Tip#2 - Plan your week-Wellbeing essentials for a more mindful, less reactive lockdown-

I trust you are having an excellent week. Here in Melbourne, we are entering week 3 of ‘lockdown 2.0’ following a serious spike in daily Covid-19 cases. It’s weird and frustrating, albeit things feel less uncertain this time round because we know what to expect and how to stay safe. People are desperate to reclaim basic freedoms and vital connection with peers and loved ones. Needless to say, we’ll be out of this ‘Groundhog Day’ infection-recovery-infection loop a whole lot sooner if we all follow the rules.

Lockdown Tip 2 – Planning your work week in Iso

A frequent discussion point that I’ve been having with leaders is how to keep their teams engaged and motivated in Iso. If you have organisational superpowers, then this tip will likely seem quite basic. But for many, juggling personal and professional contexts whilst at home is a real challenge. Thus, planning your week in-advance can reduce pressure and set you up for success – prioritising and completing the most important tasks, while making space for life’s other priorities, such as relationships, hobbies, and wellbeing.

Here’s the thing: lockdown can be overwhelming and chaotic, especially if home-schooling kids or in a shared living situation without a dedicated workspace. Having a regular routine and planning your week in-advance can alleviate pressure. Let’s face it – some days we are ‘on-fire’ and highly productive, and other days we get pulled in every direction physically and emotionally and routine goes out the window, resulting in frustration and burnout.

Planning your week helps you stay accountable and establishes healthy boundaries.

1. The Sunday ‘Power hour’

Pour a drink, put on some relaxing music, and find a quiet spot for your planning process. Download and print our free ‘weekly planner’ or grab a pen and paper, then write down all of the tasks you want to accomplish in the next 7 days – reminders, appointments, meetings, targets, food shopping, workouts, and ‘alone time’.

2. Schedule everything

Now that you have listed everything you want to do, review the list and when you are happy with it, schedule the day/time you want to accomplish each task.

You can also download our ‘day to day planner’ to make your tasks even more manageable. I like to add important reminders such as meetings or phone calls to my google calendar and set an alarm 20 minutes prior.

3. Review your week daily

Once you’ve identified and assigned dates and times to all tasks, you need to know in-advance what is happening on each day. This might seem like a no-brainer, but I check my daily schedule first thing in the morning whilst having coffee. Importantly, unplanned things are inevitable, and if anything has changed from when you wrote your list to that morning – simply make note of it and move it to a different day/time (rather than completely forget). This will help minimise overwhelm and frustration.

4. Review

At the end of each day check your list and cross-off tasks you managed to complete. It’s also a great way of getting a ‘sneak peek’ into your next day’s agenda. If you’re like me, crossing off list items creates a sense of satisfaction, which in-turn helps me feel organised and on-track.

There are many wellbeing benefits to planning your week ahead – reduced stress, improved sleep (from knowing you haven’t forgotten anything important), and a general sense of satisfaction that comes from knowing you have achieved what you needed to get done.

Until next time...