Time to Get Your House in Order

After a summer spent wearing swimsuits and elastic-waisted shorts, it's time, once again, to dig out our pants with real buttons and bring some structure back into our lives. It's not only “back to school” for the kids, it's back to business for the adults too.

After a season of loose schedules and spotty routines, there's something about the calendar rolling over to September—just a month away from the final quarter of the year—that makes me want to get my house in order, literally and figuratively.

Just this last weekend, I suddenly realized that the drawers in my kitchen cabinets were a disheveled mess full of misplaced utensils, potholders in need of a good washing, and an embarrassing layer of mysterious dust and crumbs at the bottom.

Our life looked and felt like a bunch of teenagers had been running the place all summer, and I was done. It was time for the adults in the room to take back the reins and whip this place into shape.

Maybe your life feels a little like that too as fall heads our way.

I'm not going to talk to you about organizing your kitchen cabinets, but I am going to give you a few ideas for how to get your time and schedule back under control after a summer spent in and out of travel, vacations, and, likely, a very full personal calendar.

Preview

As you start your week this week, set aside time to review your calendar for the next month and even through year end. Often in summer, we are flying by the seat of our pants, and we hardly know what's coming beyond what's on the calendar today.

This is your opportunity to really see what's planned for the month and even through the rest of the year. What conflicts do you notice? Where have you missed putting things on your calendar that need to be accounted for or have already been committed to but not logged yet? Now is the time to flag problems. It's also the time to plan any PTO through year end. If you work for someone else, check your PTO balance now and go ahead and spend it on paper through the end of the year.

As you're doing this, think about things you need to plan for related to calendar events like childcare you'll need for work travel, pet sitting for vacations, prep time for major presentations or project work, and all the rest. Just get it all on the calendar.

Then, complete a Weekly Preview. This is a tool inside the Full Focus Planner that is on my ride-or-die list. Almost without exception, I do this each week on Sunday afternoon or evening. Why? Because on a smaller scale, it helps me evaluate my performance in the prior week, carry its lessons into the new one, see what's coming in the week ahead, and most importantly, identify my Weekly Big 3 priorities that must be accomplished for me to make progress on the goals I'm committed to this quarter.

It only takes about 20–30 minutes each week, but it's the difference between sleeping well on Sunday night feeling focused and on top of things all week, and spending Sunday night anxious before careening into a new week hanging on for dear life, utterly overwhelmed by it all.

The Weekly Preview is also my opportunity, just like the entire calendar preview, to look ahead and spot conflicts and other issues before they go live. I might notice I have an important meeting scheduled but no prep time, or that I'm scheduled to present on something but I need to meet with so-and-so first, or I have an event on a night when Joel's traveling and we need a babysitter to cover. Just a little bit of looking ahead saves a world of stress later on and takes you from reactive mode to intentional mode.

Plan

Next is daily planning. It's easy to stay up late and get up later in the summer and miss your morning planning time. But as fall approaches, it's time to put the old routines back in place, including daily planning.

This doesn't have to be complicated or take a long time, but it does need to happen nearly without fail. Otherwise, it feels like the day is happening to you instead of you happening to it.

There are really two primary parts, and in the Full Focus Planner, these are done on what we call the Daily Pages.

The first is simply filling out your schedule for the day so, again, you are oriented to what's happening—but now on the shortest time horizon, today. This helps you see how much time you actually have to do work outside of meetings, and flag issues like not enough drive time, no time for lunch, or other conflicts that may exist but could be circumvented at the start of the day.

Then, the most important part: choosing your Daily Big 3 tasks. You want to prioritize work that meets the criteria of the Priority Filter. Your Big 3 should be the work only you can do (You), the work that has the highest return on your time (ROI), and the work that matters most right now (Now). You can read more about the Priority Filter here.

The idea here is that you can radically reduce the number of hours you work (and the tasks you must complete) while producing the same or better results if each of those tasks is truly high leverage—meaning it produces the results you're responsible for in fewer hours than usual.

