Anyone else feeling a little more, well. . . paper-ish, these days? Spending countless hours in my office staring at Zoom grid faces, I’m longing for a little more analog. And after speaking to hundreds of you in my online classes, I know you are, too.
Imagine my excitement when I met Steve, an art teacher at a K – 5 IB school in Dallas (and career changer after 20+ years in the corporate world!), and saw his hand-drawn Weekly Worksheet.
Before we tour Steve’s system, let’s grab a quick refresher on the anatomy of a Weekly Worksheet.
Click to enlarge.
A great Weekly Worksheet:
- Names your priorities
- Lets you plan for the week ahead
- Shows time commitments AND to-dos
- Includes personal AND professional
- Captures incoming work
Of course, you can always do this digitally using Google or Outlook. But Steve did something super cool (and it’s not even a Bullet Journal!)
Steve’s first version… Beginning of the Week (click to enlarge)
Steve hand draws his Weekly Worksheet because, in his words, “I’m pretty visual and it sinks in more if I write things down. I wanted my tasks to be separated by morning, afternoon, and evening times. I included work and homelife in the plan.”
As you already know, no sample is complete without seeing what it actually looks like by the end of the week! Here’s Steve’s Friday version.
Steve’s finished version… End of the Week (click to enlarge)
Steve reflected, “I think the week went well – this was a busy one with professional development and meetings. Lots to keep track of. My Weekly Worksheet also reminded me to concentrate on non-work items.” Hooray to that! Life is quite a juggle these days.
Steve’s advice to the rest of us?
“Work with something that you know you’ll be consistent with. I’ve used checklists since I was in high school a ba-zillion years ago. The ‘intention’ at the top was a nice reminder throughout the week. I also like that the Meeting With Myself document is merged into my plan for the week. Tracking water consumption was also a new habit. I made copies of the template so it will be easy to fill in each week.”
A few things I love here that can be applied to any creation of a Weekly Worksheet:
- Know your habits. Steve is a bit more of a What-er, AND he wanted something handwritten.
- Know your goals. Steve was clear he wanted to include both personal and professional on his Weekly Worksheet, as well as water consumption!
- Make it easy on yourself. Steve made copies of his template so he doesn’t have to rewrite it each week!
Thank you, Steve! Happy Planning!
