WORKLIFEDESIGN

This week I’m sharing one of my personal worksheets. This is what I use to stay focused and to minimise those 3.00am eyes-bolt-open, oh-my-god-what-am-I-doing moments.

Over the years I’ve found people who are very clear about what they are doing (ie their vision) have some sort of physical, visual reminder that they see daily.

Some people have Vision Boards.

Others have Treasure Maps.

I have my Ducks.

Or more specifically, my Ducks In a Row.

My Ducks came out of having a moment of terror where I thought I’d made a terrible life choice. Then the phrase, “No, it’s okay, I have my ducks in a row” came into my head and I felt much calmer, focused and okay with my situation. In fact, when I considered my “ducks” (ie all the things I had setup and were going to generate lots of love and income over the next 12 months) then things actually looked pretty good.

So I decided that I had to get my Ducks out of my head and onto paper. And the Ducks In a Row Worksheet was born.

As you can see, it brings together my priority projects – with the values, strengths, passion, vision, goals and next action steps – onto one page in an easy reference style. I have a copy at my desk. I have a copy in my Dump Book.

It’s a working document which means it changes weekly as I get new information, move to the next stage of a project, or decide to back/front burner projects.

You obviously need to do a little bit of work to complete it. It’s probably a two-coffee activity. I’ve included the Master Lists as a second page where you can brainstorm/list your values, strengths, passions, and crazy dreams. (And then you draw on these Master Lists to complete the Ducks).

So, there are no excuses for flapping about in a tizz. Get quacking!

DOWNLOAD The Ducks In a Row Worksheet

(BTW the cute little ducks come from freerangeduck.org)

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Ahh, Monday morning. How I love thee…

I rarely check my email over the weekend so by the time Monday morning rolls around, my Inbox is full to the brim with fascinating things that could suck at least 28 hours of the day away. Combine this with a rapidly expanding to-do list in my head and a sense of anticipation that “this week I’ll actually get a substantial slab of work completed” and things start resembling chaos.

So taking some time-out on Monday mornings to organise my week is essential.  I’ve found that I need to move beyond a to-do list of things that need my urgent attention and check in with what’s important (goals and priorities), what I need to do to realise these priorities and scheduling it into my calendar.

For this worthy, weekly task I have my handy Weekly Actions Worksheet. It’s fairly straight forward:

1. Check-in with my overall goals (eg beautiful home, work I love, etc).

2. Determine what this week’s priorities will be (depends on where I am, what needs attention, what I feel like doing this week).

3. Write down the ‘next steps’ or actions for each of the priorities and/or goals. Plus anything that may be floating by that needs attention but is part  of a greater goal (such as ‘feeding myself’, ‘having hot water’, etc). I keep the actions easy, small, managable. I can always create new actions later in the week if I complete them.

4. Work out what I’ll do on what days, and perhaps when (AM, PM, or specific time)

5. Transfer whatever reminders I need to my iCal

6. Refer back to the worksheet every morning during the week. Add, delete or change as necessary.

Download Monday Morning Weekly Actions Worksheet (MMWAW!)