81. Weekly Planning for Academic Physicians: How to Actually Get Things Done (Without Burnout)

Do you ever start the week with good intentions, only to look up on Friday and realize… nothing truly moved forward?

You're not alone — and it’s not a discipline problem. It’s a system problem.

In this episode, I walk you through the exact weekly planning routine I use (and now coach others to use) that helps academic physicians finally make consistent progress — without burning out or overbooking their lives.

⚡ Whether you're trying to finish a grant, get your manuscript submitted, or just stop putting out fires all day — this episode will give you a simple and powerful framework to plan your week with purpose, margin, and actual momentum.

You'll learn:

• The weekly reset routine I use every Sunday (yes, with my paper planner!)
• How to reverse-engineer your weekly goals from your big-picture vision
• What to prioritize each day without becoming rigid or overplanned
• My top tip to avoid letting everyone else’s agenda hijack your calendar
• How I stay focused when interruptions hit (because they will)
• Why most people overestimate what they can do in a day — and how to stop

🎁 Bonus: I created a free PDF guide to help you implement what I teach in this episode:
 The Productivity Blueprint for Academic Physicians
Grab it here: www.ingahofmann.com/productivityblueprint

🔥 Ready to stop spinning your wheels and actually get traction?
If you're done trying to figure this all out on your own and want personal support to reach your goals without sacrificing your sanity, let’s talk.

Book a free coaching consultation here:
 👉  https://calendly.com/ingahofmann/coaching-evaluation-session-podcast

Want to work with me directly and have me personally help you through mentoring and coaching to achieve more success in your career and more fulfillment and balance in your life?

Book a call here and let's chat 👉 https://calendly.com/ingahofmann/coaching-discovery-call

