Ready to overhaul your approach to productivity and transform your workweek? Intrigued by the idea of thinking like a professional athlete rather than a battle-hardened warrior? Curious about how the Winning the Week Method could help you achieve a balanced, flexible, and integrated strategy to reach your goals? Dive in to discover these insights and more.

Winning the Week: How To Plan A Successful Week, Every Week

We often describe our week in terms of battles by saying things like, “I’m overwhelmed,” or “I’m losing ground.” A better analogy for approaching your workweek is thinking like a professional athlete. Unlike war, sports allow for losses without catastrophic consequences. You don’t need to win every game, just more than you lose, to be a winner. 

Consider your week as a game. Winning or losing one week isn’t life or death, and you can still make it to the playoffs of your career despite setbacks. However, consistent poor performance can lead to missed opportunities. A weekly approach helps establish a productive rhythm akin to an athlete’s training and game schedule: practice, play, review, and improve.

Why weekly? Firstly, a week aligns with our societal rhythm of workweeks and weekends, offering natural periods for reflection and rest. Secondly, winning the week is more realistic than trying to win every day. Perfection every day is unattainable. For instance, Alexis, who once struggled with perfectionism, found immense relief and success by focusing on winning the week rather than each day. She became a top performer without the daily pressure of perfection.

A weekly approach also offers flexibility. You can adjust for life’s unpredictability, like an emergency doctor visit or a child’s needs, while still hitting your weekly targets. This flexibility reduces stress and increases the likelihood of success. Catherine experienced this, managing personal crises while still achieving her main goals.

Additionally, focusing on the week helps synchronize various productivity skills into a cohesive whole. Instead of getting lost in productivity fads, a weekly approach integrates all aspects of your workflow, much like learning to ride a bike where all skills come together seamlessly.

Finally, leveraging Parkinson’s Law, which states that work expands to fill the time available, a week provides a balanced timeframe. It’s short enough to prevent procrastination but long enough to make significant progress. By setting weekly goals, you create manageable sprints that enhance productivity without overwhelming you.

In short, adopting a weekly approach to productivity allows for a balanced, flexible, and integrated strategy to achieve your goals. This method helps you maintain perspective, manage stress, and see consistent progress without the need for daily perfection.

Can the Winning The Week Method Transform Your Productivity Like a Pro Athlete?

Is planning more important than execution? Abraham Lincoln certainly thought so. He famously said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.” This sentiment echoes through history from thinkers like Benjamin Franklin, Sun Tzu, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. And yet, despite its recognized importance, fewer than 1% of people consistently plan their weeks.

Why the disconnect? The issue lies partly in our nature. Planning can be stressful, forcing us to confront things we'd rather avoid, and our "lizard brain" resists this discomfort. Additionally, many people don't know how to plan effectively. Without a solid process, planning can feel like a series of failures, reinforcing negative associations.

Take Anne, for example. She was trapped by the Mere Urgency Effect, constantly handling urgent but less important tasks while neglecting high-impact projects. This cognitive bias worsened as she got busier, creating a downward spiral. Proper planning could have helped her break free and focus on what truly mattered.

Enter The Winning The Week Method. This structured approach helps you see your week clearly, plan effectively, and consistently achieve your goals. It includes five key steps: 
1. Learning from the past week, 
2. Choosing a priority, 
3. Interrogating your calendar, 
4. Triaging your tasks, and 
5. Matching time demand to supply.

But before diving into planning, you must address internal resistance. Many adults carry a deep-seated aversion to planning due to past experiences and the stress it generates. Overcoming this resistance is crucial. You can rewire your brain to not only tolerate planning but even crave it. Transform your planning session into a rewarding experience. Whether it's at a cozy café, a wine bar, or a quiet early morning at home, make it enjoyable.

Consider the journey of George, who struggled with planning due to his lizard brain's resistance. By recognizing his internal conflict between the desire for safety and the need to be proactive, he began to see planning in a new light. Similarly, creating a planning habit involves understanding the cue-routine-reward loop, as explained in Charles Duhigg’s book "The Power of Habit."

For lasting success, make your planning sessions fun and rewarding. This could mean turning them into a cherished ritual, like Gene’s visits to a Russian bathhouse or Emma’s early morning croissant sessions. Focus on the benefits of planning, both immediate, like avoiding missed meetings, and long-term, like achieving career goals.

