How to Have Your Most Productive Week

If you have ever felt like you’re in a place where you’re just feeling frantic to get things done, or you just feel like there’s so much to do during the week and you can never get that to do list accomplished, then you are in the right place. Because today were talking about how to use Sunday to help prepare the most productive week ever.

So thanks to those of you on Periscope and you’re just joining. We are, um, I love the Sunday afternoons because it’s usually just the time that is a little more restful and …hey! we have Martin in from Germany so thanks for joining us Martin. 

We are talking about how to use Sundays to prepare for the weekend ahead and make sure that you’re getting so many things done that you want to accomplish instead of just being reactive and reacting to all of the things that, that you think are on your to do list.

So, getting to those things that you want to accomplish instead of doing those things that are, you feel are always tugging at you.

My name is Amanda Bentow. I am a mom, and entrepreneur, I help people develop lifestyle of healthy habits so they have that solid foundation for feeling great, so that they can live their best life. And, I’m also the creator of Life Unleashed. It’s a program where we address all that stuff. I also help people who have a message that they want to share and want to build a business or build a platform to be able to get their message out there.

So, that’s a little bit about me and I’m so glad that you’re here and that you have joined us today so we can give you some tips and really help you change the way you operate through your week so that you’re getting a lot done. And more importantly than just getting a bunch of stuff done, it’s more important that were getting the right things done…the things that are tied to our biggest priorities.

I like to use Sunday afternoons for this, and when I do, when I’m on track with it… I’m far from perfect, but when I’m on track with this, I am so much more productive during the week. I’m committed to getting so many more things done and that’s what I love about it.

So we’re going to go ahead and get right to it. The first step…if this isn’t something you’ve already done in the past, I highly recommend that you take some time to do a brain dump of everything that’s on your mental to do list. One of the things that that does is it frees up your brain space so that you’re not constantly clogged down with a list of things that it’s like beating into your head about what it is that you need to get done. We lay there awake at night thinking about things we need to do the next morning.  Or when we are with our families, our minds are actually off into outer space somewhere trying to think about all the things that we are supposed to be getting done and are not. And when we’re at work, we’re thinking about all the things at home that were supposed be getting done, and it can be really frustrating.

The best way to kind of clear your brain from all that is to do a big giant brain down. Glad you agree with that Victoria! So just get everything out on paper so that you feel more free, and those things are constantly coming up and bogging you down. But, you have a place where all of those tasks are held and its secure, and you’re not going to forget about them, and can you have them all in one place. So, some people like to write them down, some people like to put them on your phone. I highly recommend keeping your to do list on your phone. That’s what I do. Sometimes though, I just need to have a piece of paper to write everything out first and just brain dump. There’s something different about just writing it down versus typing or thumbing. And the research tells us that that’s true and for the brain dump piece, I really love to use pen and paper to be able to do that. And then you can look at your list and go “ahhhhhh.” Because you have it out of your head and on paper in a safe place where you can keep it. So if you don’t regularly…I think at times we start to feel frantic and overwhelmed and you feel like there’s so much going on that you can’t keep track of it all, that’s a perfect time to be able to do the brain dump and be able to relax and feel that some of the stress has gone away because you’ve taken it out of your head and put it on a piece of paper.

So once you have your list, it’s important to know that our brains operate, for whatever reason, we can handle about three main things at a time. No more than that. And we try to cram so many things in our schedules. I have been very guilty of that and it’s too much. It’s just too much. Our brains can handle about three main priorities. So when you look at your brain dump list, look for those three priorities…The three main things that you have in your life, that you want to take care of. They are the three biggest things. Now you probably have more responsibilities than that. You have more hats that you wear than just three, but recognize that the top three are the ones that you are going to be the most productive with. The rest of them, you’re probably going to have a little less productivity with them. Now I had to go through a point in my life…I went through Smart Success…it’s a program that Chalene Johnson has created. If you’re not familiar with Chalene Johnson, you can look her up..she’s all over the place on social media. Her Smart Success program is what really help me dial in to figure out what my most important priorities were. There were some things that naturally, I’m more drawn to. They’re more fun for me. I’m kind of a recovering workaholic. So the fun stuff is harder for me to get in…time of rest and time for fun and hobbies. My work stuff and personal development things are natural to me. I can go and go and go and go with those things but I really need some accountability in putting the brakes on some of those a little bit so I can spend more time in other areas where I have bigger priorities. So, when I went through Smart Success, I was able to identify that OK, here are the areas in my life and there are some things that are going really well and these are some things that need more focus and more attention for me.

And after that, I went through a process of really saying no to a lot of things and getting some things off my plate because I just had too many things going on. I think that’s so normal for most of us. If you can relate to that, I think you’re in the norm…that so many of us just have way too much to do. So it’s a process and it takes time. Some of those are things that we can identify and just say “no, do you know what, my time and attention… It is more important for me to direct it elsewhere and here are some things that I need to get off my plate. You can find someone else to do it and delegate it.  You can just say no.  Some things might take more time to be able to get off of your plate and off of your schedule. But it’s really important that we key in on the top priorities.

So you’ll do your brainstorm list, you’ll identify some top priorities and figure out which ones are most important to you. It may not be most important to somebody else but they are most important to you. Because when we are moving…we want to be in a place where we’re moving our life forward in the direction that we choose. I really believe that if we have our life spread so thin that we’re always responding to other people’s demands, and we’re not able to focus in on the things that are most important to us, then we’re probably not moving our life forward in the direction we want to be headed. That’s when we start to feel like were starting to spin our wheels and we’re just not gaining the traction that we want. So being able to get to a place where you have the freedom to choose how you spend your time and how you direct your energy is huge. So focusing in on your most important priorities is a part of that process, but knowing that it’s a process and it doesn’t happen overnight. I was in a place where I was pulled so far between a couple of jobs that I was working, the desire and need to be home with my kids, and feeling all kinds of responsibilities there, plus volunteer work I was doing plus a business I was building and it was ridiculous. It was too much and I had to go through a process of focusing in on what was the most important to me.

