5 steps to planning

My most asked question is…

 

How do I start planning and how do I stick with it?

 

 

Hello Dear,

I hope this post finds you well.

Let me start off by saying that I know that planning isn’t easy if you have never done it before. I also know from watching so many YouTube videos that it can look easy while watching someone else do it. Someone else’s planner page might look nice because they have used colour pens, stickers or even painted a lovely picture on the pages they have used. What you have to remember is that the planners you see on Instagram or YouTube, the person behind the planning started off just as overwhelmed as you might feel now.

I can’t expect people to be able to follow a routine or even get to places on time from the get-go. If this, has never really been your priority or if this wasn’t a norm in your family, then how could you know how it’s done?

As a British military child and 1/2  German, planning is fed into you with your morning cornflakes. This is what you hear every morning…

  • Leave the house on time so you don’t miss the bus.
  • Go a little earlier so that if you do forget something you still have time to run back home and get it.
  • I hope you packed everything in your schoolbag last night because you don’t have time in the mornings to do so.
  • Have you laid out your school uniform for tomorrow?

Also, getting out of the house early I had way more time talking to friends at the bus stop. And for me, it was time enough to scream at Chris and get into an argument on the way there. He just loved to tease me and make me mad, I do believe it was a game he loved to play. Remember I’m not a morning person so it was easy to get me mad.

So, to help you a little I’m going to give you 5 easy to follow steps to planning. These are the steps…

Step 1. Journal
Step 2. Highlight your to-dos
Step 3. Prioritise your to-dos
Step 4. Schedule them into your planner
Step 5. Do them

Easy!!!

If you do these steps every day, then you will never have a problem again!!!
HOLD ON SUSAN!!!! I don’t understand what Journaling has to do with planning?????

Journaling

Journaling has everything to do with planning and here is why.

For me, journaling is a tool that I use to drop my thoughts down on paper. All my worries all my anger, all my ideas for my business or life in general, the pros and cons of my ideas and my fears. I write down all my visions and questions that come up throughout the day. Do I want to give up teaching is one question that I’m working on right now? Do I want to buy a house, if yes then why? Gratitude is also written down in my journal in between the good times and the bad, mostly when the thought pops into my head.

You have to get all your crap out of your head and down on paper.  Start writing how your night’s sleep was or what happened the day before. What gets at you that makes you just want to pull your hair out. Scream on that page, say/write things that you can’t tell others. A journal doesn’t have to be a happy place it can be a place to write down mindless things. Go back and forth on ideas that you have. Reflect on past situations, did I say something wrong to someone, is there a way I can change things? Believe me, you will begin to feel way better.

Finding the answers

The longer you write the more time you will find answers to the problems that have been taking way too much space and time in your head/thoughts. You may even see your own mistakes in how you handled a situation. Most of the time you will see an answer to your problem right in front of you. I must say though, you might “not see the forest for all of the trees” and it may take you a few hours, or going about your day to really see and understand the answer. Then all of a sudden you find that you have had the answer all along, on that page.

Ok, so that was a little about journaling your fears hopes and dreams.

How is this helping you with your planning?

As soon as you have all that out, you are left with space to visualise. Your mind is now clear and you can now focus on what is really important. How would you like your day to go? What is it that you have to do that day, what appointments do you have to go to? Are you happy with things that are coming up or would you like to change them? How would you change things up? How would you like a meeting to go, are you worried about things going wrong? How would you like to feel while doing that meeting, what’s your plan A and B?

NOW, write as long as you can, again journaling can take up to hours to get everything out. So you need to have time in your day to do this.

Make time in the mornings to journal.

I get up earlier so that I have enough time to journal. As you all know I’m not a morning person. Buuuttt I have learned that getting up earlier gives me plenty of time to wake up, and not scream my bad mood at people. I find that this is way better for everyone who comes in contact with me 😉 I then empty my thoughts on paper and start my day correctly, this helps me get more of the important things done and not ponder on crapy stuff.

So, if you are really not a morning person and you know you don’t want to make time for journaling, then journal just before going to bed. As long as you journal, it really doesn’t matter what time of day you do it. Just do it!

Now for step 2.

Highlight your to-dos

More on that next week. For now, all I would like you to do is start journaling!!!

Have fun with it.

Oh before you go, leave some of your journaling worries below in the comments.

 

Happy journaling Dear,

Yours

 

 

 

 

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2 thoughts on “5 steps to planning”

  1. Oh I love this post! Planning always looks so easy and glamorous on Instagram and YouTube – but that is definitely not the case when I try to do my planning.

    I love that you’ve broken the process down into steps. I wouldn’t have necessarily though that journaling could help with planning but I can see now how it fits into the planning process. I’m going to try journaling in the evenings before bed.

    Looking forward to reading part 2 soon! 🙂

    Reply

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