A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action makes your dreams come true. – Greg S. Reid
I have never been a planner. I always felt like making plans just set you up to have them messed up, so better to not make them. Like so many of life’s lessons, I had to learned this the hard way. Planning is ESSENTIAL. Without a plan you’re just floating through daily life, kind of aimlessly. While it’s sounds nice to be so blasé about life, it’s just not realistic. Especially once you’re a grown up and have other people relying on you for things. {Darn kids.} There’s a saying that failing to plan is planning to fail. And I think this is true, on so many levels. If I don’t have at least a rough, for me, written idea of what my day looks like, absolutely nothing gets accomplished. I mean, of course I eat and (most of the time) feed my kids. But real, actual life affirming things don’t happen without some planning in place.
So I started a (kind of) brain dump at the end of each day, where I put a rough sketch of the following day in place. I look at my monthly calendar and make sure I put down anything that is scheduled (doctor appointments, meetings, kids’ activities, etc.) and I put in ALL the other things….my chores, when I’m going to get my writing done, workouts, playdates, what’s for dinner (and any prep needed) and so on. I don’t put things that are already a daily habit, like meditation, since I don’t have to consciously plan for it anymore. I also write down any To Do’s I have, like phone calls I need to make, things I may need to pick up, etc. Making this rough draft helps get it all out of my head and onto paper so I’m not going through the next day thinking crap I meant to do ‘x’ and I forgot. And I’m also not worrying about it all night while I’m supposed to be sleeping. {Double score!}
I’m an old school girl, I like to see things checked off, so I use my planner to keep this all in one place, but even a scrap piece of paper would work. (I’m sharing a photo of my most recent brain dump over on Instagram and Facebook to show you what mine looks like). You could use the notes app in your phone, google calendar or any number of apps if you like your lists a little more techy! Habit List is an app I’ve used that lets you create daily lists with times, frequency and even reminders. (This is great if your trying to create daily habits like drinking more water, exercising, or any of the other daily habits we’ve been adding in each day). It’s only on iOS, but there’s a similar app for android called Habit Streak .
The important part is getting it out of your head and somewhere tangible (even if it’s virtual) so that these annoying things can stop distracting you and allow for more productive use of your brain. Try it tonight!
Light and Love,
♥k