Ultimately, the key to winning your week is consistent planning. By transforming your approach to planning into a positive habit, you can overcome resistance and set yourself up for success. So, find your version of that Paris café and start planning your week with enthusiasm. Your future self will thank you.

Master Your Week: Abraham Lincoln’s Guide to Planning Success

In high school, Demir Bentley's soccer team was notoriously bad. Despite their best intentions and hard practice, they repeatedly lost, steeped in frustration. Their biggest flaw? A lack of a feedback loop. Winning teams analyze their games to learn and improve; they didn’t. This ‘stepping on the rake’ phenomenon—repeating mistakes due to a lack of awareness—can be seen in productivity, too. Without deliberate practice and a feedback loop, frustration can lead you to quit. 

Psychologist Anders Ericsson emphasizes the need for deliberate practice—purposeful, systematic, and with constant feedback. Benjamin Franklin, for instance, improved his writing by reconstructing articles from memory and comparing them with the original. This iterative learning was his feedback loop.

Similarly, Chitra used a feedback loop to realize she needed to say "no" more often, dramatically improving her productivity. Another client of the author, Aaron, identified that simplifying his workload was more effective than trying to do more. These insights emerged from self-reflection, guided by questions like the "Groundhog Day Question"—reimagining your past week to spot improvements.

Additionally, the "Double Down Question" focuses on recognizing and amplifying what's working well. For instance, Sherie discovered an early bedtime improved her energy, while Tim, a law firm owner, saved time by creating standard procedures.

Moving from self-reflection to action, choosing a leveraged priority each week is crucial. As authors Gary Keller and Jay Papasan suggest, ask: “What is the one thing you can do that makes everything else easier or unnecessary?” This approach helped Mandy, overwhelmed by tasks, to delegate her children's transport, freeing hours and energy.

This method involves stepping back and identifying actions that amplify your productivity, making life easier. For example, creating a reusable presentation template or implementing a chore system at home can save time and effort long-term. By focusing on leveraged priorities, you tackle tasks that improve efficiency and ease future workloads, transforming daunting challenges into manageable ones. 

In essence, productivity thrives on effective feedback loops and smart, leveraged actions. By integrating these into your routine, you can transform frustration into progress and achieve more with less effort.

Can Feedback Loops Like Benjamin Franklin's Transform Your Productivity?

Meet Agi. She had "one of those" weeks where everything seemed to go wrong. From her nanny calling in sick to her boss demanding a last-minute presentation change, it was a nightmare. We’ve all been there, right? Those weeks where you just try to survive. 

Consider a crucial technique to prevent such chaos: interrogating your calendar. Most people see their calendar as a list of appointments and meetings, but it's actually a representation of your limited time. With only 168 hours a week, and even fewer productive ones, it’s vital to manage it wisely.

Imagine time as truffles—rare, valuable, and perishable. You can't make more of it, and once it's gone, it's gone. Just like truffle sellers meticulously manage their stock, you need to fiercely defend and allocate your time.

Agi’s nightmare week was filled with "landmines" she could have anticipated and defused had she interrogated her calendar properly. This involves more than just glancing at it. It’s about a thorough review to spot potential pitfalls. For instance, if Agi had checked her calendar for the volleyball game or anticipated her boss’s demands, she could have prepared better.

Here’s how to interrogate your calendar: 
1. Remove events you won't attend.
2. Add all necessary events, including travel and prep time.
3. Allocate flex time for emergencies.
4. Consolidate similar tasks for efficiency.
5. Schedule your top priorities early in the week.
6. Identify potential landmines and plan to defuse them.
7. Note any new tasks that arise during the review.

Taking these steps means you’re wargaming your week, much like military strategists prepare for battles. By anticipating and planning for potential issues, you’re not caught off guard.

Agi reflected on her week and realized many of her problems were predictable. By anticipating her boss’s tendencies and planning for her nanny’s absence, she could have avoided a lot of stress.

In short, time is your most limited resource. By treating it as precious and limited, and by thoroughly interrogating your calendar, you can create more abundance and freedom than you thought possible. This proactive planning sets you up to win the week before it even begins.