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Transcript

0:00

Have you ever felt like staff always creeps up during the week? You will have the best intention. Get some writing, done, get some projects completed. And before, you know, it just, something showed up. And you got sidetracked and you're like, oh man, I didn't get anything done again this week. If that is you stay tuned for after the music. And we chat about how to overcome that obstacle. Well, welcome back to another episode of the academic revolution podcast. I'm your hosting at a Huffman. And today we're going to talk about how I plan my week for success and how you can do that too. This is sweetie a follow up to the yearly review and the quarterly review. We talked about in the last episode. On this podcast, if you have not listened to that, you are very welcome to go back to it. Episode 79. And learn how you can set up your year for success by going through an intentional process. To set your goals. I do have a vision and a purpose. Set your quarterly goals and plan your month to month activities. So I guided you through a process in this episode last week. And this is speedy of followup to say, okay, now I have a weekly sense, a monthly sense of what I need to be doing. How I'm going to go and implement that on a weekly basis and how to make sure that I stay on track day to day. And that's what we're going to talk about today. So this lesson is basically from pillar number one performance habits of the physician success, DNA method, by the way, if you are new to me and you're like, what is the physician success, DNA method, and encourage you to go back all the way. It should be the beginning of the episodes. And I explained that in more detail, I go through each of those three pillars of the physician success, DNA method. That I came up with over the. Many years of being an academic medicine and. Learning about leadership performance habits, about mindset, et cetera. That really helped me dig myself out of. A deep hole. I was in. Back probably more like 10 Nish. Yes ago when I started on this journey. Well, I want to share that with you. Also add a resource. If you want to learn more about that beyond the podcast episodes from the beginning of the show, I will set up a link in the show notes that you can get a short meaning super short snippet video series that shares with you. The kind of key aspects that I'll have found a key for academic success. That go more into the academic physician success, DNA method. And I think it will give you some good insights why those factors are important. And what you can do to work on those. So let's dive in, this week's episode, how I plan my week for success and how you can do that too. Now what I can tell you that over the years of having worked in academia, Surrounded by wonderful colleagues and having a coaching practice now for quite a number of years. One question that always comes up is how can I be more productive? People ask me all the time and say, wow, you know, I'm really struggling. I'm trying hard. I even set some goals, but the week goes on and I am just not making any progress. Things show up things pop up and I'm struggling to meet my goals and my objectives. And people often feel just constantly interrupted and distracted and things coming up. And that is sadly the nature of our lives. And it is up to us to set up the bond Reese, to be able to accomplish what we set out to do. Sadly, nobody else will do that for you. Some guiding you here through a process that I've been using out of desperation. In the beginning for years, that helps me make progress on my goals. And the key part here is just with. The yearly review, we looked at setting goals intentionally. You want to be planning your week and set your intention for every week, what you want to accomplish. And really keep your eyes on the price. This process helps to constantly keep your eyes on your goals. In a world that is. Ever so distracting and pulling us in different directions. And I have to say, this is something that I learned early on as I was very much struggling Before I got into personal development and trained and leadership and became a coach. That I quickly learned that. One thing that needs to happen. For me to be highly intentional and focus on. What am I actually doing? So I know Lauren thank quickly from the mentorship program. I was in training us that John Maxwell. Leadership coach train on speaker. I learned that you have to be intentional with your life. With everything we do, you have to set the intention of, okay, why am I doing this? What is important? And make an intentional effort to do it. Because if we don't. Set the intention to do something and really work towards that. It's not going to happen. Chances are that you will be just sliding down the hill. And end up somewhere. We might have not planned to be. John always said everything worthwhile is uphill all the way, and that's just how life works in general. Nothing ever happens passively. Usually at least not something good. That's how it works in nature too. You have to actively. Set intention stay in the game. Work to accomplish things in life. There's just no way around it. This process will help you do that. And it's actually easy and you will be surprised once you get in the habits of doing this, how much this will help you. So intentional with your time. And the goals you're setting for yourself each week. And being intentional means planning. As physicians, we are usually pretty good with that. Most of us are sort of plan out riot people, meaning we do set goals. We usually like to have a plan for had a certainly rarely in grinded in patient care. Right. What's the problem does for the patient. What is our plan for today? What are we going to do? And make neat Ledler checklist and to do list and like to check off the boxes. And life is no different. Although I do not like to live from a laundry list of to-dos, but rather of again, intentional items and priorities that are set for the day. I forgot who said the quote, but fail to plan. And you plan to fail. What that means is sweetie. If you don't plan things are not going to work out. that is the flavor. That is the characteristic of setting intention means that you have to plan full things. So what is my process that I due every week to help me stay focused and set the intentions on the things that I want to accomplish. Every week, typically on a Sunday is when I love to do that I review my week and I look back how things went. And it's a one time full time for me. Again, I sit there with my paper planner. I love my paper planners are carried all the time. And I just take time to reflect. And take time to fill out the new week. Reflect on the last week and take inventory where I'm at with things. And for me, this is a wonderful time also to wind down a little bit. It's really, I would say. Part of a wellness routine because I'm taking time to myself and I'm taking time to reflect and think. And step back and look at the big picture. And as I mentioned, even in the last episode as physicians, we don't do that enough. So I go ahead and look at how did this past week go? And then I. Review. My day, two days and then do a weekly review. And set my intention. So, let me go through specifically how kind of a step-by-step process, how I go