Planning your week ahead is one of the most important things you can do - it helps you stay on track and set goals for yourself.
For example, I set up personal health goals like running at least 2 kilometres, or exercising for at least 20 minutes every day; as well as professional goals like completing this much work by Friday.
You won't always meet your goals
Some days we feel down, other days we may be distracted, still other days we might just not want to work. It's normal and I face these too.
You should focus on meeting your present goals, rather than crying over failed ones. It's a waste of time; time which you could use in not making that mistake again
Don't be unrealistic, you are not a machine
I faced this problem when I first started 'scheduling' my time.
My goals were unrealistic, causing me to fail them. My failure to accomplish these goals reinforced that I was incompetent, which created a vicious cycle of setting bad goals, failing them, feeling like shit, setting new (unrealistic) goals; and procrastinating because I would fail them anyway.
Don't be like my early self! Set realistic but not easy goals.
As you go through setting goals every week, you get a feel for what you can do in a week and what you cannot.
Prioritise!
Not all work is important. Do what's most important first, otherwise your valuable time is going to be used up in doing things that don't help very much with your end goals.
I recommend starting with a difficult task followed by an easier (or more enjoyable) task. Rinse and repeat
^ This method keeps you motivated and removes the monotony of working the whole day.
Break it up into bite-sized pieces
Some of you may disagree here.
I like to invest a few minutes into making a rough boundary for work that needs to be done. This helps me better manage my time and skip things that I find unnecessary at present.
This also has the benefit of making work quicker, since I know when one task is finished and I can move onto the next.
Share what you're doing this week. I'm excited to hear!
Cheers!