Last week, I asked:
If someone only looked at your calendar, what would they conclude matters most to you?
It turned out that question led me to another one.
If I don't like the answer...
What should I do differently?
That's where this week's essay begins.
Because a reader shared something with me I haven't been able to stop thinking about.
She calls it her personal success formula.
Every Sunday she asks herself:
What would make this a good week?
When I read that, I realized something. She'd already decided what mattered before Monday even arrived.
Maybe that's the missing step.
Maybe before we fill our calendars...
We should first decide what a life well lived actually looks like.
What would make this a good week?
Not a productive week.
Not an impressive week.
A good week.
She shared a few of the things on her list, and I found myself thinking...
What if I tried that?
So this week, I decided to create my own version.
Not because I wanted another checklist.
But because I wanted to see what would happen if I defined a good week before the week had a chance to define it for me; before life just consumed the every day.
A good week, for me, looks like...
Not perfect. Not letting perfection be the enemy of good.
Not 100% optimized.
Not "having it all together," but more than just surviving...
A good week.
Good Energy
Moving my body in some form or fashion every day.
Getting enough sleep.
Eating in a way that gives me energy instead of simply getting me through the day.
Because I've learned that when I take care of myself first, I show up differently for everyone else.
Solid Connection
Being fully present with my husband and my boys; being fully present at work during meetings and with my team.
Not simply sharing the same space, but actually being there.
Phone down. Mind present.
Listening more than rushing.
Meaningful Progress
Writing & creating.
Showing up for my team and the patients I go to work for every day.
Doing work that leaves something—or someone—a little better than I found them.
The kind of progress that feels aligned, not just accomplished.
Enough Space
Protecting time where nothing is expected from me.
No deadlines.
No notifications.
No pressure to produce.
Because I've realized that space isn't the reward after the work.
It's often where the best thinking—and the best version of me—shows up.
As I looked at my own list, something struck me.
None of it would impress anyone.
There was nothing about promotions or titles.
Nothing about doing more.
Instead, it was filled with ordinary things.
Movement.
Connection.
Presence.
Space.
Things that would probably never appear on a résumé.
And yet...
I couldn't shake the feeling that they were the very things most likely to determine whether this week felt meaningful.
It made me realize something.
The things that matter most in our lives are often the easiest to leave until later.
Not because we don't value them.
Because they're rarely urgent.
Work is urgent.
Emails are urgent.
Deadlines are urgent.
A walk with your spouse usually isn't.
Reading with your child isn't.
Sitting quietly with a coffee isn't.
Until one day...
We realize those ordinary moments weren't interruptions to life.
They were life.
Upon reflection, my definition of a good week was built almost entirely around things that would never appear on a performance review.
And that made me stop.
Because I couldn't shake the feeling that those invisible moments were the very things most likely to help me build a life I actually wanted to live.
Which made me wonder...
Have we become so busy building our lives...
that we've forgotten to ask whether we're building the right one?
Earlier this week on the podcast, we talked about systems.
In Episode 003 of the podcast, I shared a framework called EASE.
The idea was simple.
Extraordinary lives are rarely built through extraordinary moments.
They're built through ordinary systems repeated consistently.
That's also why I created The Ordinary Advantage: Everyday Systems Builder field guide.
Not to help us become more productive.
To help us become more intentional.
But as I sat with my own "good week formula," I realized something.
Even the best systems need something they're designed to protect.
Otherwise, we're simply becoming more efficient at living someone else's priorities.
Systems need a destination.
Imagine building the world's most sophisticated GPS.
It recalculates instantly. Avoids traffic and never loses signal.
But no one ever tells it where they're trying to go.
That's what many of us are doing.
We optimize, automate, color-code, and time-block.
We become incredibly efficient, but we rarely stop long enough to ask:
Efficient toward what, exactly?
Maybe a good week shouldn't be an accident.
Life will always surprise us.
Kiddos get sick; meetings run over; flights get delayed; deadlines and goalposts move.
This isn't about controlling every hour, but rather it's about protecting a few.
Because if we don't consciously decide what makes a week meaningful...
Urgency will decide for us every single time.
This week's experiment
So here's what I'm trying this week.
Before Monday had a chance to fill itself...
I scheduled four things.
One thing to protect my energy.
One thing to strengthen a relationship.
One thing to make meaningful progress.
One pocket of space.
Not because I expect the week to go perfectly.
But because I want to know that no matter what happens...
Some part of it still belonged to me.
Maybe you'd like to try it too.
This Week’s Wider Question
Before this next week disappears...
Ask yourself:
At the end of this week, what would need to have happened for me to honestly say...
"That was a good week."
Then...
Put those things on your calendar first.
Because calendars don't reveal intentions.
They reveal commitments.
Continue the Conversation
If today's reflection resonated with you, there are two places I'd love you to continue exploring.
We explore why lasting change rarely comes from dramatic overhauls—and why small, intentional systems shape extraordinary lives over time.
I've also created a free guide to help you turn reflection into action. It's designed to help you build simple systems that support the life you're intentionally trying to create.
You'll find both at The Wider Measure.
Before you go
One thing I've realized recently is this:
A good life isn't built at the end of the year or at the end of a career.
It's built one ordinary week at a time.
And maybe...
The question isn't whether this week was productive.
Or impressive.
Or even successful.
Maybe the better question is...
Did this week look enough like the life I'm trying to build that I'd be happy to live it again?
Because perhaps the widest measure of success...
Isn't having more good days.
It's intentionally creating more good weeks.
Because good weeks compound.
And one day, you'll realize you didn't stumble into a meaningful life.
You built one—one ordinary week at a time.