from the last episode, meaning my monthly review and my quarterly and yearly reviews to now dialing it down from a month to a week and two week, two days. So when I look at the beginning of the month I do my monthly REO meaning. I set goals for that month, based on my quarterly goals, we talked about that in the last episode. And then as I start a new week, I look at those monthly goals and say, okay, Where am I. What these monthly goals that are set for myself. And then I chunk down. Those monthly goals into weekly goals. So basically asked myself, this is maybe a better way to do it. What does need to happen? What are some steps that I can come up with that need to happen in order to accomplish this month? goal. And usually there many steps involved in every process and every goal of right. So I then put them down and smaller pieces. Let's say you are. Planning to write a grant and submit in, March or in the summer deadline. And you might say, okay, if I submit by the summer, maybe by March, I should have at least. Some. Specific aims, maybe a summary page and sort of a rough outline for the grant. I'm making this up on the fly. Okay. So, if that is your goal by the end of the quarter, what could be the goal for January, you might say, okay, let me brainstorm some specific games. Maybe already have something in mind or maybe. What I'm planning to submit this grant, but I'm seeing that. I need some collaborators or maybe it's a grant where you actually need to call submitted with other PIs. So my first action item for this week will be, Hey, I'm gonna email my collaborators and say, I'm planning to submit this grant. What do you guys think? So. Something that is a bite-size task. That you can accomplish very easily. It could be as easily as sending an email. It could be something a little bit more elaborate that needs further breakdown during. The days of the week. So set weekly goals. Make sure that as you're setting weekly goals, you go back to your month and look at. What are the different goals that I have set for myself for this month in my various areas of life. I usually have on my weekly planning sheet. He is section four, sort of Brooke. Related items for me, that means business ministry is cetera. And then also have a personnel. List of items and goals that I need to accomplish. You know, stuff for the kids. Well, my personal health, something maybe that needs to be done in the home. So that you'll make sure that you include all those various aspects of your life. And not just professional goals. We talked about this in the last episode. But I just want to reinforce that. So that it becomes. A balanced streak. Acknowledging that we all have seasons in life where. Something takes more precedent with focus. Then other things, but yet I want to make sure that they are some balance here that I'm not just running really weighted weedy hard in my career and have either no time. For the personal things. And therefore they fall by the wayside or I'm not even considering them in my planning process. But have to do them anyway. And then I'm surprised that I basically overload myself because I never accounted for the time. I have all these personal things. No, you want to list them so he can keep track of things. Every week I set out to say, okay, what is one major thing that is a must do. And ideally you want to set maybe one to three goals depending on how big they are for that week. And say, if I can accomplish this, this would be a win and maybe have another couple where you say, okay, and these are going number two or three that I would love to see happen. And then everything else sort of bonus if it happens. And I think when we go into hour, a week with that mindset, it can be the help. So, if you have a goal for the week, 1, 2, 3, you might then have little sub goals, meaning little to do items. That's where to do list comes in. And say, okay, I want to accomplish this one goal. Maybe write the specific aims page. For a grant. Okay. So then maybe on day one, you're just gonna kind of say, I'm going to brainstorm for 30 minutes. And then on day two, you say, okay, I need to, I'm going to take a look of what preliminary data are already half and maybe on day three, you'll need to talk to some collaborators. Whatever it might be. Break it down into very small sections that by the end of the week, you can accomplish that. That's how I go from my week to week. I usually also include some habits that I'm working on. So whether that's exercise related or reading. Or I'm riding, whatever it might be. I usually have them in my weekly review as well and say, I want to form habits and certain areas. Either daily or. A few times a week and I write them down. And then what I do on a daily basis is. I go ahead and plan each day, actually let me step back for a moment. So once I have set my goals, And all the. Action items that are needed. The little to-do is to accomplish these one to three. Goals for the week. Then I go ahead and populate my calendar. I would populate with all the standing appointments are already half put them in. So I know what space and time is already taken up. And then Auburn. And fill in and schedule time. For the larger. Action items where I need really designated time. That is sort of deeper work, whether it's writing or meetings. I need to set up a set up. Full of the short little action items. I would suggest, do them at a time. That is not your high-quality brain. Time where you do your best work. That is harder to do. So for many people, They work best in the morning when it comes to writing. And if you have the luxury of doing your best work in the morning and your clinic schedule allows that, then keep that time protected. From meetings that maybe don't need that much brain power. And put these quick action items. These quick to do us. In these kind of debts, own spaces between meetings on the afternoon, when you feel like I'm not functioning all that great anymore. So that is a great strategy. The other thing I always tell people is it's great to have a little time on Friday afternoon to knock out some. Wait to do that are all super quick action items that take five minutes or less. And just hammer them out. A chunk of them and like 30 minutes, it will feel so good. And then you go into your weekend feeling like, oh, I did a bunch of stuff, but if you start with that on Monday, see, then you have a hard time getting in the flow of things and accomplishing the bigger items that are needed. And we all fall into this trap. So be intentional with that. and then once I filled my calendar, I set appointments for myself and dates for myself and fill in the calendar with the things that are already standing like meetings with others appointments, et cetera. Then I just go day to day and basically every morning. I review. Okay, what do I need to do today? I usually take quick glance of, okay. What happened yesterday? And what do I need to carry over? Because it didn't get completed. And what are some new things I add on. And that really helps me stay on track. Now I. No, what you're thinking. You're like, well, number one, that is a lot of work. Yes, but you will get in it. It's actually not as much work on a daily basis. It really takes me just a few minutes. The reclaimer of your. Depends sort of how much time I want to take for it and how I