Your optimal week

Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash

If you could design an Optimal Week, what would it look like? That is: a week designed in such a way that if you did all the wonderful things that set you up for greatness, would make it a truly wonderful week.

If you’ve already designed such a week, what would happen if you lived it?

What is an Optimal Week?

A friend recently wrote to me about living his Optimal Week.

It’s not rocket science, but I know if I do these things, I will maximise my chances of having a great week :-)

I was immediately enamoured by the idea. I am someone who designs my years, months, weeks and days, but I know my fascination with purpose and design is one of my oddities.

Thinking about it more, however, I thought this concept was an excellent segue into thinking about what sets us up for greatness, and living that way in short spurts. We might not be able to live our Optimal Week all of the time — but my friend’s idea was that we could live that way some of the time. And as a scientist/maven, or someone who loves experimenting, testing, gathering data, learning and iterating on a continual loop, it’s right up my alley.

Is it up yours, too? If so, let’s get started.

1. Choose the things that make you feel great

Before you think oh, I have to give up sugar and do 50 push-ups a day, and that will make me great, stop. This is not a series of New Year’s resolutions. This is a series of things that make you feel great, that prime you for living your best life.

Think about, say, 10–12 things.

For me, it’s things like:

1. Starting my day sitting quietly, preferably outside
2. Reading every morning and every night
3. Swallowing my frog first thing in the morning
4. Getting in 2 focus blocks of 2 hours each, each day
5. Exercising in nature every day
6. Eating delicious, home-cooked food every day
7. Being 100% present with my loved ones when I’m with them
8. Doing something just for the fun of it (play!)
9. Connecting with people I care about on a regular basis
10. Noting what I’m grateful for each day
11. Going to sleep and getting up at the same time each day
12. Getting 8 hours of sleep each night

For you, it might include stretching, dancing, painting, dreaming, holding your child or your partner, writing, playing video games, cooking a fine meal, savouring a good glass of wine, walking your dog, travelling or staying in on Saturday night.

Whatever it is, write it down.

2. Figure out when in your week you’d like to feel great

So you have your 10–12 things, or maybe there are 3. That’s wonderful. Whatever you have is right for you.

So, when in your week would you like to feel great? When can you slot in the things that make you feel wonderful, primed, ready to take on the world?

My list has a lot of daily things I like to do, and that’s because I like feeling great. Those endorphins are terrific! 😃

But maybe you have twice-a-week things or once-a-week things. The idea is to take a look at your week and think about how you’re going to design it.

For example, my Optimal Week has “play” on it, and I like to make time for that on Saturdays. I’ll reach out to people I care about three times a week, either by phone, or going for a walk and talk with someone or hopping on a video call. So I find those three days.

I create a day-by-day list of my great things, and when it’s Monday, I’m all set to do my Monday things.

Then … the idea is it’s just one day at a time for 7 days. You’re not trying to do a million things for the rest of your life. You’re doing a few things for a few days to create a great week.

Planning your Optimal Week

3. Go on a “retreat” and do your Optimal Week

So you know what makes you feel great and you have a plan. Now it’s time to choose your week.

Which week can you commit to doing your Optimal Week? Remember, it’s only 7 days. It’s not a lifetime. Or even a month. It’s your Optimal Week.

I’d like to gently suggest that the first week of a month would be an excellent way to prime a new month. OR maybe you're feeling like you could use an Optimal Week right now, starting now. You can start it on a Thursday if you want. It’s your week.

You can think of it as a retreat — you’re going off somewhere special, where you’ll get to do all the things that make you feel terrific, primed, alive, happy (!). Okay, so you actually don’t have to go anywhere — you can stay home and have an Optimal Week. You can also design your Optimal Week around your work and family responsibilities. Imagine going on a retreat while working and taking care of your relationships? How delightful is that?

For extra accountability, you might like to tell someone you’re doing your Optimal Week. You’re not going on a diet. You’re doing a week of things that make you feel great. Tell someone about it. I guarantee you they’ll want to know more — and they’ll most likely ask how it’s going.

Heck, tell me. I’d love to hear about your Optimal Week, what you decided to do, and how it’s going, or how it went.

This is after all, about experimentation and play, learning and growing, getting to great, and having a whole lot of fun along the way.