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August 12, 2025 17 mins

I share my detailed weekly planning ritual that keeps my business running smoothly and prevents my brain from melting into a puddle of chaos when juggling content, client work, admin tasks, and life commitments.


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• Weekly planning helps prioritize what matters in both business and life
• The ritual starts with reviewing the previous week without judgment, looking at what worked and what didn't
• Reconnect with quarterly goals by identifying one thing that will move you closer to achieving them
• Plug in non-negotiables first (appointments, client calls, personal commitments) to see realistic time capacity
• Set only three priorities for the week based on revenue, visibility, and what will benefit your future self
• Break down priorities into daily focuses using task batching (CEO day, content day, client day, buffer day)
• Time block only the tasks you struggle with or might avoid (like Instagram engagement)
• Brain dump all small tasks and fit them around your priorities
• When things fall apart, identify what's essential and adjust based on current capacity
• Create a ritual around planning to make it feel grounding instead of overwhelming

Screenshot this episode and tag me @dr.tonyalawson on Instagram stories so I can cheer you on, and subscribe for next week's episode about how I stepped away from Instagram for three months and nobody noticed!


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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back to Plan Like a Boss.
Today I'm giving you a peekbehind the curtain into my
weekly planning ritual.
This is the routine I swear by.
That keeps my business running,helps me focus on what really
matters and, let's be honest, itkeeps my brain from melting
into a puddle of chaos.
Because when you're jugglingcontent, client work, admin

(00:24):
tasks and that whole, you know,life thing, you need a lot more
than a to-do list.
You need a system that'sactually going to work for you.
So today I'm going to walk youthrough my exact weekly planning
process, from the tools I useto how I prioritize tasks, to
what I do when everything fallsapart because, spoiler alert, it

(00:45):
does happen.
So let me ask you this have youever had a week where you work
nonstop but then you get toFriday and think what did I
actually do?
I've been there.
I've been there many times, andthat's what happens when we let
the week run us instead ofplanning with intention.

(01:05):
Because weekly planning helpsprioritize what actually matters
in both your life and yourbusiness.
It helps you set realisticexpectations for your energy and
your schedule, because everyweek is going to be a little bit
different, and it helps reducedecision fatigue I know

(01:26):
everybody talks about decisionfatigue, but it is real and by
having an intentional plan,there's no more.
What should I do today?
Moments.
You have it all planned out andyou know exactly what needs to
get done.
And then it also just helps mestay focused even when life gets
messy.
And listen, I don't care ifyou're using a paper planner, a

(01:49):
Google Doc, a whiteboard in youroffice or a sticky note on your
fridge.
What matters is that you have aprocess that brings clarity to
your week.
So let's break down my personalweekly planning ritual, because
this is the ritual I have spentso much time working on and

(02:11):
editing to find something thatreally and truly works.
So let's walk through my exactroutine Now.
I usually do this on Sundayevenings, sometimes Monday
mornings.
If it's Monday morning, I'vegot a good cup of coffee with me
.
If it's a Sunday evening, youknow, I'm usually just relaxing.
So the first thing I do is Ireview the previous week.

(02:36):
I ask myself what worked andwhat didn't.
I look back on my week and Ithink did I actually hit my
priorities or did I get caughtup in busy work Because let me
tell you, it does happen to thebest of us and then what needs
to be carried over from lastweek to this week, and I want to

(02:58):
let you know I do thiscompletely without judgment I
look at it as data, data of howthe previous week went and data
that will help me plan out thisupcoming week in a better way to
get more accomplished.
Once I've reviewed my previousweek, I move on to step two of

(03:20):
my process.
I reconnect to my big picture,my process.
I reconnect to my big picture.
I look at my quarterly goals andI ask myself what is the one
thing that is going to move mecloser to achieving my quarterly
goals this week?
What is that one thing I can do?
So it might be that I plan outa launch that's coming up.

(03:44):
It might be that I spend timein my Instagram DMs chatting
with potential clients, seeinghow I can help them.
It might be that I script outmy YouTube videos for the month,
because I know that's one of mygoals is growing my YouTube
channel, and getting thosevideos scripted out is going to

(04:05):
move me towards being consistentand getting out the two videos
a week I try to do.
But by doing this, byrevisiting those quarterly goals
and asking myself what the onething is that's going to move me
closer to them.
It keeps me from chasing thoseshiny distractions.
I call it shiny object syndromeand we all get it.

