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Kvetching. That's a technical term that describes what my financial advisor coaching clients do when I walk them through creating their “ideal week.” They complain that they are always behind, never have time to do what they want and that never stop working. That's usually the same person who has a to-do list from 2012 and hasn't caught up since.
I get it.
But when I introduce the concept of an ideal week, cue the kicking and screaming. I hear, "It's too structured." "I'm a free spirit and do what I want when the feeling hits me." Then I ask, "How's that working for you?"
Think smart and schedule your time with intention. If you don’t control your time, someone else will. It happens every day. Yes, your calendar is the primary tool for managing your time, but before you can learn how to leverage your calendar more productively, you need a map to get you there. Enter your ideal week.
Your ideal week is designed based on the answer to this question:
If you had 100% control of your time when you woke up every Monday morning, what would the next seven days ideally look like?
Knowing what your ideal week looks and feels like is something to strive for each week. Let's be real, though. You may never fully attain your ‘ideal’ week because, well, life happens, but the goal is to get a lot closer to that ideal week than you are right now. Having that vision is the key. Without a vision of your ideal week, how will you know if you’ve attained it?
How do I create an ideal week for my clients?
I determine your buckets of work (a.k.a., your job description – client meetings, client services, admin, financial planning, prospect meetings, COI meetings, etc.) These buckets are a major component of the ideal week.
Each day of your five-day week is 20% of your time. Decide what percentage of your week each bucket needs to have dedicated to it.
This is similar to what some call “time blocking” or “chunking.” It helps you to gain control of your calendar and make better choices of what you do and when. Even better, it empowers you to say, "I usually do that on Thursday mornings," rather than dropping everything and doing the interruption-non-urgent tasks. We'll cover interruptions in a future article.
Here’s what “ideal” might look like:
- See clients on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- Do admin and clients services on Monday mornings and Thursday afternoons.
- Attend my networking group on Wednesday mornings.
- Call or meet prospects and COIs on Wednesday afternoons.
- Do my financial planning work on Monday afternoons and Friday mornings.
The cool thing is that you can design your ideal week however you like and to fit your lifestyle. If you haven’t already done so, determine your needs and values and plan your ideal week based on what you value and what you need to make life work.
Include things in your ideal week that you want to do regularly.
For example:
- Leave work at 5 pm Monday – Thursday and noon on Friday.
- Take lunch from 12:00-1:00 pm every day.
- Work out from 6:30-7:30 am.
- Take my kids to school every morning at 8am.
- Have dinner with my family Monday-Thursday at 6pm.
- Do yoga Tuesday and Wednesday at 6:30 pm.
It's such a relief to be able to plan your days and weeks using this new planning map that's made up of your choices! Take the time to create your ideal week and commit to the vision.
No more kvetching for you!
Bonus 1: When you are creating your ideal week, first put in your big rocks. If you’ve never heard the “big rocks of life” story by the late Dr. Stephen R. Covey, read it here.
Bonus 2: Email Patty for her Ideal Week Template.
Patty Kreamer, CPO® helps overwhelmed financial advisors take control of their brain clutter, calendar, to-do list, inbox, interruptions and anything blocking productivity. She is a productivity coach, speaker, Certified Professional Organizer®, author of four books and partner at Productivity Uncorked, LLC, a coaching firm that specializes in helping financial advisors take control of their practice and uncork their referrals. Email Patty at [email protected] or connect with her on LinkedIn.
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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
