An Ode: Three Compelling Reasons To Plan and Calendar
Before diving into calendaring tactics, I want to write an "ode" to planning ahead and using our calendars religiously.
Planning is freedom
The ticket to the life you want
Unsubscribe from a time scarcity mindset
Live consciously with intention
And manifest your fun
Most people would agree that it’s important but they frequently procrastinate or don’t follow through on their schedule.
Our kids are classic examples of not wanting to plan. When it’s time for our weekly family planning meeting on Sundays they whine and they drag their feet. They’d rather play on their computers and they lamely argue that they’d rather be spontaneous and free to do as they please. But to function well as a family unit with varying and competing schedules, we need to coordinate and plan together. So to get the kids to show up we spice up the meetings sometimes with family game time, dessert and their weekly allowance. 😁
But for the adult brains out there who make the same argument that planning infringes on their spontaneity, I’d like to offer that planning ahead actually allows you to be more spontaneous by creating more free time in your lives and more time for fun.
It is your ticket to freedom and the life you want. Your pass to living a conscious and deliberate life.
As if that isn’t enough to have you singing amen, here are three more reasons I’m a huge fan of planning ahead and putting things on my calendar and doing my best to follow through:
1) It allows us to be more present.
It allows us to be more present with ourselves, our kids, our spouses and loved ones. Who doesn’t want to be more clear headed these days?
When we are in the habit of getting our long to do lists out of our brains and onto paper, prioritizing them, transferring them to the calendar and then getting them done we’re no longer burdened by the constant drain in our heads of having to keep up with those thoughts that spin in our heads about what needs to get done next. Thoughts like:
When is that project going to get done?
When am I going to call Sally back?
I need to remember to pay Joe $400.
I need to sign up for guitar lessons.
There is no more wondering. You can be fully present in the moment because you’ve established a record of showing up for yourself and having your own back. You trust your future self to get things done. Everything on your calendar is as good as done. It puts you at ease to enjoy your life because everything on that calendar is something you choose to do. So you can enjoy the now.
2) Become a finisher.
When you plan things ahead of time and put them on the calendar you are more likely to finish them. You are more likely you accomplish your goals. It gives you the opportunity to think through how much time the project will take you, clarify what goes into it, create time in your schedule to make it happen, and really commit to it.
Studies done by Dr. Gail Mathews at Dominican University of California show that you are 42% more likely to achieve your goal just by writing it down. So write that baby down!!!
3) Live the life you want.
When you plan ahead and calendar things you are more likely to live the life you want versus reacting to what life throws at you. You don’t want life happening to you, otherwise you’ll find yourself living someone else’s life (like your husband’s, kids’s, or boss!?!). If you aren’t making decisions, someone else will. It is very easy to wake up one day and wonder how the hell you got to where you are.
Time flies and before you know it the kids will be out of the house. Imagine looking back on the last 18 years. Will you have spent them the way you would have wanted to? Have you given any thought to what you will do next?
How often have you looked at your life and noticed that it hasn’t been a reflection of what you wanted it to be? But it was actually a life you choose, by not choosing deliberately but actually just by reacting (yes, take second to digest that one). All that can change when you commit to planning ahead and calendaring on a regular basis.
Final Thoughts
People often argue that they just want to live in the moment. But what that looks like for most of us hiding in our apartments, eating a pint of ice-cream, watching Netflix for the entire week instead of getting out, creating and interacting with the world. There is nothing wrong with that if that is what you choose to do, just make sure that is what you are actively choosing with your life.
When you decide what your priorities are and calendar it, then everything on your calendar is something you choose to do. There is nothing to rebel against. You can plan for fun and time for spontaneity, more of it than you ever had before when you were wasting so much time being inefficient spinning in your head.
So if this isn’t enough to send you running out to buy yourself a calendar and start planning your weeks, months and years, then try giving yourself small incentives like we do for our kids when we are enticing them to our family planning session with family game time, desserts and allowance.
One can create fun small rituals around planning time that makes the process enticing such as going to your favorite cafe Monday mornings to plan your week or doing your quarterly planning at your favorite lunch spot. One coach I know does her annual planning at a spa, so it is something she always looks forward to. Be creative. For me, it just usually takes a cup of tea Monday mornings or Sunday evenings to get it done. Experiment and see what works for you.
Live your life with intention, don't let it slip by.
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