The New Model Week
Routines to Reduce Stress & Increase Productivity
Monday is a great day for mapping out the week ahead. 24 hours in a day. 168 hours in a week. Success comes to those to those who consciously make time for what matters most.
Last week I was listening to Nigel Poulton, a licensed mental health counselor on a call with over 175 of our advisors and their clients. Nigel knows what it’s like to deal with the stress of being in lockdown. He counsels people in the prison system. Debbie Weliver interviewed him about how to deal with cabin fever and ways to reduce stress. According to Nigel, one of the ways to improve our new circumstances and reduce our stress is to create a new routine.
Simple things can make a world of difference. Nigel spoke about planning when we wake, eat breakfast, and start our day. Many of us still put in our “regular hours” but in the context of those hours, there are a lot of nuances that break from our former routine.
At some point, you had or heard of a model week, right? It’s the exercise where you put all your key tasks into the space of a regular workweek. You put activities on a sample calendar so you can envision how you will get everything essential completed within the constraints of your workweek.
I have found using a model week incredibly helpful, but I’ve heard a lot of people tell me that they think there is no point to them. When I ask why they often tell me they don’t believe they work because things come up and end up interrupting their plan. Well, of course, things come up, that is a reasonable expectation, but it is not a reason to give up on a model week.
Let me share a few reasons why I still value this tool and how you can design a Model Week that will benefit you during these challenging times.
Here are some of the benefits of utilizing the Model Week:
You can put tasks that go together to get in the zone.
You can consider your energy and Circadian Rhythm.
You can allocate the amount of time that is required for the key tasks that lead to your goals.
Proactive tasks can be protected from reactionary tasks that are not as important.
You can see how you will accommodate the number of clients and deliverables promised.
You can share your model week with your teammates so they can respect the time allocations.
Teammates can share their model week with you so you can work in an orchestrated fashion.
You can block focus time to get things done.
You can identify the point at which you need to reorganize or reassign work.
Everything does not always get done at the end of the day; but, you can get the most important things done, meet critical deadlines, and avoid under-delivering to your clients.
We are knowledge workers. We think for a living. We are constantly addressing and solving complex problems for our advisors and our clients. There are always open loops. The day there are none, we are out of business. Therefore, knowing how to prioritize our work is key. The model week helps make this happen.
Right now, we have more demands on us for delivering information faster than ever to our clients, learning technology and addressing a whole new array of changing rules that impact our work patterns, financial life and social interaction (or non-interaction). We have less commuting, less travel, and less dining out. Our time demands, budget allocations, and communication methods have changed. That is why we need to broaden the scope of the New Model Week.
We can begin by considering the accessibility of people and office equipment and redesigning the flow of our workweek to reduce stress, recognize needs, and build peaceful productivity back into our lives.
I am recommending you consider the following in the New Model Week:
OVERALL APPROACH:
Consider all 168 hours of your week
PERSONAL TIME:
Honor your time commitments in your personal time
Allocate adequate sleep time
Allocate time for physical activity
Include time for meals
Block downtime
Address care needs of family members
Consider the time needed to meet personal goals
WORK TIME:
Maintain agreed-upon work hours and meeting commitment deadlines
Prioritize key tasks (Put the Big Rocks in First)
Block time for reactive and proactive tasks
Allocate the time that you are open for others to fill, including appointments
Be intentional about the flow from one thing to another
Coordinate your work time with others
WHITE SPACE:
Only fill your model week 50% to 80% full
Be innovative and thoughtful in how you design the week. You will find you can get more done when there is less stopping and starting, less interruption, more organization within the order of tasks completed by your team, and a better overall feeling to how you approach your work.
Have a great week, everyone!
If you’d like a template to design your model week, contact your Project Manager.
About the Author
Bernie DeLaRosa, CFP®, ChFC®, CRPC®, CLU®, APMA®, CASL®, BFA™
Managing Business Consultant
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