Do you ever get to the end of the week and wonder what you even accomplished? In today’s time management episode we’re going to chat about why setting weekly goals is so important and how you can get started setting weekly goals and managing your time, so that you can be more productive and reach those bigger goals you have in mind for your food blog.
I have noticed that as my business has grown, my work has gotten busier and my life has gotten busier, I have really had to prioritize managing my time. If I do not take control of my time, and I do not make a plan for it, then I will have weeks and weeks that go by without me really feeling like I am making progress on the bigger, overarching goals for my business. This just never seems to get done when I do not have control of my time.
Time management is one of those things that becomes more and more important, the more you have higher level decisions and projects that you need to work on in your business. So, if this has been helpful to you, and if you would like to hear future episodes on this topic of time management, then please go over to Instagram @GraceandVine and let me know.
Why Should You Set Weekly Goals
So let’s dive into this topic today of time management and specifically around this idea of setting weekly goals. Now my guess is if you are listening to this episode, you probably have struggled with goal setting at some degree in the past. I know for me in the past, I really struggled with getting clear on the bigger vision for my business and really looking ahead at where I wanted to go with my business. So what I mean by that is not just looking at the day to day or week to week task lists that I have to get through, but really being able to look at the bigger projects that do not fit within a specific task.
The first reason that you should be setting weekly goals is to make sure that you are looking at the bigger picture of your business and that you are making progress on those things that you want to do with your business. This is really going to help you prioritize those higher level tasks and projects that a CEO would be thinking about and not the lower level admin type of tasks that aren’t really moving the needle forward and putting you into a new level of your business.
Doing this weekly is going to help you create a habit around goal setting. I had really struggled with goal setting in my business for a really long time until I was in this coaching program. While in this program, we were on a rhythm and a routine of creating goals in our business and that rhythm and routine really helped me to just do it. What I needed to do was just do it and set a goal. Because sometimes you just need to practice it and then you’ll get better at it over time. You’ll start to realize what types of goals are realistic and achievable, what types of goals are actually going to move the needle forward for your business. So if you are somebody who has struggled with goal setting in the past, just starting with a weekly goal setting, of just even one goal is really going to help you to get into that habit and start to make progress.
How to Set Weekly Goals
The first step to setting weekly goals is creating some sort of system to set your goals. I know for me in the past, the idea of creating a system feels daunting, but what I want you to think about is what can you anchor this event of setting weekly goals around in your life, that you already have right now. So for example for me on Sunday afternoons, I take that time to plan out my week and this is when I set my weekly goals.
I set three priorities every week that I need to achieve in my business. Now sometimes my priorities are not necessarily a goal, but they are something that is really high priority for the week. Often it does tie into a monthly or quarterly goal that I have set for myself. Just think about where could you add in this habit around something that you already do. If you are somebody who already fills out your planner for the week or reviews your task for the week, then setting your weekly goals in that same time setting is going to be really useful for you. If you do not have anything that you already have a system around, then pick a day that works for you and make that your time where you’re going to sit down and think about your weekly goals.
Something else that can be really powerful when you are trying to create the habit or a system is to give yourself some sort of reward. It could be anything, it could be indulging in a piece of dark chocolate, a glass of wine, or it could be allowing yourself to take the afternoon off or go for a walk around the block. Anything that is fun and enjoyable for you, but also motivating is a great reward for you to have.
The second step to setting weekly goals is to choose realistic goals. Now, because we’re looking at a week of time, we are not going to be setting goals that are going to take us a month or a quarter to achieve. But you want to be realistic about the time that you have for the week. So for example, if you know that you can carve out two to three hours to work on a bigger level project each week, then you’re going to create a goal that fits within that timeframe. Again, you will get better at this over time, so if at first you create small goals or large goals, you’ll eventually adjust to being able to create the perfect size goal around the time that you have available.
The next part about setting your weekly goals is to make sure that you’re choosing goals that are bringing you closer to those bigger goals that you have for your business. Even if you haven’t done monthly or quarterly goals, you can still do this by just thinking about what is the bigger thing that you want to do with your business that you have been putting off or that you haven’t been prioritizing time for. Then you can use that time to do something that is going to help push you towards that goal.
The trick to being able to do this, is that it really takes getting clear on what that is. Again, in the beginning, if you want to just set a weekly goal of something that you know is super achievable, just to start to get your body in the momentum of doing this and following your goals, that’s totally fine. As this becomes more of a habit for you, ensure that these goals are something that bring you closer to those bigger goals and that these are not things that you already do.
Break the Goal Down Into Smaller Pieces
The final step in creating these weekly goals for yourself is that you always want to break the goal down into smaller pieces. Remember, you do not want this goal to be something that is a one task check the box type of task. You want to make sure that whatever your goal is for the week, you break it down into those smaller tasks so that you can get it done and make progress. If you don’t break it down, it’s going to be really overwhelming to get it done. If you do not break it down, ensure you set aside a three-to-four-hour block of time, so that you’re able to really go all in on that project during that time.
So, to recap this episode:
1. We talked about why you should set weekly goals, which is essentially to have time set aside to look at the bigger picture of your business and to create higher level projects for yourself to work on, to move you forward to those bigger goals for your business.
2. To set these weekly goals is to build a habit around it, just get it done and create that consistency of just doing it.
3. Choose realistic goals that can actually be achieved in a week’s time and then you’re going to choose goals that bring you closer to those bigger overarching goals that you have for your business.
4. Finally, you’re going to break those goals down into smaller pieces so that you know exactly what to work on when you are working on that during the week.
I hope that you guys have loved this episode and found it useful. If you haven’t caught the rest of the time management series, you can go back to Episode 85, where I talked about how you can save time with time tracking, and then Episode 92, which is all about creating your ideal week and really creating buckets of time for you to do certain tasks every week. In the new year, I hope to do two episodes, one on how to set daily priorities, then the other on setting monthly or quarterly goals. This is a little bit out of our normal wheelhouse of strategy and design, but I do think it’s so important to empower you guys to be able to think like a CEO. So, if you are interested in those episodes or other time management topics, I would love for you to go over to Instagram @GraceandVine and connect with me there.
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