Photo by amanky

Last week I shared about my Daily Retreats. My mornings alone help me to tune my heart to God, get His plans for my day and organize my activities so I can get more done with less effort. But a daily retreat isn’t enough for me. I need to step back every week and evaluate what I’ve done and what I’m doing to make sure I stay on track.

Today I want to tell you about my Weekly Retreat.

Why I Take A Weekly Retreat

I am very easily distracted. Remember this? Um. Yeah.

I’ve learned that I need to step back regularly and evaluate if what I’m doing is actually what I should be doing. My daily retreat helps a bit, but I usually just focus on the day at hand during that time.

I need a larger chunk of time when I can look at my overall activities and decide whether they line up with my goals.

So every Saturday morning from 5:30am – 10:30am I go to a local coffee shop to plan my week.

I LOVE this time. This is my lifeblood. An opportunity to step back, review what I did last week and will do next week. An extended period of peace and quiet when I can focus, plan and brainstorm.

I really enjoy being up and out so early that time itself is a point of conversation with the other poor souls who have also forsaken the comfort of their beds for a greater purpose. I love watching the sunrise from a cozy chair with my journal in one hand and a cup of tea in the other.

Mostly, I love how productive I am and that my family benefits from my time away.

What I Do

Here’s a breakdown of what I do:

• 1. Menu Plan and Calendar Review (Here’s my post on menu planning.)
• 2. Create shopping list and put on my smart phone so that I’m all ready for the store
• 3. Plan Family Fun Night – theme and details
• 4. Small Group prayer and planning.
• 5. Blog Post Planning
• 6. Organize to-do list – Select projects to work on for the week and items that need to be completed.
• 7. Inbox zero – spend 30 minutes processing and completing emails

Where I Go

I start at a coffee shop at 5:30am and do as much as I can offline.

I usually spend a good portion of this time praying, journaling and brainstorming. The coffee shop I go to doesn’t have free wifi – which is perfect for me, because I’m too cheap to pay for wifi, so I’m forced to focus and work offline.

During this time, I also make a detailed plan of what I will work on for the morning. As I said before, I can get EASILY distracted, so I need to be very intentional when I get online.

Once I’ve done all I can do offline, I head to a breakfast spot with free wifi to reply to emails, write blog posts and work on web stuff. I rarely have several hours of completely uninterrupted time, so I do my best to complete each task before I move on. I try to plan everything to the point that I won’t have to think later. It’s all just written out for me.

How To Get Your Own Weekly Retreat

I have an amazing husband. He sacrifices sleeping in on Saturdays to take care of the kids so I can get away. I usually spend my first few minutes, praying the kids will sleep in for Jimmy…

I realize that not everyone has a husband who is willing or able to allow you to get away each week, so here are some ideas you might use to make sure you get time away.

1. Trade

Trade each week with another mom. One week, she watches your kids, the next week, you watch her kids.



2. Family

If you have family in town, pehaps they’d be willing to watch the kids one morning or evening each week.

3. Early Morning Cartoons

If there’s no one who can watch your kids, perhaps you could wake up early get breakfast all ready for the kids and queue up their favorite cartoons. You should be able to snag a couple hours this way.

Any other ideas out there?

In Conclusion

It’s so wonderful to start the weekend feeling focused, refreshed and prepared for the week to come.

What tips and ideas do you have to stay on track?

If you enjoyed this post, you might also want to read:

How To Take a Daily Retreat

How To Take a Yearly Planning Retreat

Weekly Planning Tips And My Weekly Overview Form

(This post is part of Works For Me Wednesday.)