Resonance – Episode 13
Verbatim Transcript
Speaker: Viktoria Levenberg
Wait so you mean like plan time to plan and like when I implemented this everything shifted
and the less you do the more productive you become, the more you actually get done. It’s
wild. It’s just like this wild phenomenon that occurs. My goodness this has the potential of
actually changing how you see your to do list for the rest of your life.
All right welcome. Welcome. At the time of today’s recording, it is Sunday, and Sunday is
generally the day that I do my planning. And so as I was reflecting this morning, I felt really
inspired to share a little bit about planning with you, because I think it is so important and it
is like so closely intertwined with our day to day life, our work, how um stressed we may get.
I mean, to be honest, time management is such a precursor to a lot of overwhelm, overwork
and stress, um and generally poor time management, which is a slightly bit of a different
topic, but planning does definitely play in that same realm.
And really stress mostly occurs when the amount of output required, like what is expected of
us, what we feel like we need to deliver, is greater than the resources that we have available.
Right so like that’s often when our nervous system comes out of resonance. It’s when we are
overwhelmed. We are just — there is too much input and not enough resource to navigate
that, right.
And so if, like just like with anything, if you think about it like resources, human resources in
your workplace, right like there is someone who is responsible for the human resources in
the business, the people and what roles they fill and how they spend their time etcetera. Um
even when I was like in one of my really old roles, back out in trade with um reps going out to
stores etcetera, and I used to coach them, what the very first step of their 6 steps to a call —
which is kind of how they approach their day to day job — was plan and prepare, right.
Like I feel that planning is such a core integral component of our life that if you don’t do it, or
you get it wrong, I mean like you could get by, depending on your lifestyle and where you are
and what you do etcetera, but chances are you’ll probably be better off if you give it a little
bit of attention.
Now I do wanna acknowledge that you know not all of us like to plan. Um I mean personally I
love planning. I’m like this is — I could totally nerd out on this for days. I am known as the
organised queen of doing all the things and time management and planning and like project
management and this is like, this is my jam. Like my brain just works that way. And then there
are other people whose brain work in other ways, as they call it organised chaos.
Uh my mom is one of those people and we had very interesting dynamics when we used to
live together as I was growing up, because um our brains just simply worked in completely
different ways. So I just wanted to share that, like as I um share with you some of the things
that I do, if it resonates and you wanna take something away, awesome. But if it doesn’t, like
that is also okay. It doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with you. I don’t have it all
figured out. I’m just sharing from my lived experience of what’s worked for me.
And you know my way of planning and being and doing have also changed and evolved quite
significantly. So yeah, this is kind of what’s real right now. I’ll give you little glimpses of what
has been the case in the past, and you can do with this information whatever you wish.
Maybe it’ll inspire a new way for you altogether, or um maybe you still, at the end of the
episode, feel like you don’t need to plan. And if your life’s been going well so far, then no
need to change it.
But if you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, overworked, really anxious with the amount of
things to do, and missing deadlines and projects to keep track of, and ugh just so much
admin, right — like planning really helps. It really does.
Welcome to Resonance, a podcast for ambitious heart-led humans craving more balance,
depth, and aliveness in their lives. I’m your host Vik, health coach, yoga teacher, facilitator,
and fellow high achiever learning to live in tune with my nervous system, not against it.
This space is here to remind you that you can have it all — the career, the success, the
fulfilment — all aligned with your truth. Through honest conversations, expert insights, and
practical tools, we’ll explore how to work with your body, mind, emotions, and spirit, not
against them.
And the best part? You don’t have to stay stuck in survival mode to get there. Because true
well-being is not about being perfect, it’s about being in resonance. Let’s dive in.
So let’s dive into the five critical steps of planning your life. I mean, I don’t know what I’m
gonna call this episode, but I know there’s five things I’ve kind of wanted to share today. So
it’s gonna be the five something — insert catchy title here haha. Anyway.
