How a weekly schedule template saved me 37 hours every quarter
Back in 2019, I was building my yoga coaching business, teaching yoga, hosting retreats and workshops, all while being an engineer in my 9-5 job.
I rarely sat still.
Resting felt pointless, and I never felt like I got enough done. I was constantly overwhelmed, exhausted, and stressed out.
I never had enough time.
I know whenever I see someone say that everything changed from this one thing, I cringe. But I’m serious… using a weekly schedule template did that for me.
My calendar helped me heal toxic productivity, my tendency to over-commit, and my shiny object syndrome. Doing so allowed me to rest more, enjoy more, and focus more.
Four years later, I’m running a successful online coaching business and I currently work remotely 3-4 days a week while traveling around the world. (I’m in Cyprus as I write this)
I wouldn’t be where I am today without creating a weekly schedule template that felt good to ME.
In this blog, you’ll learn what a weekly schedule template is and how it saved me 37 hours, and $2500, a quarter. That’s 148 hours, or $10k a year!
What is a weekly schedule template?
A weekly schedule template is your average week pre-built into your digital calendar. It provides a “blank”, realistic, yet flexible structure and a clear framework for planning and organizing your week ahead.
I think of my weekly schedule template as a foundation for all the things I regularly need to do to maintain my life and well-being.
The biggest difference between a "‘weekly schedule’ and a ‘weekly schedule template’ is that you don’t intend to follow your weekly template perfectly, which is huge for a lot of people who struggle with perfectionism or all-or-nothing thinking.
You'd take your template and edit it at the beginning of each week to edit it to fit your real-life tasks, events, and responsibilities.
Once you have a weekly schedule template built, you will…
Feel more in control of your time, weeks, and schedule, and reduce any time-related stress.
Realistically see how much time, energy, and space you have available making it much easier to plan and say yes or no to things.
More easily keep track of everything because you have it all in one place preventing mental overwhelm.
See and celebrate what you’ve done and feel more fulfilled at the end of each day and week.
Increase your awareness of how long tasks really take and more realistically estimate how long things take.
How a weekly schedule template saved me 37 hours a quarter
I used to spend a lot of time planning, then re-planning, because my plans were rigid and unrealistic. I kept saying yes and overcommitting myself. I’d feel stressed out and behind on either everyday life stuff, or on my priorities and goals.
With a weekly schedule template, I saved 37 hours, and $2500, a quarter. That’s 148 hours, or $10k a year!
However, if you like math here it is:
Every quarter I used to spend about 5.5 hours each quarter planning it out. Then at the beginning of the week, I’d sit down and spend about 2.5 hours planning out my week. But since things changed so much, I’d spend another 45 mins each day writing out my to-do list. That’s 44.5 hours each quarter JUST planning.
At my hourly rate, that’s $3,115 spent planning.
With a weekly schedule template, I spend around 1.5 hours on quarterly planning, thinking through what I want to do. Then, I will spend ~30 mins a week editing and updating my weekly template to fit that week. That’s it. And I only spend 7.5 hours planning a quarter now.
At my hourly rate, that’s $525 spent planning.
Looking for your own weekly schedule template?
There’s a lot that goes into building a weekly schedule template that’ll feel good to you, be sustainable, and give you the results you want. You have to take into account your everyday life and responsibilities. Think self-care, kids (if you’re a parent), cleaning the house, commuting (if you do), work hours, date nights, etc.
Your vision, dreams, goals, intentions, or whatever word you use (I use intention!). For example, scaling your business, working 30 hours a week, or writing a book.
Then you need to match all of those with your unique rhythms, at best you can. And doing all of this without your tendency to overcommit or optimistic planner parts to take over!
Digital Calendars For Humans will help you do this in 30 minutes, or less.
How quarterly planning helps you stay flexible and accomplish your goals easier
How many times have you created a plan only to have life come up and derail it all?
This is one of the most common things I hear from my clients, students, my partner, and basically, everyone who’s ever planned anything.
