A blog title like that doesn’t require a lot of intro, let’s just get to it:
- Get over it— We all have bad weeks and you’ve just had one for yourself. But, appreciate the fact that it’s in the rearview mirror now. Don’t let the bad feelings linger and screw up your weekend, too.
- Learn from it— Why was it a bad week? Sit with a pad of paper and empty your brain, listing all the reasons why things did not go the way you wanted them to. Be brutally honest and own anything that is your responsibility.
- Ask yourself: Was this a bad week because of a lack of planning? The time to look at next week is this week. Good time management starts with preparation.
- Ask yourself: Was this a bad week because of the lack of execution? The best-laid plans can go astray due to procrastination or bad choices.
- Prepare for next week— Don’t make the same mistakes twice. Start the following week with a plan and with sales activity goals that are as specific as possible.
Consecutive bad weeks could be the indication of a bigger issue. Assuming that the reasons for your ineffectiveness are within your control (and not due to outside forces, such as management decisions), you need to follow some basic rules, including better preparation and focus followed by non-squirrel-chasing enactment of your plan.
Time management is a living, breathing phenomenon, one that is affected by multiple sources from both business and personal sides. It is far from an exact science. The best thing that you can do with a bad week is to put it under a microscope, correct errors, then see to it that any mistakes are isolated. After that, go have a beer.