So step No. 1: like plan. Actually. I mean I know it sounds really obvious, but look, if um you
are not getting anything done, or it feels like there’s just so much coming into your field — be
it from your boss, your manager, your organization, your own ideas, your family, your spouse,
your kids — like if you’re kind of feeling just a little bit scattered, just start here. Just start:
plan.
Because if — that’s probably the reason why that is the case, is that you simply don’t have a
structure or an organised system in place that is going to help set you up for success.
Now here’s a great example of that. My uh manager at my current day job was telling me
about how him and his family were just, you know, going through renovations and quite a lot
going on and um there was like a couple of uh I don’t know, band rehearsals, kid-related
activities that the kids missed because um the kids are kids and they’re just kind of living
about their life, but the parents weren’t kind of keeping track of their calendars and um so
they missed a few things. And that’s fine, like it’s not the end of the world, right.
But it’s really interesting just to see how like the um kids weren’t planned and the parents
weren’t planned, and as a result thereof, kind of things started to fall off. So yeah, I think
start here: plan.
I used to say “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” I’m no longer as strict, so I didn’t necessarily
want to put this out there, but that is what my mentality used to be. Um I just — yeah, I think
it’s really important to plan.
And I remember one of my clients who I was sitting with, and we were kind of talking about
planning, and I was brainstorming ideas with her about how she could plan her week ahead
and her days, because that’s kind of what was important for her at the time. But she felt like
she just wasn’t doing any of it or wasn’t even sitting down to look ahead at what she wanted
to accomplish.
And so I suggested the idea of actually putting a reminder on her fridge, which seemed to be
working really well for some other habits, to plan on a Sunday for the week ahead. And she’s
like, “Wait, so you mean like plan time to plan?” And like I will just never forget the look on
her face, like how that blew her mind. And I thought that was so funny.
Because at the end of the day, like it actually didn’t end up working for her, because her brain
works differently and that wasn’t the best solution for her. Yet like compare it to someone
like me: I have a reminder every week on a Sunday in my calendar. It’s like my weekly
planning ritual. I have one every month for the month ahead. I have one every quarter. Like I
have one once a year. You know, it’s just so funny just to see how different people operate.
So yeah, No. 1: plan. Um No. 2: my goodness, this has the potential of actually changing how
you see your to do list for the rest of your life. Because when I implemented this, everything
shifted.
So, I used to be one of those people that used to have a daily to do list. I would never get
anything — or sorry, let me put it this way — I would never get everything done. I would
always keep moving stuff to the next day, to the next day, and it always just piled up.
I was kind of um, you know what, how they say like you’re eating the cake with your eyes.
Like you um get yourself a slice of cake that’s bigger than what you can eat, or like you bite
off more than you can chew. So that’s what I was doing with my time. I was um setting myself
up for failure so to say. And yeah, I actually did that for a really long time unfortunately.
And it wasn’t until uh in my personal life I shifted to weekly planning instead that things just
absolutely shifted.
Because here’s the thing: especially if you are a female — and I’ll talk about this a little bit
more in another episode — but the reality is you have a cycle. Even if you’re not a cycling
female, even if you’ve gone through menopause, or you know, you don’t menstruate, even if
you are male, or maybe you do not identify as male or female, the truth is we actually all are
cyclical beings.
Because even if it’s not happening kind of in our body, it is happening with the different
seasons of the moon. And I’m not gonna kind of tangent on this, because there will be
another episode on this anyway.
But um the reality is there are times in our weeks, in months, where we have more energy,
and there are times where we have less energy. And the big difference actually between men
and women here is that um the male hormone cycle — so that their testosterone peaks at
midday. It’s very much like the sun, right. If we think about the sun peaking at midday, the
male hormone cycle peaks at midday, and then they come back down at the end of the day,
and they go to sleep, and then it refreshes right away the next day.
