Why I plan and plan and plan…
Once a week, I sit down with a cuppa (or glass of wine) and plan the week ahead. I sometimes do this on a Friday afternoon after finishing the Lasting Impact call, or I’ll take some time on a Sunday whilst the children are inevitably staring at some kind of screen.
During this planning time I do a few things. I look back at the last week and have a think about what went well, and what didn’t. Sometimes I spend time writing this, other times, I just think about it. Then I pull the info from my digital diary and put it in my paper diary. The highlighters and post-its come out and I look at what my commitments are for the week. I look at my targets/goals for the week or month and figure out where to do some of the deep work where I can really focus. I plot those in (in roughly 90 min blocks). I add in family commitments, extra curricular clubs, walks in the park etc.
I have days that I see clients, and days that I do admin and CEO type things. I always have Monday mornings off to do something just for me (normally the gym).
I used to rally against this kind of organisation. I mean, I’ve always been an organised person, but this felt like taking it to extremes. What if I lose a sense of flexibility. What if I miss opportunities because I’ve decided I don’t see clients on Mondays.
But, you know what? I like it. I’ve come to realise creating a ritual and routine when it comes to planning really helps me and my business. I feel calmer and much more productive.
And I can be flexible. I can change my days around; I can sometimes see a client on a Monday. I get to choose!
And we all know that life happens and gets in the way of our beautifully colour-coded plans.
A few weeks ago, I felt really rough, I finished my group call early, I cancelled a call with someone interested in joining my programme, and cancelled a meeting that had already been delayed once.
And sometimes, I just don’t feel like doing the thing I have put in my diary. I don’t feel inspired to write content for the month at that particular moment. But by planning, I can figure out what’s urgent, what’s important and what can be dumped. I have the control to move things around.
And then go back to my plan and reassess.
Planning gives me a sense of clarity, and even if the plans don’t go to plan, I feel less shaken. Because mostly, this process can help you to figure out what needs to have happen, what you want to have happen and what can wait a little longer (and even sometimes, what you can just stop trying to do and kick off the to-do list altogether).
So my advice to get started?
Schedule time in your diary to plan. A couple of hours a week will make such a difference. And think about how you can have fun with it. I love using the Daily Greatness Business planner* - it encourages me to reflect, has space for my planning, lays out the week in a way that makes sense to me. Of course, you can always make your own version too, and there are plenty of other planners out there :)
Let me know if you’re a planner or not. And if you’re a freelancer who could do with help and support planning come along to my free Create Your Roadmap 2023 planning session. Register here.
**This is an affiliate link and if you use it I receive a small financial reward and you get 15% off. I only ever use affiliate links for things I genuinely love to use.