(04:28):
We get this new idea, somethingthat we want to work on, but in
reality it needs to be moved tothe future ideal parking lot
and instead you need to focus onwhat you're working on right
now.
Okay, so once I've done that, Imove on to step three.
I plug in my non-negotiables.
So I'm talking about myappointments, any client calls.

(04:51):
I have personal commitments.
I've made medical stuff becausehello, real life I literally
just finished my last round ofchemotherapy two weeks ago and I
have a lot of medicalappointments coming up, but I
plug those into my calendarfirst.
The reason I plug them in firstis because that way I can look

(05:14):
at my calendar and see what myactual capacity for the week is
and plan around that.
Not planning what I should getdone, because we don't should
ourselves around here Looking atwhat kind of time I
realistically have and planningaround that amount of time.

(05:34):
That's what sets me up forsuccess.
Sets me up for success.
So once I've done that, I moveon to step four and I set my top
three priorities Only three,not four, not five, not 12, not
15, only three.
And in order to determine mypriorities for the week, I ask
myself what tasks are directlytied to revenue or visibility,

(05:58):
because those are my mainpriorities right now.
What is going to bring inrevenue or what is going to give
me visibility that will, inturn, bring in revenue later on?
Also, what must get done for myfuture self to thank me?
Think about your next week'sself.
What must you get done thisweek to make next week's you

(06:19):
Thank you.
And then I write these threethings in big letters at the top
of my planner.
Once that's done, I move to stepfive, where I break down these
priorities into a daily focus,so I give each day a theme or
focus based on my energy.

(06:39):
So what I'm doing here,basically, is I'm task batching,
I'm grouping similar taskstogether and assigning them a
day, so that might looksomething like Monday is my CEO
slash admin day, where I amworking behind the scenes, I'm
writing emails, I'm buildingfunnels, I'm setting up

(07:00):
automations, all of that stuffthat goes into running a
business that no one ever sees.
And then Tuesday might be mycontent creation day, where I
spend the time creatingInstagram posts, reels, TikToks,
youtube videos, shorts, writingblogs for my website.
But Tuesday would be all aboutcontent creation.

(07:23):
And then Wednesday might be aclient work day where I do
one-on-one calls, I do groupcoaching calls, I check in with
my membership, I answer anyquestions in there, and then
Thursday might be a buffer day,because Monday, tuesday and
Wednesday might have some stuffthat bleeds over.
So Thursday can give me time tobuffer in what didn't get done.

(07:44):
And then maybe Friday is acatch-up day or a strategy day.
So a catch-up day to finishanything else that didn't get
done, tie up loose ends, or ifeverything on the list got done,
then Friday can be a strategyday to start planning out how
I'm going to move my businessforward.
Now I don't assign every task atime block, unless I need to,

(08:09):
because this is more aboutrhythm than rigidity.
So on Tuesday I'm not going tosay I'm going to do Instagram
posts from eight to nine andthen I'm going to film TikToks
from 10 to 11.
No, I just do it organicallythe way it seems, unless it's a
day where I need to make sure Iget something done or if it's a
task I don't necessarily enjoydoing.

(08:30):
So two things that I assign atime block are my CEO hour,
which I've talked about on thepodcast before, and my CEO hour
is non-negotiable, so it goes onthe calendar.
As a matter of fact, it's setup on my calendar as a recurring
appointment.
The other thing that I assign atime to is Instagram engagement

(08:54):
, and I'll be honest here,because this podcast is all
about being open and vulnerableas an entrepreneur.
I hate Instagram engagement andthe only way I'm going to get
it done is if I assign myself ablock of time to actually do it.
So it is also on my calendarand I do it 30 minutes a day,

(09:17):
five days a week, because morethan 30 minutes I'm just not
going to do, and I know that.
And sometimes, if I really getinto it, I'll do more than 30
minutes.
But having it on my calendarmake sure I do it, okay.
So now, once I've gotten thatbroken down, I do a big brain
dump.
So I grab a notebook and I jotdown all those little tiny tasks

(09:44):
swirling around in my brain.
I get them out of my head soI'm no longer thinking about
them, and then I group them intocategories Are they admin tasks
?
Are they marketing tasks?
Maybe they're personal tasks orerrands I need to run, or
client work, and then I gothrough and I slot those tasks