feel but I mean, it can easily be done in 30 minutes, if you just want to focus or even less. But sometimes I just enjoy the process and I sit there and might be listening to a podcast or music at the same time. So it might take me a little longer, but it does not take that long. The other part is, yeah, once you got in a habit, it will be really an indispensable practice for you. And I cannot even. Conceive, how would go without doing that? The other thing that might come to your mind and say, well, I don't want to plan my week out like this. This seems all very rigid and not flexible. I'm kind of go with the flow person. And I won't have flexibility. And if that is you, I want to say to your I totally get that. And. I would argue that if you set some intention and do some planning like this, The whole intent is to create more flexibility and margin. What I don't want you to think about or feel like that you have to plan out every minute of your day. I would actually not advise to do that. It's a tendency we all have, and I cannot tell you how many times. I do that still there's times when I completely overcommit and plan out every second and think I could do like these three things in 30 minutes and it's like, Totally not feasible. But I would say that if you are intentional, You will then learn to create some margin around today. Meaning you want to book in some flexibility so that you're not always running from thing to thing and feel overstretched over-planned over committed. So don't overdo it with a planning as, I guess another way to say this. And if you're intentional, you will have more time because you already know what you need to do and you just get it done. Let me figure out what I need to do for today. So there's a big difference. And the other part people say, well, I've tried to hold us, but I still fall behind. So. Me joke. For sure. You know, there's rarely a day that goes by where I said I did all my things on my list. That actually never really happens because I am still having a tendency to put more on in part is I write all these things down so I don't forget. And I'm okay if some of them carry over, that's just the rhythm. I now know in. But at least I know that I am making progress and I can track my progress. I know for sure that if there would be no planning and no intentionality much, much, much less would get done because I don't even know what needs to be done. And then you tend to do the things that are not important. And the urgent non-important things that people bring to you. So planning will always keep you more productive than not planning at all. And that has to do with you cannot improve what you don't measure. If you don't have a clear plan and a clear measure, what needs to be done, you don't know what you can tweak or what you should be tweaking. And as a scientist, we love to measure stuff. So I would recommend. Just give it another try and also be clear on your expectation. Yes. Many times you will say, well, not everything got done. But at least a good chunk of it. And you can feel good about that. Just to recap. What we talked about is golf and me a monthly calendar from your monthly goals and plan to chunk things down on a weekly basis every week. What needs to get done? And then do a weekly. Overview, whether you do that on a Sunday or Saturday, whatever works for you. I would recommend getting it done before Monday. Some people like to do it Friday and say, I'm having the weekend off. I'm not planning much. That's fine. Whatever works for you. But do a weekly review. We'll be intentional what you want to do for the next week and then day to day, just plan your day. Either right at the start of the day for me, that helps me set intention and good focused. Some people like to do it the night before, so they can hit the ground running when they get. Their office in the morning. Totally depends on your, you can try out different ways. And so that is what I do. And I would have to say. Many people sort of adopt. A version of this process and it is really helpful. So that you can be more intentional. This will also then help you protect your time. Because as you schedule things out and task out for your week, You have an appointment with yourself that you need to defend. So when somebody says, well, can I meet with you or, Hey, we need to talk about this or ask you to do something. You can look at your calendar and say, well, I cannot do it this week, but maybe next week. But if you don't have an intentional plan and a schedule, then it will be very easy for you to just say yes to everything. And before you know it, your calendar, what before with other people's agenda for you? And that's what we want to avoid. That's a common trap. All academic physicians fall into. And this process will help you alleviate at least some of that. And as you do this over time, you will get better and better and better. So I hope this served and helped you. Now, if you say, Hey, this was great. I feel like it would be nice to have a little bit more pointers on paper. I do have a little worksheet. It's like a few pages of a PDF. With some of those pointers, but also some other extra trips it's caught my productivity blueprint. And you can download that for free. Just go to my website, Inga I N G a Hoffman, H O F M a N N. That's one F two ends.com forward slash productivity blueprint. Again, forward slash productivity blueprint. I will put it in the show notes as well. That's your gift? You can keep and use it as you see fit. If you are the kind of person that says this is great, but I really need a little bit more handholding. I would love to have somebody help me get into groove of not just this process, but overall set my goals and accomplish them. Get deeper in than understanding what gets in the way. Why do I procrastinate on stuff? And maybe you need some help with that, or you feel like, oh, I feel I'm such a perfectionist. I really get in my own way. And I'm struggling. So whatever it might be, or maybe you just have some new goals and you feel like if I had somebody by my side to help me. Get ready for this grant or this manuscript or job search or whatever it might be. Reach out there is on my website. A way to reach out, to schedule a free evaluation session for coaching. I have various ways we can book together. I like to talk to people so we can get to know each other. Check on what your goals are. And so you can also ask me questions and see if we are a good fit for each other and what working together would look like. So for that, just go to my website. It is INGAA. Hoffman. So again, one after two N I put it on the show notes comments. And then on the upper right-hand corner, there's a little yellow button that says, apply for coaching. Click on that. There's a brief evaluation, meaning there are some brief questions, so just, I can prepare for our call. And know a little bit about you. Very simple questions. And then you have the opportunity to schedule a free call. Based on your preference and availability, and it will be just a zoom call and we can chat. And that way you can learn a little bit more, what. Working together would look like. And if that's something you want to consider them. Have a wonderful day and I see you in the next episode so I invite you to join me next week. Have a wonderful day and talk to you soon.