In this blog, I’m going to share with you why quarterly planning was the key to creating a plan that allowed me to stay focused and accomplish my goals, while also being flexible and responsive to life’s uncertainties.
Ready to set you and your business up for success this upcoming quarter? Check out my Holistic Quarterly Planner (available for puchase).
Quarterly planning accounts for life’s uncertainties
We know just how uncertain and unpredictable life is now more than ever.
When unpredictable events happen, things shift inside and outside of us. We change, external circumstances change and our goals change… causing our plans to change.
I don’t know about you but when I make plans and they change, I feel like I wasted so much of my time. I’m also reminded of how little control I don’t have over things making a part of me never want to plan again.
This is where quarterly planning is so effective.
Instead of spending tons of time at the beginning of a year planning the entire year out, quarterly planning just asks you to think about and plan 3-months at a time.
When you break your year down into four pieces, it’s easier to prioritize projects allowing you to stay focused and accomplish your goals easier. When you quarterly plan with me, you also get to pause, reassess how you’re spending your time, and realign your plans to who you are as a person.
The result?
Saving hours of planning time, doing time, and wasting time following an outdated plan (or no plan at all).
Say goodbye to under (or over) estimating your capacity
Oh, human tendencies.
Did you know that when people set annual goals (think new year's resolutions) we underestimate how much we can actually achieve?
As I mentioned above, none of us know who we’ll be or where we're going in 12 months from now. That’s why lots of new years resolution-ers set one main goal: they just want to grow their business by 25% this next year. Or start running. Or eat healthier.
I bet you also didn’t know (but really did know) is humans have a tendency to overestimate how much we can get done in a day or a week.
We put so much stuff on our daily & weekly to-do lists, rarely getting to half of it.
Yep, you guessed it. Quarterly planning takes into account under (and over) estimating tendencies by focusing on 3 months.
When we’re realistic with how much we can actually do, our plans, and the goals we set will make it so much easier to accomplish what we want to do.
So many priorities, not enough time? Don’t worry, quarterly planning to the rescue!
You have all the things that come along with growing & managing a business.
Maybe you still have a 9-to-5 or another gig to supplement your income.
You want to take really good care of yourself: regularly meditate, meal prep, work out, and learn how to knit, paint, or play the guitar.
You want to save money or travel the world.
You want to spend more time with your family and your friends.
The list of recognizing your potential doesn't end there.
Guess what? I think it’s such a beautiful thing to want to be your best self but, it can also lead to lots of overwhelm, frustration, and inaction.
Quarterly planning helps you figure out what to focus on NOW that will get you the best, most fulfilling results. When you plan your quarter with me, you’ll go inwards, identify what season you’re in, and how to do it all without feeling like you’re doing it all.
Click here to read more about how to prioritize effectively when life feels overwhelming.
I’ve been hosting quarterly planning workshops for almost three years.
If you want to have…
Clarity on what you really want to focus your precious time & energy on for the next 3 months.
A step-by-step plan created by your internal guidance that make it so much easier for you to follow your plan and accomplish your goals (Finally!!!)
Fresh intentional energy and motivation to help you really make the most of your time.
Click here to check out my Holistic Quarterly Planner now!
Think good time management in entrepreneurship needs to be rigid? It doesn't.
Feel like your brain and time management seem to go together like oil and water?
Small tasks keep slipping by keeping you from sharing your wisdom and expertise with the world?
You’re not alone.
Traditional time management strategies feel rigid, constricting, and unhelpful to so many.
Want to know the secret sauce? Changing how you feel about and experience time.
Once you re-think and repair your relationship with time and time management, a system made for your brain and values will organically reveal itself to you.
Without doing that, time management will continue to hold you back.
Things CAN and WILL change.
Freedom, flexibility, and ease IS possible for you.
Hear from Dr. Caroline Addington below to learn more about how working with me impacted her, her business, and her life.