For women — most women, especially cycling women — that is not necessarily the case. It
actually ebbs and flows throughout the entire month. And that’s as far as I’m gonna go into
detail here, because there will be another episode on this.
But you just need to understand this: that you cannot predict how you will feel on any given
day. And just putting things on the to do list for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, just arbitrarily out there, is inevitably setting yourself up for failure.
Because like what if you’re not in the mood on that day, or what if you feel inspired to work
on something else?
So what I have now implemented in both my personal life and business is that I do weekly
planning. So I have a weekly to do list of things that I need and want to get done. And then as
I navigate throughout my week, like I’m really able to tap into my energy, my mental state,
my emotional state, my capacity, and other things going on in life, and pull from that weekly
bucket.
Um now of course, it doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t have like daily things, right. Like I still
have things like okay, I know this needs to be done by this date, so I know I need to like focus
on it in the days leading up to it. Or like there’s specific things that need to be done on a
certain day, or it’s a reminder or whatever. Of course there’s still like daily tasks or reminders.
But that’s not your to do list. Like that should never be your to do list. Your to do list should
never be limited just to a day, because that is not sustainable in the long run.
Um I will say that at work I still have a daily to do list, but that is because I have mastered
boundaries, and I have mastered time management, and I have mastered forecasting the
exact amount of time that things will take me that I can get that granular. So that is like years
and years of experience and self-awareness.
Um so if you can, I do highly recommend to just have a weekly to do list instead.
Now um on that I am gonna just do like a um a little side tangent because that’s actually No.
3. I should have gone back to No. 2 — oh I’m sorry, I kind of digressed. I just saw weekly and I
started talking about the weekly to do list, right. But um No. 2 is actually do your planning
weekly.
So sit down once a week and plan ahead, because if you are not sitting down right now at
least once a week and planning for the week ahead, again you are inevitably setting yourself
up for some kind of mishaps.
Because like right now, I have my weekly planning ritual every week. It’s quite elaborate —
you don’t need to go to that extent — but I like reflect on the week that’s been, look at the
week ahead, look at my cycle, what’s going on with the world, with my calendar, with uh kind
of corporate work, personal business work, um like with Cam’s work, with uh Piper, what’s
the weather doing, because it’s gonna be pouring down rain when we need to walk Piper.
Like all these things kind of come into play to help set ourselves up for success. And especially
if you are in a family unit, if you have a partner, if you have kids, this is so important, because
you actually have so much to manage, right. Like there’s probably like kids’ tennis classes and
dance recitals and the bake sale, and then you’ve got this deadline at work, and then the car
needs servicing, and you’ve got the tradies coming in on Tuesday. And like can you see how
like quickly that can all add up?
And like I, it really makes me feel quite anxious when I see people just like doing this day by
day and just kind of winging it, because I’m just like oh jeez. It’s just not how I work. If it
works for you, cool. It doesn’t work for me.
So yeah I highly suggest sitting down weekly, just looking at the week ahead and planning
ahead. And if you are in that partnership or family unit, also doing that together and being
like okay hey, I might need your help with this or what, what is your week looking like.
And so an example of like what that looks like for Cam and I is um like specific days where
one of us may need to really commit to walking Piper in the morning than the other. So like I
know that um he has really busy Monday mornings because that’s when they rack up their
sales and do all the reporting. So I know that my Monday mornings like I am in charge of
Piper.
But then there may be other times where say like I need to come into the office early, or like I
used to teach yoga um really early in the morning and I was like okay well actually can you
look after her on that day, um etcetera. So that really helps us communicate um and reach
out for help early when we’re regulated, when we’re in resonance, rather than getting to the
day and be like oh my God, I thought you were gonna do it, now you’re gonna do it.
Like that’s just unnecessary conflict. It doesn’t need to exist. You don’t need it. Just sit down,
plan. Doesn’t need to take long. Like sometimes it only takes me a couple minutes, but
because I love planning I generally give myself much more time, cause it fills up my cup.
