Questions to ask yourself before a planning session
1. Where are you now - really - what's going well and how are you stuck?
2. What is your why? What is the deep reason that you are pursuing this career?
3. If you had the best semester possible what would you achieve by the end of the semester?
4. How do your semester goals map onto your deeper why?
5. What capabilities/resources do you need to achieve these goals?
6. What mindsets and actions (think about habits not box checking) will support your goals?
Suggested Process:
1. Why – reflect on why you are working on your career – what you want from your career (see reflection questions, above)
2. What – what do you want to get done for yourself?
a. List all your major goals and also all your other tasks in one place
i. Include personal and professional but we will only focus on professional
ii. Separate tasks/ requests and demands from key goals – track them separately
iii. Order goals by priority (consider an Eisenhower matrix)
iv. For each goal:
1. Specific
2. Measurable
3. Attractive
4. Realistic
5. Time-Framed
a. make your goals are completely under your control – not dependent on other things/people
3. How – break each goal into specific steps
a. Make a very specific list of each step
b. Estimate time for each step (we often underestimate by 2.5x)
4. Block time for each step on your calendar and limit the number of in process projects
Recommended Reading
4000 weeks: Time management for mortals by Oliver Burkman
Nir Eyal on focus and time management