Master Your Week: Time Management Secrets to Avoid Chaos

A while ago, Demir Bentley's doctor ordered him to cut his work hours from over eighty to less than forty per week for his health. Initially, Demir was in denial and felt his career was over. But on a subway ride home, anger fueled a resolve in him to face reality and make tough choices. He sat down and planned his week meticulously, putting every task into his calendar, ensuring he only committed to what was realistic.

This process of "calendarizing" tasks is the cornerstone of The Winning The Week Method. It’s about taking tasks from a to-do list and blocking out specific times to accomplish them. Though simple in concept, it’s challenging in practice, requiring emotional negotiation and realistic planning. But it’s essential to eliminate wishful thinking, put actions on autopilot, and know exactly what to do next.

By calendarizing, Demir also made time for fun and personal activities, ensuring a balanced life. It’s important to allocate time for Deep Work early in the week and Unplanned, Unwanted Work (UUW) later. Shallow Work, like emails and meetings, should fill in the gaps.

The key is to match your time demand with your supply, even if it means revisiting and adjusting your plan. This method helped Demir face reality, make necessary sacrifices, and communicate changes effectively. While it might take practice, the payoff is significant, leading to a more manageable and fulfilling week.

Embrace the relief and joy that come from a well-designed week, and set yourself up for success, week after week.

Can Calendarizing Your Tasks Transform Your Work-Life Balance?

Monday morning arrives, and you're thrown into the chaos of your week. Plans rarely unfold as intended, but that's where the mindset of a sailor comes in handy. Sailors chart a course but expect the unexpected, constantly adjusting to stay on track. This duality is essential for executing a plan successfully.

Take sailors Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carausu, who, despite meticulous planning, faced unexpected weather while sailing Greta Thunberg to a conference. Their ability to replan and navigate through the storm led to a triumphant journey. Replanning is about adapting, not abandoning your plan.

Daily replanning can help you stay on course. Evaluate your progress and make necessary adjustments. Resist letting work spill into personal time, as it can lead to burnout. Instead, push back against chaos by prioritizing tasks, negotiating deadlines, and using all the given time.

Focus is crucial for executing your plan. Lana, a small business owner, struggled to concentrate despite isolating herself in a hotel room. Distractions aren't just external; we often interrupt ourselves. Researchers like Dr. Gloria Mark have shown that distractions harm productivity and mental health.

Cal Newport, a highly productive individual, emphasizes deep work to achieve remarkable results. You, too, can restore your focus with a simple tactic: gamifying your work.

The Sticky Focus Game involves using sticky notes to represent your available time and tasks. Order them by importance, set a timer for focused work, and avoid distractions. Reward yourself after each session to create a positive reinforcement loop.

Richard saw significant improvement in his focus and productivity after trying this game. Lana, who was initially struggling, completed her work faster and felt a sense of accomplishment.

By gamifying work, you align with your natural focus mechanisms, making work enjoyable and highly productive. Embrace the sailor’s mindset, replan daily, and use strategies like the Sticky Focus Game to navigate your week effectively.

Sailing Through Chaos: Lessons from Greta Thunberg's Journey and Gamifying Work

Did you know the average professional works in a focused state for just three minutes and five seconds before getting interrupted? According to Dr. Gloria Mark, a professor at UC Irvine, it takes twenty-three minutes to regain focus after an interruption. If we’re interrupted every three minutes, we never really concentrate on anything.

The solution? Prevent outside distractions. This involves redesigning your environment to remove distractions from messages, notifications, and people interrupting you. This is called “re-engineering your environment.” You only have to do it once, and it prevents future distractions.

A thoughtful communication policy can help create a “win-win” work environment where you get more time to focus, and others know when they can reach you. For example, you could state that you check emails only at specific times of the day, or that urgent matters should be communicated via phone.

Take Sarah, who was overwhelmed by emails. She implemented a policy asking people to only put her in the “To” field if an action was required, and batch-reviewed emails where she was cc’d once a week. This small change significantly reduced her email burden.

Or Harvey, who was bogged down by meetings. He set up office hours for quick questions and required agendas for all meeting invites. This policy allowed him to reclaim his work time and focus on important tasks.

The key is to craft a communication policy that suits your specific needs and benefits your stakeholders, providing them with certainty about when they’ll get a response from you. While it may seem daunting, it’s often met with positive reactions. People appreciate knowing when and how they can communicate with you effectively.