In order to focus on your key priorities and figure out how you can have your most productive week, and it’s important to identify the specific tasks that you want to accomplish in the next week, based on your top priorities. So Sunday nights are a really great time to take a brainstorm list that you’ve created along with your top three priorities that you have, and identify specific tasks that you can accomplish in the next week that are related to those top three priorities. Now, again, we’re probably going to have more things that we have to do and then we have to get in there, and you can prioritize those things lower on the priority list. Because you want to move forward with your top priorities and the other things, you’re going to notice quickly that there are a lot of things that are going to be falling off of your to do list, or off of that priority list. That’s a good indicator that there’s too much going on, that you have to much that you’re focused on. That’s probably a-whole-nother topic to talk about how to remove some of those things from your schedule and from your to do list and how to really reclaim your schedule so that you can get back to that.

Now you’ve identified your list of things that you’re going to do for the week. It’s based on your priorities. It’s based on your list of things you’ve brainstormed…that you dumped out of your head so that it’s on paper in a nice safe place. Carry that to do list with you. All the things that you want to accomplish for the next week. Again I keep that on my phone because I always have my phone with me. I’ve tried keeping it on paper and I can’t. I can’t keep it for more than a couple of days. Pretty soon it’s lost in paper scatters space. I don’t know. But, my phone… My find my iPhone app can tell me where it is and I can grab that phone again. So I always keep my to do list on my phone and I’m checking in with it on a regular basis. And I’m checking those items off throughout the week. I am someone who loves check lists and checking things off the list and I’m so much more productive when I can scratch it.

Comment: “#PaperScatterSpace” Yes! It’s a new word. We have it. We just have it and are going to get rid of it. I don’t know.

So the next thing we do is check in every day throughout the week one common time during the day. So usually I try to wrap it up before I go to bed.

Comment: “I put a post-it note on my phone.” You put a posted note on your phone. I would have 82,000 post it notes on my iPhone. Of to do list items? Is that the post no they put on your phone?

Comment: “do you have a to do list app that you like to use?” I like to use Awesome Note. I’ve gone back-and-forth with it. I used it for a little while and then I got away from it and then I got back to it. They’ve done some updates and things like that, so that’s what I’m currently using. I get a little ADD over my systems for how I keep my to do list but that’s what I’m currently using. And I do kind of like it. You can create folders in there so I have one folder that is my to do items for the week and I put those in and plug in reminders. You can put in like when they’re not due. And so I just use that as a reminder system. So at 9 o’clock…I just know that 9 o’clock works in my schedule for me to get a few things done. So at 9 o’clock a pop-up come with a few different items that I need to do. And if I don’t get them done at 9 o’clock they’ll stay on that list I’ll check in with it again throughout the day. So that’s really helpful. That’s what I do. And I also checked in at the end of the day so that I can look at my list of things that I’ve accomplished and have I done that? And if not, I take all those remaining items and schedule them for the next day so I get that reminder again.  That’s how I stay on track with getting those highest priority items done. And I’m so much more productive when I can stay on track with that.

I’m just checking my notes. Can you tell? So those are the tips that I use. That’s my system that I set up. It doesn’t matter, I don’t think, that you exactly follow that system. What matters is that you’re focusing on what your priorities are, that you identify those tasks that you need to get done in the week, and that you’re consistent with checking back in with your to do list.

Here’s what I used to do. I used to…when I was working in higher education, I would go and sit down at my desk and open up my email. And then I would reply to all my emails and then I would have 87,000 to do things and new projects that I would’ve found from my email. And one of the best quotes that I’ve ever heard was from Brendon Burchard, and he said… Something about…i’ll probably butcher this but he said, “your inbox is nothing more than an organized system for someone else’s agenda.” It’s brilliant! It’s so true. Your email inbox is what everyone else in the world needs from you but it does not define your priorities. It doesn’t define how you want to move forward, and that’s the key. So being able to make that mindset shift of responding to everyone else’s needs versus responding to your own stuff in your own priorities. That’s really what makes a huge difference in helping you to be more productive. So creating a system that allows you to do that and keep those priorities and those tasks in front of you all the time is what is really going to be helpful. I encourage you to find that system that works for you, using the tips that I’ve given you, if you find another app that works for you or something else I’d love to hear about it. You can just tweet me. It’s @AmandaBentow.

Comment: “I like that email perspective.” You like that email perspective. Yeah, I thought that was really helpful when I heard that too. But I used to always be driven by my email inbox and by my calendar, and those are the things that really ruled my world. And now it’s based on what my goals are, and the tasks that I need to accomplish, based on my goals. Which has completely reversed and flipped upside down my priorities and how I go about my tasks every week.

So I hope that’s helpful for you I love to hear if you have a big Takeaway, I want to hear about it on Twitter. Also, if you have any other questions that came up for me, feel free to let me know. If you want more personal development kinds of things, you can go to www.unleashedforlife.com and you can sign up there and I’ve been sending out weekly or videos with personal development topics and info to help you live your best life.

Also if you’re interested in this, every morning at 6 AM central time, I am on Periscope broadcasting a daily devotional time. It’s a quick, probably 10 to 20 minute devotional time where we go through some scripture, we talk a little bit about what that means to us, and then give an action item for the day and then have some prayer time. So you’re welcome to join me for that as well.

Hope you have a great day and I will talk to you soon.