Weekly Planning: Weekly Routine? [en]

[fr] Je réfléchis à un rythme pour mes semaines. Même si elles se suivent sans se ressembler, certaines choses se répètent de semaine en semaine. J'en suis ici: lundi, courte journée consacrée essentiellement à m'organiser et à planifier la semaine, et à faire un sort à autant de tâches routinières que possible. Mardi, journée bureau. Mercredi, journée bureau ou meetings suivant les besoins. Jeudi après-midi, workshops ou meetings. Vendredi pour m'occuper de ce qui a passé entre les gouttes durant la semaine et faire des tâches "légères" (annoncer et promouvoir Bloggy Fridays et autres p'tits déjs, mettre le blog de l'eclau à jour, compta, paperasse, socialiser en ligne, mettre à jour ma présence sur les réseaux sociaux, etc...)

Attempting to plan my weeks has left me wondering if I should try to settle into some kind of weekly routine — especially when a week like last week comes up, where I realize that I have only one office day planned for the whole week, and on a Friday.

One thing I need to do in advance is plan my office and meeting days. Sometimes they are decided for me: a client wants me to come and give a talk on this or that day — well, that makes it a meeting day. But most of the time, I get to choose. So, which choice is best? What are the best days of the week for me to stay in the office, and what are the best days for me to be running around or seeing people all day?

Though my professional activities vary a lot for week to week, my personal ones are pretty regular. I finish early on Mondays and Fridays to go to judo. My Monday mornings and Thursday mornings are usually booked. I sing on Wednesday nights, or go sailing in summer. People from the coworking space often go out to eat together on Wednesdays.

There are also professional activities that I do or want to do each week: plan my week, for one. I’m the editor for a couple of blogs, and I have the choice between scheduling publications for the whole week at one moment, or publishing day-by-day. I write my column every week (on Sunday, so far). I want to write a few blogs posts every work, do some research, work on my business development, keep up with administrivia, and of course do my client work.

So, with all these different activities, and different types of days, maybe there is an optimal way of organizing my week.

Here’s my thinking so far (and many thanks to Suw who patiently listened to me thinking all this out loud over IM).

Planning my week is something, I realized, which can take upto half a day (scary!) because I’m still learning how to do it. It often involves rethinking priorities, doing a mind sweep (or an inbox sweep) to capture stray tasks that have slipped through the cracks, and sometimes dealing with actual emergencies. As I write this, I realise that my “plan my week” moments have a little “GTD weekly review” ring to them. They aren’t the weekly review, I’m aware of that, but there is some kinship.

I guess in an ideal world I would plan the next week on Friday afternoon, and make that a proper weekly review too. Unfortunately things do tend to crop up during the week-end, and I’m usually pretty tired by my week on Fridays, so I’m not in an optimal state of mind to be doing something new and a bit challenging.

As my Monday mornings are spent out of the office, and my Monday afternoons are pretty short, “Monday” actually turns out to be a good day for me to plan and get organized. Of course, if it doesn’t take the whole afternoon (which I hope!) I will get other things done — but I’ve learned it’s better to plan larger time slots than tight ones.

So, there goes my Monday.

Friday is another interesting day in the week: business is slow on that day, and meetings tend to happen earlier in the week. I’m tired (everybody is). Traditionally for me it’s an office day, and a rather quiet one: not many phone calls, not many incoming e-mails. If my brain is still functional it’s a good day to get things done, but most of the time it’s just not that productive. It’s useful to have it as an office day rather than a day full of meetings or errands, though, because it serves as a safety net to catch any emergencies that might not have been dealt with during the week. When I plan my week, I don’t usually *plan* to do much on Friday, apart from do the stuff I didn’t manage to do during the week.

Ten days ago, I was thinking about the type of activity that would be suitable for a low-energy day like Friday, and actually came up with quite a few ideas:

  • announcing events and promoting them (Bloggy Friday, eclau breakfasts and apéros, etc…)
  • updating blogs, mailing-lists, Facebook presence for my various projects
  • social media gardening: LinkedIn, Facebook, and all the rest
  • uploading photos
  • updating WordPress and plugins
  • trying out new toys or services (light research)
  • pruning my task lists (another hint of “weekly review”)
  • dealing with administrivia and filing paperwork
  • catching up with the week’s invoicing, accounting, and payments
  • getting back to people and socializing online.

A lot of these activities are actually more important than they might seem at first glance, and therefore they tend to slip through the cracks, grow hair and legs, and turn into scary emergency-monsters after a few weeks or months.

So, let’s say I declare Friday a “casual office” day, to catch up on the leftovers of the week and do the above. That leaves me with Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Tuesday is a great office day. I have nothing planned in the evening, so it really gives me a clear day to just get on with work. Wednesday is also a good office day when I’m singing, as I can hang around until 7pm, though not so great when I’m sailing, as I’m likely to head out around 4pm. Thursday is usually only half a day, but will turn into a complete day similar to Tuesday in a few months’ time.