Blocking external distractions through a well-thought-out communication policy can help you reclaim your focus and productivity. It’s about creating a win-win environment where everyone benefits.

Can Dr. Gloria Mark's Focus Strategies Transform Your Workday?

In 1954, Roger Bannister shattered the belief that running a mile in under four minutes was impossible. His achievement was not just a physical feat but a mental breakthrough that inspired many others to surpass the record soon after. This story highlights the immense power of belief and social pressure in achieving success.

Our social environment plays a crucial role in shaping our beliefs and, consequently, our achievements. For instance, the expectation of the author's family pushed him to attend college, while his friend Matt, who lacked such social pressure, did not. Social pressure can create vastly different outcomes based on the environment we are in.

Many people believe that willpower is the key to success, but it is a limited resource. High performers often change their environment to create positive social pressure, leading to better results. Benjamin Hardy, in his book "Willpower Doesn’t Work," emphasizes the importance of placing oneself in challenging and supportive environments to foster success. He calls these "enriched environments," which create a beneficial type of stress called "eustress."

Accountability is another critical factor in achieving success. However, most accountability environments fail because they rely on negative reinforcement. Sustainable accountability boosts intrinsic motivation, making you feel like the change is coming from within. This creates a cycle of achievement that grows more powerful over time.

The Four Layers of Accountability model helps create a robust accountability structure. The first layer is the Bar Raiser, someone who sets high expectations and believes in your potential. The second layer is the Buddy, a person who mirrors your progress and helps you stay on track. The third layer is the Team, which provides friendly competition and support. The fourth layer is Public Accountability, where you commit to a result publicly, creating social pressure to perform.

Creating these layers of accountability can help you achieve extraordinary results. For example, when the author launches a new course, he announces it publicly and starts taking pre-sales, creating inescapable accountability. This forces him to deliver on time and meet expectations.

In short, willpower alone is not enough to achieve great results. By leveraging social pressure, enriched environments, and multiple layers of accountability, you can create a powerful support system that propels you toward your goals. This approach can be applied to various areas of life, including productivity, fitness, and personal growth.

Roger Bannister's Mile: The Power of Social Pressure and Accountability in Achieving Success

Many people approach their workweek as a battle, which can be overwhelming and counterproductive. Instead, it's more effective to think of it like a professional athlete who focuses on winning more games than they lose. This mindset shift allows for flexibility and acknowledges that not every day needs to be perfect.

A weekly approach aligns with our societal rhythms and offers natural periods for reflection and rest. It’s more realistic than striving for daily perfection and provides the flexibility to handle life’s unpredictabilities. This approach also helps integrate various productivity skills into a cohesive strategy, leveraging Parkinson’s Law to prevent procrastination and make significant progress.

Planning is crucial but often resisted due to its stressful nature and the lack of effective processes. Overcoming this resistance involves rewiring the brain to enjoy planning. A structured method like The Winning The Week Method can help, which includes learning from the past week, choosing a priority, interrogating the calendar, triaging tasks, and matching time demand to supply.

Effective feedback loops and smart, leveraged actions are key to productivity. Regular self-reflection can identify areas for improvement and amplify what's working well. Prioritizing high-impact tasks can make everything else easier or unnecessary.

Time management is vital. Treating time as a valuable resource and meticulously planning the week can prevent chaos. Calendarizing tasks, allocating time for deep work, and ensuring balance between work and personal activities are essential. Replanning daily, like a sailor adjusting course, helps navigate the week effectively.

Preventing distractions through environmental re-engineering and setting clear communication policies can reclaim focus and productivity. Crafting a communication policy that suits specific needs can create a win-win environment.

Lastly, leveraging social pressure and accountability can significantly impact success. Creating an enriched environment and using a multi-layered accountability structure can foster sustainable motivation and achievement. This approach, rather than relying solely on willpower, can help achieve extraordinary results in various aspects of life.

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Winning the Week: How To Plan A Successful Week, Every Week

Demir Bentley

Ready to overhaul your approach to productivity and transform your workweek?

Intrigued by the idea of thinking like a professional athlete rather than a battle-hardened warrior?

Curious about how the Winning the Week Method could help you achieve a balanced, flexible, and integrated strategy to reach your goals?

Dive in to discover these insights and more.

Key Ideas

#1