The Ideal Week of Books By Corine

Hey Supporters,

Several of the authors I blog with at http://christianchildrensauthors.com have agreed to share something out of our experience as writers. You can check out the post by Cheryl C. Malandrinos and Janice D. Green. This week I have decided to share something similar.  However, I have decided to talk about my ideal week because no day is typical and I am struggling with consistency in many areas of my life.  I am hoping that by blogging about my idea week it will help me be consistent and accountable. 

Despite my struggle, I recognize I have a choice in life. I can either live on-purpose, according to a plan I have set out; or I can live by accident, reacting to the demands of others. The first approach is proactive; the second reactive.  I feel like I have been reacting to life for most of 2014.  However, I know that I will feel better, more at peace and just happier when I am proactive. 

So what follows is my ideal week.  I was first introduced to this concept by Michael Hyatt.  According to Hyatt, the ideal week is similar to your financial budget. The only difference is that you plan how you will spend your time rather than your money. And like a financial budget, you spend it on paper first.

I created my ideal week in a simple word document.  It represents the “perfect” week if I could control everything that would happen each week.  As I was developing my week, I realized that there are way too many things on my to-do list each week than I had time.  In order to help me focus, I decided to group like task together and break my day into three segments whenever possible.

So over the next few weeks, I will be testing out my idea week and tweaking where necessary. Just looking at my ideal week, I realized a lot has to change.  For example, I currently have over 30 clients on my schedule (my job only requires that I schedule 21 patients each week) and I am constantly taking on new patients.  I realize I am going to have to stop taking on new patients and hold my patients account for meeting their treatment goals.  I also realized that I need to set an alarm to stop working the same way I set an alarm to wake up each morning.   I don’t remember the last time I left work (main job on time); I was also guilty of working on a book project till midnight this week.  My final confession is the last time I started my day at 5am was for track practice back in my college days. 

So supporters, have you ever done an ideal week or time budget?  If so, how did it go?  If not, what do you think about the idea?  I have also included a blank template here (simple tip, right left click to merge cells).  Feel free to ask me any questions about my week or life as a Christian, psychologist, writer, and single person. 

Until next time, continue to pray for me and know that I am praying for you. 

Corine 


P.S. If you haven't already, please check out my most from earlier this week on helping a blogging associate adopt a child http://www.booksbycorine.com/1/post/2014/04/please-help-merissa-adopt-10-days-12000-1-baby.html 

---