I’ve been thinking about how my decade-long practice of taking monthly retreat days has impacted my “regular life.” What do I mean by this? PRDs are different than regular days. On Personal Retreat Days, I escape from work and other obligations to focus on deep rest and mental dialogue. I reflect on the past and plan for the future. Over time, I’ve learned how to take the insights gleaned during PRDs and incorporate them into my weekly and daily routines. Here’s how I do it. 

Weekly Review

Every Sunday, I take about an hour to review last week and plan out the upcoming week. I’m a member of Caveday , an online deep work community, and they have a weekly planning session that I’ve found to be very valuable in designing my week. It includes a google spreadsheet with reflection and planning prompts and a very user-friendly task manager section. There are other very good systems out there, but I’ve been using this one since the beginning of 2023 and it makes planning my week a breeze. During my Sunday planning, I also like to review my PRD Assessment Grid to make sure I’m on track with the goals I set during my last PRD.

Don’t feel obligated to use a fancy system – you can also simply use a notebook or calendar to plan out your week. The key is to reflect back on the previous week, refine your goals, and set realistic tasks for the week ahead.

Daily Planning

Once the week is planned, you’re set up for success, but you still need to take time each day to remind yourself of your most important goals and sketch out a plan to meet them. There are so many ways to do this, everything from to do lists on scrap paper, to using a fancy subscription-based online system. I like to use the time-blocking method: I write down the hours (7am, 8am, etc) on one side of my notebook and “chunk” my tasks by the half-hour. For example, I usually take 7-8am (two 30-minute blocks) to do my morning routines (which include journaling, reviewing my goals, and reading). I’ll set aside one 30 minute block in the day to exercise, and another 30 minute block to meditate and rest. Work tasks get assigned a specific time of day. It’s all “pencilled in” but I adjust it often. (Thank you, Cal Newport, for this system from the book Deep Work). This method isn’t for everyone, but it works for me. Find a daily planning routine that supports your lifestyle.