One of the most powerful tools of productivity that I have cultivated in my walk of life is the weekly rhythm formula.
Why is it so powerful? I believe that every high performer in business and in life needs a blueprint to plan, prepare and ultimately perform optimally in each and every week.
I say blueprint, precisely to emphasize that the act of creating your weekly rhythm is not a once done and for all undertaking.
What do I mean here? Your weekly rhythm, just like the cycles of nature will adjust to the various changes in your business and life seasons.
A weekly rhythm is designed to be adapted and molded for the changes in your work and personal life. For example when you go on holidays, your weekly rhythm will change. If you make time to attend conferences and factor in say a course or program you are undertaking, then your weekly rhythm will adjust accordingly.
The act of creating your weekly rhythm takes into account what I call your four key professional and personal zones. The following is a concise breakdown of each zone:
Tactical tasks (working in the business) – Yellow zone
As leaders in our business and field of expertise, it is important to not get dragged into the day to day operations of your business. By wearing ‘too many hats’, the entrepreneur falls into a trap of not having a clear identity as a leader and innovator. There is too much time digging out the weeds as opposed to planting new trees or tending to the current ones.
These tasks are important yet as business operators and leaders we need to learn often to ‘let go’ and task others with the responsibility of performing these required tasks
Activities in this zone include:
- checking and responding to emails
- answering calls/inquiries
- conducting consults/classes
- Doing book-keeping and admin work
Note: In the beginning we may assume multiple roles and wear many hats. The epoch in our business and personal life is when we ordain others with the hats that are no longer helping us to achieve our mission and goals in business and in life
Strategic tasks (working on the business) – Blue zone
Consider the blue zone your ‘higher level of producing zone’. It is distinct form the ‘Yellow’ zone in that these activities ensure you are working ‘on your business’. Think of it as the analogy goes: ‘Observing and working the forest’ versus ‘ploughing away at the weeds and observing the trees of the forest’ (yellow Zone)
Activities include:
- Strategy work (systems, sales, marketing)
- High level Networking or outreach
- Project planning
- leadership and direction to your team;
- Innovation your products/services or creating new offerings
- Content creation like blogging or vlogging
Sacred based tasks – Green zone
In a nutshell this is based on sharpening the saw (Habit 7 of 7 habits of highly effective people) and the 3R principle that I like to teach: Rest, Rejuvenate and Regenerate.
Examples include:
- Taking a walk away from your work space (reflective time)
- Reading (non work related) and journal time
- Family and friend ‘chill time’
- Working out
- Going on a vacation
Learning/Growth tasks – Purple zone
In this bucket, we add in our commitment to learning specific skill-sets that will enhance us a person (call it self-development) and enhance our capabilities in our profession/calling. These may include:
- Online or face to face courses or programs
- books/podcasts
- seminars/webinars
By coordinating our week into zones, we can better manage our time and energy and ultimately prioritize the things that truly matter in our business and life.
The weekly rhythm, coupled with the four effective zones, are designed to give you the ability to plan for the upcoming week, whilst affording you the full perspective of where you are investing your time and energy.
What I always emphasize to those willing to listen is this. Creating your weekly rhythm requires deep work. That means, you need to spend serious time contemplating what is working and what is not each and every day. Therefore the first step is to analyse a typical day in your week, preferably a working day, from waking to sleeping.
Mapping our habits and identifying what is zapping us from achieving our desired and well-formed outcomes boils down to where and what we are investing our time and energy into.
In my legacy program, I take high performers like you through a step by step approach to creating and c rafting an ultimate weekly rhythm that factors in:
- your meaningfully constructed habits
- your ideal day
- identifying your four zones and discovering what needs to change for you to succeed in business and in life
- your goals or what I call your desired and well-formed outcomes which out of necessity needs to be factored into your weekly rhythm
Getting into the groove of your weekly rhythm is one of the most important undertakings you can commit to as a high performer.
If you would like a FREE template and the system of the ‘Weekly Rhythm’ click HERE
Keep Reaching
Coach Tarek