Setting goals, taking action and making the best use of your time is an important skill set both as a student and in your career. Sometimes it just feels like there is not enough hours in the day to accomplish the actions you had decided were a priority.  Our friend Sam Demma shares some of his tips to Get more done this week using this simple productivity hack.

With school coming to an end and the global pandemic in full effect, it’s getting extremely hard to stay focused. This simple and easy to implement system will take you less than 15 minutes and help you get more done, be more productive, and lessen your anxiety. 

Sean Covey, author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens”, wrote that weekly planning is one of the essential habits of high performing students.

He stated that daily planning is too narrow of a focus, and monthly planning too broad. Instead, he encourages you to set aside 15 minutes per week (1/4 of a Netflix episode) to outline the next seven days of your life. 

The idea of weekly planning was first shared with me when I was 16 years old by an NFL football player named Niyi Sobo. At the time, he was mentoring me and filling out a weekly planner was a requirement before getting on a call with him each Monday.

Since then, weekly planning became a habit, and now I rarely go a week without filling out my planner. I have filled out hundreds of these things…

Anyway, enough with the origin stories…here is the 3-step process you can follow to plan your week. (You don’t need to use the free planner included at the end of this article, but make sure you have something that works for you)

1. Make a list of the top priorities for the coming week. 

What are the things that you MUST complete? What are the things that NEED the most attention and effort right now? Make a list of all these things.

2. Start filling in the weekly planner with the non-negotiable tasks. 

Non-negotiable tasks refer to the things that you have no control over moving around in your calendar. As a student, this would include going to school. As an athlete, this would consist of practice and games. Ask yourself what you cannot move around in your schedule; this is non-negotiable.

The important thing here is to place this in the calendar first, so you don’t end up scheduling something else at the same time. 

3. Next, fill in the planner with the top priorities you outlined in step one. 

Now that you have filled in all the non-negotiables, you want to make sure you fill in your top priority tasks next. Once you finish the former, you should have a tonne of blank space on your calendar. . . go nuts!!

There you have it! The process you can follow every Sunday to help you get more done, be more productive, and lessen your anxiety. 

Before you download your planner and go crazy, here are a few small tips that will help you get the most out of this tool.

• Review your planner every morning to give you a visual of what the entire day will look like.
• Check off each task as you complete them to keep yourself on track and accountable.
• Don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t end up doing exactly what you said you would. This planner serves as something to strive for consistently.
• And lastly, if you’re crazy…like me…bring the calendar with you throughout the entire day to remain on task as much as possible. 

Enjoyed this article and want to give weekly planning a shot? Access your free planner here: www.highperformingstudent.com/weekly-planner.

Check out the  The PrepSkills High Performing Student Landing Page: www.highperformingstudent.com/prepskills

Special note from the Prepskills Inc. and US College Expo Team:  Please take a few minutes to watch this incredibly moving and inspirational video that Sam created to celebrate all the 2020 graduates.  We celebrate with you all and wish you the very best in your future endeavours.