The Type A+ Podcast Episode 4: Discovering Your Ideal Work Week - Links & Show Notes
Episode Description:
This week, Beth is taking you through her process to hone in on your ideal work week. From prioritizing your self-care to optimizing your daily and weekly schedule based on your individual body's ebbs and flows, learn how to build a template for a week that is filled with ease, no matter how many things are on your calendar.
*NOTE: New episodes will debut every MONDAY starting August 15, 2022--think of this podcast as your Monday Motivation!
Links mentioned in the episode:
LOOM HOW-TO:
How to Color Code Your Google Calendar with Ideal Work Week
Podcast:
The Type A Plus Podcast Instagram
Host:
Beth Lawrence & Company Instagram
Beth will be back each week, delivering bite-sized tips (15 minute episodes or less) on how to optimize your life and work.
Episode Transcript can be found below:
Hi, everyone. So excited to be back. My name is Beth Lawrence and I'm the host of The Type A+ Podcast. Today, we're going to be talking about how to form your Type A+ work week. Everyone has an ideal work week. Everyone has a different way they work in a way that works for them in their schedule.
I've touched on this and the color-coded life episode, but I really try to focus on my optimal work week when I'm scheduling my meetings, my focused time, and any creative space as well as self-care within my week. So how do I do that? I will take you through that. Step-by-step on today's episode.
First I wanted to thank the Wellstruck community and Sarah Zero for helping me hone in on my ideal workweek and set myself up for success each week, even when I am busy as hell. First, you start with your week as a whole, you look at your Monday through Friday or your Sunday through Saturday, whatever your work week looks like. And you look at what days you need to work or want to work and how many days and how many hours. So if you own your own business, do you want to work four days a week for three hours a day? Do you want to work five days a week for eight hours a day? What does your workload look like? And how many hours do you ideally want? Want to work? Then consider the nature of your work. Are you a person who sits at a computer or a desk all day, or are you out and about? Do you have days that are filled with tasks and meetings and face-to-face things that you're doing? Do you have a lot of different hats that you juggle or do you do mostly focused work or task-based work? That's important because we all have natural rhythms and our bodies naturally ebb and flow each day. And there are some days obviously that are different than others, but most times, you know, Mondays feel a certain way to each of us. And then Fridays feel a certain way to each of us and everything in between. So think about when you are in an optimal mood. For most tasks. And that takes into consideration, whether you're a morning person. Do you wake up talking? Um, maybe having your calendar, schedule your calls in the morning. Would be something that would energize you so that you can focus for the rest of the day and do any task-based work that you need to do. Alternatively, if you're a night owl, it might make sense to schedule yourself such that your mornings are restful and you dive into work in the evening. So that's something that you have to consider for yourself.
Everyone is different. I am happy to outline my ideal work week for each of you and tell you how I came to the conclusions that I came to. And the way that I schedule myself. So if I look at my ideal work week, I like to work pretty traditionally Monday through Friday, about 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM or so. Mondays, I schedule internal meetings with my team and my clients, and afternoons are usually reserved for email admin, for those types of tasks. Fridays. I try to leave no meetings as much as possible, and really only focus on getting those things done that I wasn't able to get done in the previous three days.
Usually those days, Monday and Friday, I also work from home because let's face it. It feels a little bit like an extension to the weekend. And sometimes it's nice just to be in your pajamas for one more day.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I'm usually in the office, and I typically have meetings and work sessions. I'd call scheduled. So I tend to try to keep my calls or work sessions in the afternoon so I can get a bit done in the mornings, but it really depends on the season.
And for me, Tuesdays are typically my longest days. They usually are when I have the most meetings. And also when I facilitate a virtual program in the spring and the fall. So Tuesdays are always my. My go full-speed day.
Wednesdays. I tend to break up. It depends on actually the week. Sometimes it's full of meetings. Sometimes I have an event in the evening in the city. So it all depends on how I feel, whether I go into the city or I work from home. A lot of the time in the summer, I will try to spend time outside as much as possible. So those are some things to consider when I look at my work week, but generally Mondays and Fridays, I am working from home doing email admin and internal tasks. And then Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I am out and about. Fridays, I tried to leave early after my work is done, or I try to start work later, depending on the season. For example, today actually is Friday when I am recording this. And I went to the pool this morning and didn't actually get started on my focus work until about 30 or so. And it's about five 30 now. And for me, that feels okay to still be working and doing on a Friday afternoon. So.
Obviously, I try to get outside every single day, but I also make sure to schedule in my ideal work week calendar: my lunch, my time at the gym, my walks with my dog, my breaks, and even my fun things. If you remember the color-coded life episode, my pink events, those events that light me up and allow me to gather with my family, and my friends, and keep myself accountable to my own self-care.
When you're constructing the ideal work week, it's obviously important to also take this into consideration. Do you have a full-time job? Are you an entrepreneur? What does your job expect of you and what flexibility do you have to put those breaks and those times for yourself into the day? I would argue that even putting a 15-minute break to stretch and get some water on your calendar, every few hours is really great for you. And so start to implement this ideal workweek calendar.
You will create a new calendar in your Google calendar and you'll title it your ideal work week. You will make it a color that is beautiful and makes you smile. Mine is yellow and really gets down to the nitty-gritty of the time blocks, on Monday mornings, I tend to have my meetings Monday after, you know, after one o'clock I tend to have my lunch and then Mondays in the afternoon, I tend to do focused work and then typically have an early day and try to rest and prepare for my long day, which is Tuesday. For example, and then Tuesdays in the morning. I'm tending to focus, work, and then have all of my meetings and events in the afternoon. And so on and so forth. You can adjust this over time. Obviously, this is not a hard and fast rule. It's your life. There's no wrong or right way to do it. There is just what works for you and what doesn't.
When you start to figure it out. Let me know what types of Type A+ folks I have listened to. Are you a type, a plus person that wakes up ready to go? Or are you the one that's extremely organized, but you really tend to like doing more work or focused work in the afternoon? Or does it depend on the day, like me? Thank you so much for listening. I hope that this is helpful to you. New episodes are going to start to be released on Mondays because I feel that. It's a little bit of motivation to get your week started on a good note, and I would love to inspire you to be more organized and approach your life in a way that makes sense for you. Thanks so much for listening we'll be back next week.