go on walks, have a coffee meeting, etc.), I did get a lot more written than I had anticipated. All in all, the week has been successful partly due to the planning.
@Sarah – excellent call on writing in the coffee shop! And yes, an ice storm will throw a loop into a week, but when we plan we know what matters and what doesn’t, so the important stuff does tend to get done.
Because I scheduled time for a couple of hours on work and personal projects, they happened. Since these particular ones had been on my list for a few weeks, that is a win.
@Melissa – that is a win! Nice work.
I like this rule– I’m a teacher so planning is a major part of my job, but in the past I’ve mostly focused on planning work-related stuff, like what I’m going to do for my lessons during each part of the day. Planning on Friday has helped me focus more on planning non-work activities. For example, I’ve been trying to do more journaling. Since I started planning on Friday, I decide in advance which days I’m going to write in my journal. Having it in my planner has really helped nudge me to actually do it. Looking at the week ahead holistically has also helped me be more intentional about making social plans.
Hi. I’m new here, and I can tell you right now that Friday will NOT be my planning day. I’m an Orthodox Jew. Friday is my cooking and cleaning day. So I’ve decided that Saturday nights are my planning time. I hope your program allows for flexibility. As an obliger, I felt it necessary to go public with that.
@Kressel – you should do whatever weekly planning time works for you! Just as a mindset experiment, though, I tend to think a good weekly planning process can take less than 30 minutes. Sometimes more like 20, meaning it can fit into a busy day. And it’s about preparation — in the same way that cooking and cleaning for the upcoming Sabbath is about preparation. But I’m happy as long as people have some regular weekly planning time!
Thanks for replying! It’s so exciting to become part of this community. I’ve been listening to “Before Breakfast” for a while, so I’ve done the time keeping before, but now I’m more committed to it. Is it compulsive to keep a list with you all day and write it down as you go? Or is that how it’s done?
@Kressel- my log is on my laptop, which usually lives in my home office. So it’s pretty easy for me to just stop in and fill out my spreadsheet. At this point I can remember what I’ve done for about 24 hours. But that’s 7+ years in. For the first week it helps to check in every few hours.
I planned last Friday – and I got almost everything done that I had set for myself. I feel a sense of accomplishment. I got some nagging tasks done that I had been procrastinating over – AND I had some fun experiences that I’m so glad I scheduled. This is helping get me motivated to plan now for next week. I’ve left it a bit late in the day, but I’ve tackled it – with a bit of help from some bouncy pop music and a beverage. yay!
I have been planning on Fridays for over a year now, but the rest of my family does not. How do you incorporate the rest of the people into the planning process. Do you plan by yourself and then have another planning session with your partner and older kids?
@Shan – I tend to know the basics of the kids’ schedules and I construct the family schedule based on that. Ideally they tell me before my Friday planning if they have anything coming up they’d like to do. My husband also sends notes ahead of then of things that should be taken into account. If we have anything complicated coming up he and I will have a session together and then I incorporate our decisions into the Friday planning.