So, for the moment, it looks like I’m going to declare Tuesday a regular office day, Thursday afternoon a regular meeting/workshop time, and Wednesday will be office or meetings, depending on whether I have more “office” client work or more “meetings” client work.

Mondays are there to plan the week and get as much of my regular tasks out of the way. Friday is there to catch up on the “overflow”, deal with emergencies, and “casual” stuff. I’ll continue writing my column on Sundays.

What’s important to note though is that this is the framework. Many of my weeks will not work out like this — just like my days don’t always follow my daily routine. But having this framework is going to allow me to plan ahead better, I think.

Do you have some kind of weekly routine, or do you just go from week to week and deal with them as they show up?

Faites passer: Bloggy Friday vendredi prochain! [fr]

Bloggy Friday vendredi prochain à  Lausanne. Noter dans tous les agendas et faire passer le message.

[en] Bloggy Friday next Friday in Lausanne. All welcome!

Vous vous en doutiez, après le succès de la dernière fois, on va remettre ça. Venez tous au Bloogy Friday [PNG 800K] Bloggy Friday vendredi prochain au Café Romand! Laissez un mot dans les commentaires si vous pensez venir.

Et surtout, faites passer le message auprès de tous vos copains blogueurs. Merci 🙂

Question existentielle [fr]

Est-ce que je risque de me retrouver toute seule au Bloggy Friday, demain soir?

[en] Will I be alone for the October Bloggy Friday?

Faut-il que j’amène des copines si je ne veux pas me retrouver seule devant ma fondue demain soir?

(Si oui, on pourra faire une étude intitulée “Analyse d’un échec: Bloggy Fridays à  Lausanne”…)

C'est ce vendredi! [fr]

Rendez-vous dès 19h00 au Café Romand ce vendredi qui vient!

[en] Weblogger meet-up in Lausanne, this coming Friday, from 19:00 onwards. Locals and travellers welcome. Join us at the Café Romand, and let us know if you're coming so that we can hunt you down if you get lost!

Eh oui, le temps passe vite! Le 1er octobre, c’est déjà  vendredi qui vient. Ca vous dit quelque chose?

Bloggy Friday!

Peut-être qu’on sera plus que trois, cette fois? Si vous avez un weblog et que vous êtes dans le coin, on vous attend de pied ferme au Café Romand (Place St.-François, Lausanne), dès 19h00. Il y a des gens sympa (s’ils sont là ), la fondue est bonne, et j’ai passé chez le coiffeur (on fait ce qu’on peut pour motiver les troupes).

Je ne pourrai personnellement pas être là  avant 20h30 environ (entraînement de judo oblige). Merci de vous annoncer dans les commentaires avec l’heure approximative de votre arrivée! (Et puis faites pas les timides, allez, on sait que vous en mourez d’envie.)

Premier "Bloggy Friday" dans l'intimité [fr]

Premier Bloggy Friday très sympathique! Contrairement à  Paris Carnet, aucune difficulté pour parler à  tout le monde durant la soirée. On se voit le 1er octobre?

[en] If you don't like blogger meet-ups because there are too many people to talk to, comme to our Bloggy Fridays in Lausanne. Next one October 1st -- maybe we will be more than three?

Bon alors, vous avez tous oublié de venir au premier Bloggy Friday?

C’était fort sympa et la fondue était très bonne. Hein dis, Jérôme? L’appareil photo numérique a crépité et la population locale a fui.

Si vous appréhendez les rencontres de blogueurs parce qu’il y a trop de gens présents et qu’il n’est pas possible de discuter avec tout le monde, ne craignez rien! Je n’ai eu aucune difficulté à  parler toute la soirée avec Jérôme et Ollie.

On vous voit le 1er octobre?

Bloggy Friday: Lausanne, 03.09.04 [fr]

Rencontre de weblogueurs vendredi 3 septembre à  Lausanne. Venez nombreux et faites circuler l’info! Merci de vous inscrire dans les commentaires pour simplifier la réservation.

[en] Weblogger meet-up planned for Friday September 3rd in Lausanne. Please come and join us, and pass the announcement around! Thanks for letting me know in the comments if you're coming, so that I can book the place.

Comme début septembre approche à  grands pas, je prends le risque d’une initiative non-démocratique pour annoncer que le premier Bloggy Friday aura lieu vendredi 3 septembre dès 19 heures au Café Romand, à  Lausanne. (Virginie, ton repas est offert.)

Merci de vous inscrire dans les commentaires afin que je puisse réserver, et faites circuler l’info! Cette rencontre est ouvert à  tout weblogueur qui s’y rendra — que vous soyez autochtone ou de passage pour l’occasion.

Sinon, je vis en ermite pour cause de rentrée des classes. Peut-être plus sur le sujet dans quelque temps, mais là , j’ai encore des cours d’anglais à  préparer… donc pas de panique (ni de mauvais sentiments) si je n’ai pas répondu à  vos mails ou appels 🙂

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