Identifying Goals for the Week
One key aspect of my weekly planning process involves identifying what I plan to accomplish for the week, aka my weekly goals. Yes, these goals may change as things come up during the week, but I always set them and they help guide my weekly flow.
Practices that make weekly goal setting easier
Yearly and quarterly goal setting
Weekly goal setting becomes a lot easier when I’ve previously identified my yearly and quarterly goals. If yearly and/or quarterly goal setting aren’t a part of your regular academic practice, I’d definitely encourage experimenting with some form of long-term goal setting. However, that’s not to say that weekly goal setting can’t happen if you don’t have those long-term goals in place! If yearly/quarterly planning and goals aren’t your thing or you’re not currently doing them, weekly goal setting/planning can still be something you engage in.
Identifying project timelines
Another practice that helps make weekly goal setting easier is outlining (rough) timelines for all of your active projects. How long do you think it will take you to work on this particular project from start to finish? It may be that you’re working on it for the entire year or it may only take a few weeks. Whatever the timeline is, I find it helpful to have a general sense of each project’s timeline so that I can pull related tasks into my weekly planning process when the timing is “right.”
Having a place to put project goals/tasks
Having a place to keep all of your project goals/tasks (so you don’t have to store them in your brain) is another practice/strategy that complements weekly goal setting. Whether that’s a to-do list app, a notebook(s), a planner… wherever, having a space to write down project goals and tasks is really helpful! At the moment, I keep everything stored in Notion (tasks) and Google Sheets (goals), though I’ll likely have everything in Notion at some point in the future. Before Notion, I used Dynalist for my tasks. This way, when tasks come up that don’t need to happen this week I have somewhere to capture them for later. I review my tasks for active projects on a weekly basis and my goals on a quarterly basis. (Want a peek at what my most recent Notion dashboard looks like? Check out the Notion template for academics in my Etsy store.)
Regularly updating your calendar
Having a calendar that accurately reflects whatever it is you’re working on (across all areas of your life) is really helpful for weekly goal setting. It allows you to see upcoming meetings, appointments, due dates, other important dates, etc. and gives you a sense of how much time you have to work on your weekly goals.
My weekly goal setting process when I have yearly/quarterly plans
First I look at my calendar for the upcoming week, checking in on weekly meetings/appointments, classes, etc. I make sure that I’m aware of all the things that are going on and also that I have clear boundaries around when I’m starting/stopping work for the day (which usually varies each day). I also make sure that my non-negotiables are reflected on my calendar. For me this includes things like working out, meditation, mealtimes, etc. I may adjust when these happen, but I at least want that time to show up on my calendar so I know not to over plan.
Next, I check in on my quarterly plan, which includes a loose weekly plan for the quarter that identifies what I’m working on for the week. This gives me a basic starting point for my weekly goal setting process.
I ask myself… do the items showing up on my weekly plan for the quarter still make sense to do or do I need to adjust? Is there anything new that came up that I need to add?
For example, maybe across my research projects I initially said I’d be drafting the methods/results sections of a paper, editing materials for a funding application, and collecting data for an active project during the upcoming week. However, during the previous week I didn’t quite finish drafting my materials for the funding application, so I’d shift that to drafting vs. editing.
For each of the items on my quarterly plan, I get even more specific and identify exactly what I’m going to do that week. For example, if I’m drafting the methods/results section of a paper, do I want to have this drafted in it’s entirety? Do I want to have an outline of each section? Do I want to have 3 paragraphs drafted in each section? There’s no right or wrong answer, it’s just a matter of deciding what next steps are (while keeping in mine the overall timeline for the project).
If I’m feeling stuck about what to do next or how to get more specific, my goal for that week might be… figure out what to do next with this project and then do 1 thing to move myself forward.
Then, I estimate how long these next steps will take and compare this with how much time I actually have to dedicate to them during the upcoming week by looking at my calendar. I keep doing this until all my upcoming tasks are accounted for and/or all my time is accounted for (note: this doesn’t mean I’m filling 100% of my hours up for the day with things or that every task on my list is represented on my weekly plan).
For example, if I’m finishing up a draft of a funding application, I’d check out my calendar and ask myself, can I get this draft finished in the time I have available for the week? Or is it more realistic to draft a section or two? I often go back/forth and adjust/readjust as I go through my weekly planning process.
Based on the steps above I make sure that these concrete tasks (or my goals for the week) are reflected on both my to-do list and my calendar.
Essentially this process involves checking in with what I said I’d be working on during the upcoming week, getting really concrete about what exactly it is I’ll be doing, and figuring out how many of these things I can actually accomplish during the upcoming week.
My weekly goal setting process without yearly/quarterly plans
I’d mirror step 1 above and look at my calendar/appointments for the upcoming week.
Then, I’d review my active projects across teaching, research, service, admin, and all areas of my personal life. I’d also review what I accomplished during the previous week. I’d ask myself (1) if there are deadlines coming up or things that need to be completed by a certain date? (2) are there projects that are higher on my priority list than others? Anything that’s a high priority project or with hard deadlines would likely get space on my weekly goal list.
I’d also check-in with anything new that’s come up recently or anything that’s been on hold and if decide I need to incorporate it into my active project list.
After I’ve reviewed my projects, I’d identify next steps for each (if I didn’t already have this figured out), getting really specific about what I’m working on for the upcoming week if applicable (just like step 3 above).
I’d follow steps 4 and 5 above, estimating my time to complete each task and aligning it with my calendar for the upcoming week. I’d also make sure the things I’m working on are showing up on my to do list and calendar.
Setting weekly goals is definitely not a linear process. There’s a lot of back and forth going on and the goals that I set at the beginning of my weekly planning session may not necessarily be on my list at the end of the session if I find there aren’t enough hours in the upcoming week to work on them.
What happens when plans change? 😅
I expect my plans to change every week. I know that things come up… someone asks to schedule a meeting, someone else needs help with project, someone in your house gets sick, there’s a major snow storm… and the list goes on and on. Expect things to change and then adjust your goals and move forward! Sometimes this means having to tell people no, or postponing a deadline, or adjusting the timeline on a project, and that’s perfectly fine! I also always try to have breathing room each day in my schedule so that I can shift things around when something else inevitably comes up.
What is your goal setting process for the week?