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This article will guide educators and parents on how to teach students to plan their ideal week — a long-term vision of how they want to spend their time that helps them think beyond the day to day challenges.
By creating this blueprint, students can make small adjustments that improve their time management, motivation, and overall executive functioning.
This is a powerful exercise I’ve done with student and adult coaching clients, employees, and professionals, and it can be life-changing.
When students visualize their ideal schedule, they begin to see where their time is going, what they value, and how they can make time for responsibilities and the things they enjoy.
Ready to learn how?
Why Planning an Ideal Week Helps Students Manage Their Time
Most students move through their week without thinking about how they want to spend their time.
They react to assignments, social plans, and free time in the moment without considering if their schedule actually works for them.
When students create an ideal week, they make intentional choices about their time.
They can see where their priorities fit in, where they have free time, and how to balance responsibilities with things they actually enjoy.
Planning an ideal week is also an executive function exercise.
It forces students to engage their nonverbal working memory, helping them visualize a balanced schedule.
This is a great activity for parents and teachers to do with students, giving insight into how students want to spend their time and what they truly value.
Parents who assume their child should study more or spend less time gaming may be surprised when their child maps out a schedule and shows they already think they’re doing enough.
Seeing it laid out visually makes it easier to negotiate a balanced plan.
Why Many Students Struggle to Plan Their Week
Most students don’t struggle with time management because they’re lazy.
They struggle because they don’t have a plan.
One reason is they’ve never been taught how to structure their time. No one has asked them to map out their ideal week.
Instead, they just react to what’s happening in the moment.
Another challenge is they don’t always see how their time connects to their goals.
If students see school as something they have to do rather than an investment in their future, it’s harder for them to prioritize study time.
Lastly, they aren’t used to reflecting on their time.
If students don’t check in on how they spend their time, they don’t see patterns or have the opportunity to make small changes.
A 5-Step Process To Help Students Plan Their Ideal Week
Step 1: Use the Ideal Week Template
Start by opening a Google Sheet and setting up a weekly schedule. To make this easy, download my pre-made ideal week template here.
Teach students how to merge and unmerge cells in the toolbar to block out sections of time.
This allows them to create flexible, easy-to-read schedules.
Step 2: Categorize Time into Health, Wealth, and Relationships
To make the schedule meaningful, label each activity under one of these three categories:
• Health (sleep, exercise, meals)
• Wealth (school, work, skill-building)
• Relationships (friends, family, social events)
Use color coding to make it easy to spot trends.
Green for health, red for wealth, yellow for relationships.
After students have mapped out their idea schedule, have them answer the following questions:
Am I spending enough time on my health?
Am I investing in my future (school, work, or skill-building)?
Do I have enough time for relationships and fun?
If a student’s week is mostly red with no yellow, they may need more social time.
If there’s little green, it may be time to prioritize exercise or sleep.
Step 3: Use Time Blocking Instead of a Rigid Schedule
Encourage students to block out time for different activities rather than scheduling every minute.
They can put the specific details in Google Calendar, where they can move things around as needed.
The ideal week serves as a flexible guide rather than a strict plan.
Step 4: Reflect on the Ideal Week Every Week
Each week, have students review their ideal week and compare it to what actually happened.
Ask them to reflect:
What worked?
What didn’t?
What’s one small change I can make next week to move closer to my ideal schedule?
This weekly check-in helps students improve their schedules in small, manageable ways rather than trying to make drastic changes all at once.
Research also shows that having students self-report what they are learning has a huge impact on their educational success.
Step 5: Adjust and Improve Each Week
By regularly reflecting and making small tweaks, students will naturally improve their time management skills, balance responsibilities with fun, and build better habits over time.
Remember, progress not perfection.
The Bottom Line
Helping students plan their ideal week gives them a long-term vision for their time, helping them balance responsibilities and free time.
Here’s a simple process to guide them.
1. Map out an ideal week in Google Sheets.
2. Color-code health, wealth, and relationships.
3. Time block instead of over-scheduling.
4. Review weekly.
5. Adjust as needed.
Hope this helps 🤙🏻
P.S. If you want to work on executive function skills with your students, consider joining hundreds of other educators and parents who have completed my Semester Success Blueprint Course. In less than 2 hours, this comprehensive course will teach you and your student the system I developed to help hundreds of students learn how to manage school effectively and raise their self-awareness and engagement with school.
About Me
Hey! I'm Sean 👋
I'm a former public school special education teacher who realized that executive function skills are more important than knowing when George Washington crossed the Potomac.
Since then, I've made it my mission to teach anyone who will listen about how to develop these key life skills.
In 2020, I founded Executive Function Specialists to ensure all students with ADHD and Autism have access to high-quality online executive function coaching services. We offer online EF coaching and courses to help students and families.
Realizing I could only reach so many people through coaching, in 2021 I started the Executive Function Coaching Academy which trains schools, educators, and individuals to learn the key strategies to improve executive function skills for students.
In 2023, I co-founded of UpSkill Specialists, to provide neurodivergent adults with high-quality executive function coaching services.
When not pursuing my passions through work, I love spending time with my family, getting exercise, and growing my brain through reading. You can connect with me on LinkedIn.