Recap of 4 Weeks and Sample Calendar

You have been getting your ducks in a row for one month now, and it's time for a recap and re-group before we launch into Part Two.

In week one, you created a Base Map of your possible life path that you can carry in your back pocket. You figured out your core values, the compass that shows you the direction to proceed down your path, and your priorities, that give your days focus and help you to decide how to best spend your time.

In week two, you learned how to discern and plan for one month at a time - how to take the Big Picture Base Map you developed and plot it out into manageable chunks, by choosing your top action goals, organizing your goals into a priorities grid, and scheduling your weekly priorities.

In week three, you learned how to make a pledge for action by setting intentions for your core values and for your top priorities. When you are intentional with your actions, you choose your path on purpose.

In week four, you planned ways to give full effort for your priorities, a mental discipline that requires attention, a spark of energy, and balance.

The ideas and techniques you've covered this month are only half of the picture. A calendar for this might look like:

Daily

1. Intention ritual (morning or evening): Choose the priorities that best fit into your day, set intentions for the day, and list what you need in order to start.

2. Remember your intentions throughout the day; Lean in to your excitement for life and give full effort; and practice being flexible but discerning.

3. Recognize your successes (evening); acknowledge that you have had a day that was meaningful and satisfying.

Weekly, at the start of each week:

Set intentions for the week: 

1. Write about your top priorities in the next week, including your small daily disciplines, and any big projects or tasks that lead you in the direction of your dreams. List the strongest, most compelling reasons you want to do them.

2. List potential challenges- parts you don’t enjoy, things you don’t know how to do, or feel blocked on. 

3. Set intentions for this week to follow through with each one of your priorities, being sure to include your deepest reasons. Give special attention to any "low-status" priorities.

Weekly, near the end of each week:

Next week schedule in 3-steps:

1. Adjust your Priority Grid for the month: Check off what you have completed, add new items you have thought of, and move anything down lower that no longer fits.

2. Block in your schedule for the next week: Add events and blocks of time for your priority categories.

3. Fill in the details: Schedule a daily time for all of your daily priorities; choose days and times for the one-day tasks; and schedule in the chunks of those big task-driven projects.

Weekly, at the end of each week:

Evaluate your Ducks in a Row: If situations are constantly moving you away from your priorities and you feel dissatisfied and out of balance, make a note about why that is. Also, make a note of which of your priorities are getting left out of your life. 

Monthly: 

Fourth week of each month (or at the waning crescent moon - time to evaluate, then surrender, rest, and recuperate.)

Make a new Priority Grid:

1. Evaluate last month's Priority Grid to notice trends, analyze your balance, make adjustments to your schedule and expectations, and identify "low-status" priorities.

2. Brainstorm and envision the best next 30-days of your life.

3. Discern your top 4-5 priorities for "regular" action, for the month ahead, and choose your top action goals, to move you in the direction of your most important reasons for living.

4. Make a Month Map, arranging your goals in an order that helps you picture your month ahead, and label it with a theme word or phrase.

5. Organize your next month goals into a Prioritiy Grid, outlining your long term, complex, task-driven projects into small chunks.

Monthly:

First week of each month (or at the new moon - time to retreat; time of high energy and new beginnings.)

Set intentions for your Top Priorities:

1. Write an intention for each of your top priorities for the month that speaks to your core values, and reminds you of your deepest, most essential, most passionate reasons for living.

2. Make a Full Effort Plan for how you will lean in and spark full and energetic effort day-by-day, for your priorities this month.

Yearly:

1. Review your core values and make a new Base Map - once or twice a year (I do it at the new moon in January);

2. Set intentions for your core values - once a year, whenever it is that you review your core values.