plan your week together before it starts

By Lavern and Ronda Nissley

Do you ever dread the upcoming week? It's Sunday afternoon/evening, and you feel a pit in your stomach because tomorrow . . . Well, it all starts again. And it's a long time til the next weekend!

While certain events or tasks on our calendars may create apprehension, we can easily eliminate one major source of anxiety. Want to know what it is?

It's lack of quality preparation.

Full disclosure. We've headed into many weeks feeling very unprepared. Although we had a vague sense of what needed our attention and focus, we had honestly done little to prepare.

How different it feels when we spend an hour (no more than this!) doing our weekly "Droptasking" - Droptask is the awesome shared planning app we use to keep track of priorities in our lives: family, work, projects, errands, details, etc. Usually some time is also spent in reviewing the next several weeks on our shared Google calendars.

The fulfilling thing is that we are talking through tasks and meetings in a proactive tone. We're clarifying expectations and sharing ideas for how to approach certain challenges - ALL IN ADVANCE. TOGETHER.

Of course, all of our plans are subordinate to those of our Father. 

• “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.” ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭127:1‬ ‭NIV
• “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3:5-6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

At the end of the hour we've been going out for a date at a favorite restaurant of ours. This truly is a refreshing way to start the week. And it's so important that we seek to protect it at all costs.

If you aren't working together vocationally as we are, you likely won't need more than 20-30 minutes.

Want to get a jump on the week? Try planning it together before it starts.