Lastly, you can add any other tasks you would like to get to below these, but remember: Your Daily Big 3 takes precedence. Now, you're ready for a great day where your priorities are clear and your focus is protected.

Once a month, review your calendar like I described above. I recommend the week before the start of a new month. You can do this with an executive assistant if you have one, and you can certainly do it with your spouse if you're married. Again, you're trying to spot problems before they go live.

Practice

Once you've gone through one Weekly Preview and spent the week planning each day, including identifying your Daily Big 3, it's time to install—or reinstall—the whole thing as a practice.

Plan to do the Weekly Preview each week on the same day around the same time. As I mentioned, I usually do mine on Sunday afternoon after church while our youngest daughter is in her quiet time. The house is quiet, and I can think.

Similarly, make daily planning the cornerstone of a simple morning ritual (we'll talk more about that next week). It doesn't need to take more than 10–15 minutes. I recommend not only that you do it at the same time each morning, but that you do it in the same spot too. It's easiest if you connect it to a habit you already do faithfully.

For me, that's sitting outside and drinking my coffee. On my way out, I also grab my planner and daily devotional. It's second nature at this point. That's the goal—to get to the place where it feels easier to do it than not do it.

Prepare

Last on the list is reviewing the past quarter and preparing for the upcoming one. September is the perfect time to do this. You'll want to do this at the end of the month right before the next quarter begins. I'd plan to set aside half a day for this. Some people even take a whole day.

You'll start by cataloging your top wins—things you've likely forgotten about as the previous quarter's months get further and further away in the rearview mirror.

Next, you'll honestly assess your progress on your stated goals. How far did you get? What actually happened, factually speaking?

Then, as a result of those outcomes, what worked and what didn't? What will you continue doing, and what will you change?

Lastly, you need to include a thorough preview of the upcoming quarter: your goals, your calendar, your Ideal Week and daily rituals.

This is your quarterly chance to get your house in order and reset and refocus for the next three months. After a good Quarterly Preview, you'll use the learnings of the previous quarter to improve your performance on the next one, which enables you to make steady, meaningful progress toward your goals and toward a better version of you!

A Sustainable Rhythm

Installing a simple planning process of intentionally reviewing your calendar at various intervals and identifying and scheduling your most important priorities is the operating system a sustainable life runs on. You'll understand what happened, know what's coming, and have a plan to accomplish what matters most with confidence, focus, and effectiveness.

The opposite is also true. If you don't review, preview, and plan, you'll run around as if your hair were on fire, constantly feeling overwhelmed and overloaded, reactive rather than intentional, with a life marked by stress, dropped balls, and frustration.

Feels like an easy choice, right?

Your Next Step

Your next step is to block some time to preview the coming month and complete your Weekly Preview. A long weekend is the perfect time to do this (hint, hint).

Then, plan to add the daily practice of identifying your Daily Big 3 to your morning ritual, and go ahead and schedule your Quarterly Preview for the end of this month.

To make it even easier, get yourself a Full Focus Planner so it's all in one place, ready to go. This is the tool I can't live or lead without. It keeps me focused and in control without the distraction of a digital app (you can absolutely keep your primary calendar in Google Calendar or the app of your choice). I leave it out on the table next to my work chair all day long and it quietly reminds me of my priorities throughout the workday. My personal favorite is the Sienna Coil version; it's the perfect color for fall.

My Question for You

What's the one thing you want to give more of your time to this fall—if your calendar will let you?

Reach out to me on Instagram and tell me. I'd love to know what you're protecting time for.

Megan Hyatt Miller, Full Focus CEO

AI Disclosure: This newsletter was written by a human—me—for a human—you! I sometimes use AI for research, to critique my writing, or to proofread before I publish. But the words I choose, the sentences I write, and the ideas I share come from my brain and out through my fingertips onto the keyboard before they find their way to your inbox. If that ever changes, I'll tell you. Thanks for reading, and thanks for being a human.