I’m not fond of meetings. But there’s one I’ve been having every single week that I just won’t skip: the one i have with my wife.
Our weekly meeting is crucial because it allows both of us to map out the week ahead for our work and the household. During our meeting, we’ll do some (or all) of the following:
- Plan meals for the week
- Discuss finances
- Review the calendar for the next two weeks
- Explore and close off any open loops we might have at home
- Touch base on Productivityist business matters that she needs to cover (and that I need to cover with her)
In order to help you map out a slid weekly meeting with your life partner, here are four basic guidelines:
1. Block out 45 minutes of time for the meeting
After experimenting with different lengths of time, we’ve settled on 45 minutes as the best option. That timeframe gives us enough time to cover the absolute necessities without worrying about missing something along the way.
2. Set an agenda
This should go without saying, but if you go into the meeting with your life partner without some sort of agenda then you’re setting yourself up for an unfocused session. While we’ve started using Less Meeting for our meetings, I’ve made a habit of entering a brief bullet point agenda in the calendar appointment as well since my wife is more familiar with Google Calendar then Less Meeting right now.
3. Cover aspects of home and work business
My wife and I are working together more and more on Productivityist, but we’ve been working on our “home” business for over a decade. That home stuff plays a hug role in both of us being able to handle what we need to do at work. Knowing that our meals are planned for the week – along with who is going to prepare them – is tremendous to have mapped out in advance. It sets up expectations accordingly and yet still leaves room for flexibility if the need arises. Discussing our finances at a scheduled time every week keeps us far more aligned with our budget and has warded off arguments that money can cause. Looking ahead to what’s on our calendar over the next two weeks keeps us from double-booking (or overbooking) ourselves and our family.
4. Keep the day and time consistent
There are very few things that are standing appointments in my calendar, but this meeting with my wife is one of them. Keeping it locked at a specific day and time (Mondays at 9:00 am) means that we can prepare for it regularly and schedule things around it instead of trying to fit it in where we can. We’re fortunate enough that we can schedule it on Monday mornings; you might not have that option. If that’s the case, find another day and time that you and your life partner can have a focused (and as distraction-free as possible) meeting. If that means putting on a show for the kids, so be it. This meeting is that important.
If having a meeting your boss and co-workers is something you do every week, then it’s more than worthwhile to have one with the person you are spending your life with. They play a huge part in crafting the life you want to live, so give both of you the time you deserve to craft it accordingly.
If you want to make your one meeting better (and make all of your meetings substantially better in the process) then I encourage you to check out Meeting Makeover, a product I co-created for Productivityist with meeting facilitation expert John Poelstra. It consists of an audio program with transcripts, a companion e-guide, worksheets, and more all for only $39! When you consider that a total of 37 BILLION dollars is wasted in unproductive meetings every year, saying that Meeting Makeover is a remarkable value would be an understatement! You can get Meeting Makeover here.
