I’m a Planner!
I have always been a planner and loved calendars. I like putting things on my calendar, and my friends know this about me. If I say I’m putting it on my calendar, that means it’s done. I’m committed. In the old days (the 90’s), I carried around a Classic-sized Franklin Planner.
Yes, I did; I had a big purse.
And if we were at dinner and someone said, “We should do this or that…”, I would whip out my calendar and could say “yea or nay” on the spot. Sometimes, I would remind my friends that we already had plans as a group. Now, I whip out my phone, and my digital calendar is synched across all my devices. And sometimes I’m still in charge of the group.
Some people think planning and calendaring things will hem you in, but I would offer that the opposite is true. It frees you up to create, and live, the life you want. Planning and managing your time will make every other aspect of your life better. When you plan, you are using your prefrontal cortex (the most evolved part of your brain) to create your future self. And If you honor that plan, you will become the person you want to be at a high level. But let’s bring it back to everyday life for a minute to see just how the transformation takes place on a base level.
When you manage your mind and your time, you are not frazzled and hurried and feeling like you are being knocked and dragged about by life. You are not late because you’re running around looking for your keys. Or realizing at the last minute that your son has soccer after school and needs his uniforms, but you haven’t done laundry. Or realizing that you’re out of coffee creamer because you shopped in a rush on your way home because you forgot about the family Zoom call after work. Or being pulled over for a ticket because your car registration is out of date. AND, you are not missing out on fun events because you are under the wire and have to catch up on things that are now urgent and can’t be ignored or pushed to a later date.
When you plan your day and your activities intentionally, you know exactly when you will get things done; you are not stressed and constantly zoning out on what you are doing because you are thinking about what you “should” be doing.
As you get your calendar organized and really begin to honor that commitment to yourself, the other pieces of your life will start to fall into place. Once you have your daily routines down, you can slowly build on that and implement change in other areas. Or you can truly enjoy your downtime without thoughts of “shoulds” in your head. You would be surprised at how quickly small shifts can lead to dramatic changes.
And as you get more organized, it becomes easier and easier to implement other changes because you don’t have to put so much effort into the things that are now routine. You are not always running behind, trying to catch up, and it starts with calendaring the basic things and committing to your calendar so they aren’t constantly nagging at you. Then you have time to venture into other projects and areas if you choose to!
The goal is not about being more productive and doing things more efficiently, to then just add more stuff to your plate. It is about having the time and space to live your life intentionally. It Is about deciding how you want to live your life and living it!
Your Day. Your Life. Your Dreams. Your Way.