One of the things that have set me apart from most other people trying to run a business from home is my systems in my business. You’ve heard me talk about my workflow plenty of times, but it’s what I put inside my workflow that really matters. It didn’t take me long to figure out that if I was going to have a good week every week in my business, one that led me closer to my goals, helped me actually earn an income, make me more productive come Monday, I was going to have to carve out time every Friday to run through this series of 7 simple systems-a Friday reset. Let’s jump into today’s post and find out exactly what those systems are.
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The Friday Reset
Okay I know what you’re thinking seven systems on a Friday, are you crazy!? No, no I’m not. They’re simple and seven of them go by in a quick flash.
These are the things that I came to realize really support my productivity. I wanted to create systems that allowed me to unplug for the entire weekend and be completely squared away when Monday came. After collecting data and finding what does and doesn’t work I came up with these seven simple systems.
I call this time my Friday reset. I have a card inside my workflow that is labeled Friday reset. I open it up and it has check marks with every single one of these systems.
These seven systems have evolved overtime for me. Don’t take this for complete and utter like definitive these are the seven systems that you have to have. Take this as a starting point so you can close your laptop and delete apps and unplug from work for two days every single weekend.
A caveat to this post is it’s an advanced post. This assumes you already have your time blocks, you’ve been doing your Sunday sit-down and you got your fundamental needs in your Google calendar. You are so good with that.
If that is all new to you start with our free resources. We have a time blocking and fundamental needs workbook ready and waiting for you.
So here are the 7 simple epic systems I stack together every Friday to help me be super productive and reach my goals week after week and year after year. Here is my first one, you can’t do these out of order.
1. SET UP YOUR GOOGLE CALENDAR
First, I do my personal Google calendar. Blaine and I used to do this every single Sunday and sometimes we still do but truth be told every Friday I sit down and I really flush out our calendar so that I can get my work blocks in.
I sit down and I figure out what I’m working on next week for the podcast and the business. I have to do this on Fridays otherwise I’m working on the weekend, which I do not want to do.
To not work on the weekend I have to put my personal calendar together. To do that I put in my work blocks and my fundamental needs, and then I put my time blocks in my paper planner.
If I feel like there’s going to be any big discrepancies between what I see in the calendar and what I know Blaine is going to want I shoot him a text message. I communicate with him on when he is available and if we need to get a sitter for certain times. He really appreciates it. He prefers for me to do it and then we kind of sit down together for 5 minutes and flush it out. This is what works for us.
Like I said, when I put my Google calendar together I then move to my paper planner where I write in my time blocks.
2. WRITE IN YOUR TIME BLOCKS
The second thing I do is put my time blocks in my planner. I go through the whole five-block system that you see me share 24/7. You can learn to do yours with our free time blocking workbook.
This is what you’re probably doing on Sundays and I used to do on Sundays and still do when I’m not able to get to it on Friday. I layer in my fundamental needs and the whole shebang. We also have a free fundamental needs work book if you don’t have those figured out for yourself yet.
The next system finishes the three most important systems you need to be doing on Friday to set yourself up for a productive week.
“It didn’t take me long to figure out that if I was going to have a good week every week in my business, one that led me closer to my goals, helped me actually earn an income…I was going to have to carve out time every Friday to run through this series of 7 simple systems.”
3. RESET YOUR WORKFLOW
Now that I know what my work hours are going to be, I’m able to go into my workflow and reset everything. For example, I know that I’ve got a two-hour work block this Monday when I would normally have a 5-hour work block. I have to go and move things around and reset my workflow.
If I have a podcast interview or an extra meeting it all gets put in my workflow according to what has just been flushed out in my Google calendar and where my time blocks and work blocks are for that week.
Now if this is all the further that you go, that’s amazing! If you could do these three systems every Friday it will change your work-life balance, it will change everything.
But then I took it a step further, four steps further. The next thing I do is a team check-in.
4. TEAM CHECK-IN
I have a short meeting in Voxer with my executive assistant and we kind of hash things out. As we grow our team this will just be the time when I check in with everybody. We go over how it went for the week, I give them any feedback I might have, and we go over any questions or feedback they may have for me.
From there I go into finances.
5. GO OVER YOUR FINANCES
Inside of my workflow, there’s a specific card for my Friday reset. There’s a link to everything that I need to do. All I have to do is open that one card and there’s a link to the spreadsheet, there’s a link to my PayPal, there’s a link to all of the financial software and spreadsheets. It’s all linked right there and it’s amazing.
So I go through and I do all that on Friday, I get that squared away the move on to number six.
6. PERSONAL REFLECTION AND GOAL SETTING
I do my personal reflection and my goal setting next. This is straightforward and methodical for me at this point. My goals are all inside of my workflow so I don’t necessarily like sit down and recreate new goals for myself.
I’m looking at what is the goal for next week. I’m putting it in my mind so that I can pray on it over the weekend. I can just get my heart and mind and intentions squared away before I go into Monday.
Then I do a reflection. How was I as a leader, coach, student leader, friend, this week? How was I interacting with people, how was my tone? It’s not a huge thing, you don’t even have to write it down. It’s a short process to keep me connected to what I’m doing in my business. Then I move on to my last system.
7. UPDATE YOUR TRACKING SHEET
This one is really hard for me and gnaws at me. But, it is something that’s been really valuable. I learned to do this from other people that are much further advanced in running a business than me.
It’s just looking at data and sitting there and not being afraid to know what is actually going on. This is the time where if you are nurturing certain leads you would go in and you would update those, it’s the place your track conversion rates, and just track the general health of your business.
I started out with the cheapest of cheapest of cheapest software because I was pouring every dime into coaching. I stand by that decision but that means as I’m scaling my business I’m sometimes dealing with clunky software. That has deterred me from wanting to go in there and get in the nitty-gritty.
I was getting so frustrated and the solution to this was to make it as simple as possible. I now have all this in one card in my workflow with all the links I need. If it’s too complicated our brains will find ways to get out of it. So now it’s all in one spot and it repeats itself every single week. It makes everything so unbelievably beautiful.
I can now show up to Monday morning and I’m not going to be flushing any of this out. If you do this on Monday it’s causing you to work on the weekends. Just shift back a day and do all the set up you’re doing on Monday morning on Friday.
I promise doing this seven system Friday reset is going to change your life.
- Set up your Google calendar
- Write in your time blocks
- Reset your workflow
- Team check-in
- Go over your finances
- Personal reflection and goal setting
- Update your tracking sheet
Please feel free to come over and try to the Facebook group. Come and hash out what your systems that you’re going to do every Friday are going to look like. For full access to this system and so so many more come find out more details about the Systemize Your Life Academy. I hope to see you over there!
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I start?
You’re definitely going to want to get your time blocks in order so you’ll have a set schedule in place. Then hop on over to my Fundamental Needs Workbook to help you prioritize your tasks and needs. I also mentioned a Sunday-Sit down to connect with your partner-you can read about it in this blogpost! After that, feel free to reread this post and begin implementing your own Friday reset! And if this has peaked your interest, definitely check out the Systemize Your Life Academy to help you succeed in your home and business! Best of luck!
