Use this framework to plan a week. This can be especially useful to have a place to plan your time at work without having to create events in your official work calendar.
The weekly planner template helps you:
- Visualize all the work you have for the week
- Get aligned with teammates about work load and responsibilities
- Define a strategy for how you’ll accomplish your work
- Limit your scope to what is achievable in a short window
How to use the weekly planner template
Creating a weekly planner should be structured and calculated. Simply downloading everything you do during the week onto a calendar may demonstrate how busy you are, but it won't help you attain any progress in your week.
1. Divide your week into more and less structured days
A good rule of thumb is to divide your week into the days when you are most productive and days when you need a little more freedom in the schedule.
For instance, some people like to jump into Mondays head-first because their energy and enthusiasm are high. Others may not like to load their Fridays with heavy tasks because the likelihood that you can’t complete or follow up on a Friday task is high.
2. Add tasks to your weekly planner using sticky notes
The next step is to add tasks to your weekly planner. Use a sticky note to show a 30-minute time block for meetings and use different shapes to denote longer periods of time. This will help you quickly visualize how much of your day will be spent in meetings.
Pro-tip: Only add tasks to your weekly planner that can be completed within the week. Putting a task down that has an unclear or rolling deadline only ensures that you’ll ignore it when other unscheduled problems arise. You can save long-term projects for a monthly or even a yearly planner. The goal is to only include tasks that you know can be accomplished in a week.
3. Customize your planner by adding images and gifs from the sidebar
Mural’s sidebar is filled with additional features, like images and icons, that can enhance your weekly planner. You can use preloaded images from the Mural library or download your own. Put a picture of a cake for a staff birthday as a quick visual reminder of what’s on your schedule.
Tips for using a weekly planner template
To get the most out of your weekly planner template, you should:
Quickly duplicate events
Mural has a simple shortcut to duplicate events using one key. This will allow you to duplicate the note when a meeting goes longer or you need more time for a task.
Share the document with other collaborators
Mural's share feature enables you to share your weekly planner. You set the roles you want collaborators to have, like admin and core team members who have full collaboration access, including the ability to change and modify docs. You can also grant restricted access to external guests or visitors. A shared weekly planner will alleviate a lot of the guesswork about your schedule. Sharing your weekly planner can reduce miscommunications among your teams as well.
Export as an image or PDF
Get a hard copy of your schedule to keep with you when you don't have access to your computer. This is also useful when you have limited access to the internet and can't log in to your account. You can also select a specific area of your mural to export using the crop tool in the export menu.