So that was actually No. 2: weekly. Sit down once a week, plan ahead.
Now No. 3 was the weekly to do list which we’ve already spoken about. Um but also as part
of this weekly planning, here’s like a sub um opportunity for you, or like a sub tip: do a weekly
meal plan. And like it doesn’t have to be super elaborate and like super organised, but like
there’s something about putting pen to paper, or whatever, typing keyboard on the
spreadsheet, like creating a visual that just maps out your week um and allows you to see the
big picture of like what’s happening.
And again this works really well for us for multiple reasons. One: like from a time
management perspective, um Cam and I can communicate in advance of like who’s on dinner
duty, um or like if one of us needs to sort ourselves out because the other is like out with a
friend or work meeting or something, um so that just really helps again communicate at
home of um like hey, I’m teaching yoga that night, can you do this. Or hey, I’m gonna have a
really busy big week at work, I might need you to lean in a little bit more. Like it just helps
knowing that in advance from the time perspective.
But then actually also from a financial perspective it really helps optimise groceries and cut
back on food waste, because we’re able to look at that week ahead and be like okay, like
breakfast, lunch, dinners. Um and we’re not perfect at it, like we still leave margin for error,
and sometimes you don’t feel like cooking, like no whatever, let’s just get some Uber Eats,
right. Like I’m not perfect, we all do it.
Um but the intention is there, we start that way and then we pivot as we need to as the days
go by. And so what that means is that like we can get the ingredients that we need. So as we
come into the week, like right now for example, I know what’s in my fridge and I know what
I’m going to be eating, like today’s Sunday, pretty much until Saturday. Um which is pretty
freaking cool.
And we’ve been doing this for ages, it’s been working really well for us.
Um so No. 1: plan. No. 2: set a time to plan weekly if you can. No. 3: stick your to do list to
weekly only rather than daily, and if you can also suggest doing a weekly meal plan. Um that
comes into this because it’s one less thing to think about.
Then number four — and this ties into your weekly to do list. This one might be hard,
especially for my ambitious high achievers or my little overachievers out there. Hello, fellow
workaholic in the house right here. I feel you, I know it’s hard. I still have to remind myself
every week.
Three priorities max. Like just keep your weekly to do list to three priorities maximum every
week. And like my to do list is literally laid out in that way. Like it’s like okay, key priorities,
and I know I’m not allowed to put more than three bullet points in there. And then
everything else is a bonus. Like it’s like okay cool, it’s like when I’m in my flow state or they’re
like quick and easy actions that like aren’t that important, they’re quite trivial, you know like.
But the big rocks: three priorities max. Because otherwise if you’re trying to do too much,
you’re spreading yourself too thin. There is a loss of productivity that comes with trying to do
it all at once. And again I’ll probably talk about this more in another episode.
So as hard as that may sound, I truly guarantee it is a game-changer, because you’ll notice
actually the more you start to implement this into your life and the less you do, the more
productive you become, the more you actually get done. It’s wild. It’s just like this wild
phenomenon that occurs.
And your tip No. 5 is put it in the calendar.
If you don’t use a calendar, um God save your soul — no, I’m kidding hahaha. Um I, I don’t
know how you function in today’s world, to be honest, but uh no I’m joking. Look if you don’t
use a calendar, you probably want to start playing with it because it will make your life so
much easier. Whether it’s like in a journal or in your phone or in your laptop, I don’t really
care, but some kind of way to help you visualise and structure your time.
Um and what do I mean by putting it in the calendar? Um put those priorities in the calendar.
Like put the time you think you will need for those priorities, and be generous, probably add
another 20% of that into your calendar, and then actually honour it and follow through with
it.
Because if it ain’t on the calendar, it probably ain’t happening. And that was a uh bit of a
spiral that I found myself in for quite a long time, especially in my business, where like I would
have all these dreams, like all these big things, like even bringing this podcast to life, right.
