Behold my market box - “the pink box” - that I carry to every single market and would be lost without.
In it are some obvious items we always need…pens, tape, scissors, chalk crayons, aspirin, & Command Strips. There are also some not-as-obvious but still essential extras I’ve learned to carry over the years…safety pins, thumbtacks, a measuring tape, my own personal hammer, and some kitchen size trash bags.
Anyone & everyone is free to dig into the box during the market for supplies so it gets a little jumbled. A couple weeks before every market I empty it and wipe it out then reorganize and restock. This is what it looks like today - before the clean out. The chaos actually nicely illustrates the inside of my head. Stuffed with some cute things, some utilitarian things, some artsy/craftsy supplies, & then just general random debris.
The debris situation is something I’m trying to overcome this year. I’m a big fan of Amy Porterfield (an online course creator) and she was talking recently about coming up with an Ideal Week. Her belief is that we consistently scatter our own focus by doing 15 unrelated tasks then wonder why we feel overwhelmed & frustrated. (My own To Do list definitely makes me feel this way.) The Ideal Week concept is very much like the productivity-increasing concept of batching work. But Amy adds in assigning each weekday specific tasks based on our own personal strengths and day-by-day energy levels.
For instance, I come out of every weekend ready to ATTACK Monday and I loathe anything that stops me or gets in my way. Monday is my day to let weekend ideas flow out of my head into my hands and get lots of things done. (I’m writing this on a Monday!) So Monday will definitely be one of my days for creative work since I know I’m always fresh & focused. Tuesday may be a writing day for me. (It’s Amy’s video day). Wednesdays are my slump-iest day of the week so I’m not sure what I’m going to plan for those.
Amy sets aside only two days per week that are eligible for meetings & calls. SUCH a perfect idea. I’m terrible about scheduling those for whenever is good for the other person. I need to have a more strict schedule so multiple days aren’t chopped up each month. She also adheres to a 4 day work week then handles personal appointments & errands on Fridays.
So here’s what I’ve come up with so far for my Ideal Week. I’m still going to play with this and rearrange til it really works but it’s a start…
The Plan
Mondays - Creative (designing promo graphics, working on marketing materials, etc)
Tuesdays - Writing (emails & blog posts + calls/meetings)
Wednesdays - ??? calls/meetings? Appointments & errands?
Thursdays - Creative work
Fridays - Women’s business course design, writing, & planning
I think approaching each week like this will help so much. What would your Ideal Week look like?