(10:06):
into little empty pocketsthroughout the week only after
my big priorities are scheduled.
So we start with all of theappointments we have, the things
we're committed to.
We get those down, then westart adding in our big
priorities and then after thatwe can take all those tiny tasks

(10:28):
and plug them in.
That's how you set yourself upfor success.
Now I know you're thinking it.
We all are.
What happens when things go awry, when it all goes sideways?
I'm just going to be real withyou.
This is an ideal weeklyplanning flow, but some weeks I

(10:49):
miss my planning windowaltogether.
Some weeks I get overwhelmedand just ignore my plan and then
sometimes life throws you acurveball, like after this last
round of chemotherapy.
It took me 10 days to recoverinstead of the usual five, and
you know what.
That's okay when things fallapart.

(11:12):
Here's what I do.
I start by reconnecting with mytop three priorities.
I look at them and I ask myselfwhat is essential, what is
absolutely essential, and Ifocus on that.
Then I rework the rest of myweek based on my current
capacity and you know what.

(11:32):
Sometimes that means letting goof anything that is not urgent
or is not aligned with thepriority I'm focusing on, and
that's okay, because sometimesyou have to adjust.
We are human.
Just because we'reentrepreneurs does not mean
we're robots that can just keepon going all day long.

(11:52):
We need rest, we need time and,because flexibility is part of
the plan, we can allow ourselfto have that, because planning
isn't about being perfect.
It's about giving your futureself some breathing room.
Now I know you're probablywondering about the tools I use
and I'm going to talk about them.

(12:13):
I use the Hobonichi Cousin asmy main planner.
It's my big picture layout.
I love it.
This is my fourth year of usingit and I fully plan on buying
another one for 2026.
I also use a digital calendar.
I use both iCal and Google Caland I have them linked together

(12:34):
for any of my appointments.
I have a bullet journal for allmy brain dumps.
I have post-it notes for when Ineed to write a quick note to
myself.
I have a smart speaker and I'mnot going to say her name
because she'll start talkingright now, but for those ideas I
get in the shower.
Yes, you heard me right.
I have an Echo Dot in mybathroom so that when I get an

(12:57):
idea in the shower, I can justhave her take a note of it, and
then I'll use the occasionalTrello board or Notion for
project tracking.
But again, tools don't matter ifthe strategy isn't there, so
start with what works for you.
You can start with.
You know your current plannerthat you're using.

(13:19):
You can do a Word doc.
You can like literally go buy a$2 spiral notebook.
Whatever you want to use, makeit yours.
Now I know that sometimesplanning can feel overwhelming
and it can feel like anothertask on your list of to-dos.
So if that's you, I want you tocreate a little ritual around

(13:41):
it to make it feel groundinginstead of like another thing.
You need to check off yourto-do list, so maybe you want to
light a candle or play afavorite playlist while you're
planning.
Whatever it takes, make thisplanning your me time.
So, to recap what we've talkedabout, weekly planning shouldn't
cause anxiety.

(14:01):
Instead, it's going to helpgive you direction, clarity and
really peace of mind.
You don't need a fancy systemeither.
You just need one that worksfor you, whatever that is, and I
want you to focus on reviewingyour week, reconnecting to that
big picture, your quarterlygoals, and make sure you set no

(14:24):
more than three core priorities,because setting more than three
is just going to set you up forfailure.
Now here is your weekly actionstep.
This is what I want you to do.
I want you to pick your weeklyplanning day.
Maybe it's Monday to start theweek off, maybe it's Friday when
you finish work, or maybe it'sSunday to get you set up for a

(14:46):
good week.
I want you to block off 30 to60 minutes, and then I want you
to use whatever tools feelnatural to you.
So maybe you have a fancybullet journal you like or your
go-to planner, or maybe you justwant to use a piece of scrap
paper Totally fine.
I just want you to startcreating a rhythm that supports

(15:07):
your goals and your life.
Now, if you found this episodehelpful, I would love for you to
screenshot it and share it toInstagram stories.
Tag me at drtanyalawson that'sTanya with an O so that I can
cheer you on.
And be sure to subscribe so youdon't miss next week's episode,
where I'll be sharing a verypersonal story about how I

(15:29):
stepped away from Instagram forthree months and nobody even
noticed.
I stepped away from Instagramfor three months and nobody even
noticed.
So until next time, keepshowing up, even if that means
it looks messy.
You are doing great.
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