Like it would be on the to do list, but it wasn’t in the calendar, so it just wasn’t happening
because like there actually was no time blocked out for that to happen.
And it’s one thing to put something on the calendar, but then it’s another to honour it. So
here is a living, breathing example: right now it is Sunday, it is about four fifteen PM. I at 2:00
had a reminder for my weekly Money Love Date, and after that my weekly planning ritual in
my calendar. Am I doing those things right now? Obviously not, because I felt a wave of
inspiration to record a couple of episodes for you, and I know that that is just me honouring
kind of what’s being present and what’s coming up.
And that doesn’t mean that the other things won’t happen. Like again, we allow room for
flexibility. I’m like cool, after this I’m gonna go meditate, wind down, and then head into my
Money Love Date and my planning. Like that’s fine, it’s, you know, a couple hours isn’t gonna
break my whole system. Um but just putting it there is a really, really great reminder.
And putting things on the calendar has actually been really helpful for me in developing other
habits, like my daily twice a day 15 minute meditation practice, like my daily yoga nidra
practice, like getting my booty to the gym even when I don’t feel like it, you know.
So there’s power in putting something on the calendar. I don’t know, it just does something
to your subconscious that it’s like it’s a meeting with yourself, it is happening. And the more
you honour it, the more self-efficacy you build to uh build that trust in yourself, that you will
continue to honour it and keep that consistency going again and again and again.
And I know I said it was five tips, but one just really came up to kind of round it all together is
um allow margin for error. Like just give yourself some space to breathe. You know, um for a
really long time — and again, as someone who is an overachiever, a workaholic, and loves to
plan — sometimes I fall into that trap in the tendency of trying to overplan things and like
really cram too much in. Um and that never ends well. Um so don’t do what I did, because I
learned from it the hard way.
Um instead I really do recommend just you know keeping that awareness going and checking
in with yourself and what’s true for you in that moment. And you know if something doesn’t
get done this week, is it really that important? Like even if it’s a deadline, do you know that
most deadlines are arbitrary anyway? Like they’re just made up. Just ask for an extension.
There is no need for you to add additional stress onto yourself, like to put your nervous
system at even more pressure just to hit a deadline that’s just not necessary.
So those are my five tips to really feeling organised and structured and planned in your life. I
mean I could speak for hours about this, but anyways.
So to summarise: No. 1 is plan. If you’re not doing it already, make sure you start there. No. 2
is plan weekly. So sit down once a week and plan ahead. No. 3 is if you have a to do list that’s
currently daily, change it to a weekly to do list. Number four is only allow three priorities on
that weekly to do list. Everything else is either a nice to have or like a tiny little admin thing,
like oh yeah I need to send that one email or whatever, like nothing big. No. 5: put it in the
calendar and honour it.
Okay so I would really love to hear your feedback, you know like which of these five steps
resonates the most with you. Where are you at, or maybe has this sparked something else for
you that you would like to play with. And maybe you pick one of these and implement it this
week and just watch your whole life change. Like watch what happens. Or maybe it doesn’t
resonate and you find something else. Like meet yourself where you are.
Um and I would really love love love to hear your reflections and thoughts as you do give this
a try.
So thank you so much for listening to me no doubt about planning and organising things
today. I could talk about this for hours. So um this is definitely not the end of what you’ll be
hearing here. Um but in the meantime, I wish you a beautiful, beautiful rest of your day and
look forward to seeing you next time. Bye-bye.
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The views and opinions expressed by guests on Resonance are their own, and do not
necessarily reflect the views of me, Viktoria Levenberg, LVNHealth, or anyone working within
the LVNHealth brand. This space welcomes a diversity of ideas, experiences, and stories. Part
of Resonance is learning to take what aligns, and gently leaving the rest.
Also, while I am a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach and deeply passionate
about well-being, this podcast is intended for educational and inspirational purposes only.
Resonance does not substitute personalised medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice.
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