Plan for Life.

Don’t Let Life Just Wander by…

Ever notice how the days, weeks, and years pass by so quickly…

What did you accomplish?  What can you say was great about the year?

Was it just lost time?

Was it another year you didn’t follow through with your New Year’s Resolutions? Your weight loss plan?  Your plan to daily pray and read the Bible? Did you see your grandma at least once each month or take the kids to see her?  Did you workout 3x a week?  Whatever it is that’s important to you, did you accomplish those things over the past 8 months of this year? Did you Plan for Life?

Small Rabbit Trail:  It is back to school season!!!!!  I love back to school season!!  You are thinking “What is wrong with that girl?” But it isn’t what you think.  I love back to school sales on office supplies.  I am an office supply junkie. If I am not careful, I would have a room filled with office supplies.  Anyway, I digress.  

This is not about my office supply fixation, back to school sales, or even starting a learning program.  This is about gaining back control of your life – by the day, by the week, and finally by the year – through planning.  What better time to refocus on gaining control over your life than as school starts back.  Your plate is already full and about to be even more full, so I highly suggest you gain control through planning.

“Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail!” 

So says Alan Lakein a well known author on time management.

So, back to the questions:

Do you ever feel like the day went by, and you accomplished nothing?

Do you feel like if you just had a plan, you could get things back under control?

Worse yet, do you feel like life is passing you by, and you’ve accomplished very little, or you are not where you thought you would be in life by now?

Zig Ziglar (We are big fans here at The Winsome Wanderer), America’s most influential and beloved encourager and believer that everyone could be more, do more, and have more, often shared his story about how he lost 37 pounds.  He was thinking to lose 37 pounds for 24 years, but admitted he was unable to reach his desired weight loss until he committed to a detailed plan.

  Gaining back control over your Plan for Life. 

He discovered that his plan had to contain the following elements:

                         1. He had to write it down. (I use a board similar to this one.)

1. 1. 1. 
            2. Put a date on it
      2.    3. Set a time limit to complete it
      3.    4. Specifically spell out a plan of action  
      4.    5. Listed the obstacles,
      5.    6. & 7. identify the benefits, and the people, groups, and organizations to work with
      6. 
         
      7. By planning out his weight loss, Zig Ziglar’s desired goal finally became a his reality.Like Mr. Ziglar and so many others, I find that my desires and ideas are not being reached.  The days ARE passing me by without the accomplishments that I want to see, big or small.  Sometimes those tasks consist of just finishing the paint job in the bathroom, packing the baby clothes, or it might be something else really important.  I might purpose finally to see grandma, and when I arrive she says something like, “It is so good to see you, I haven’t seen you or your boys since their birthday party three months ago.”  Dagger to my heart.  I don’t want my boys to miss knowing their great grandmother.  I absolutely adored her when I was a child. Still do, and I want and need my boys to know their great grandmother.  Life just flies by too fast sometimes.  I know I need to plan for life to happen, not just pass me by.
         By nature, I am a planner, accomplisher, and achiever! I love to make lists and check off items that I have completed! I used to have control over my life, a plan for life, at least I think I did but with all the different responsibilities of life – work, home, marriage, children, bills, etc., pulling me in different directions, it became imperative that I make a visual plan to follow.  A plan that would allow me to see when I have completed and checked off all my tasks.  I use electronic reminders on my phone for calendar events, but they get buried under everything else that happens on my phone, and I still forget about the tasks that needed to be accomplished.  Also, I am a very visual person, and computer calendars and virtual to do lists just don’t really work well for me.

         I am certain that I am not the only person who struggles with accomplishing the day’s tasks.

         There are several factors in my life that easily distract me from a plan for life. I married a WONDERFUL and spontaneous man who has not always been much of a planner. My one-year-old and three-year-old, are not so big on plans either; as a matter of fact, they are really good at derailing my plans.  (We hope to help them to see the benefits of a Plan for Life while they are still young… We’ll see how that goes). In fact, when I was pregnant with my first child, who is now three, I knew I had to get things accomplished before he was born in order to be ready for his arrival, haha.

         I had to get control of my life once again by planning.  I begin to surf the internet looking for a planner printable that would suit my needs.  Ideally, I would be able to find a free planner, but I was willing to pay if need be. I found some really great planners, and many of those planners had some really wonderful aspects.  However, none of them had all of the pieces that I desired in a planner.

         So like many before me, I finally took the time to create my own awesome planner.

         I needed the following elements in my Plan for Life:

         – A plan that included hours from 5 a.m. to midnight (I don’t work an eight to five schedule) plus structured time frames for me at home are helpful

         – My to-do list for the day.

         – A reminder of my chores for morning and evening

         – My fitness plan for the day – always good to have a plan

         – My meal plan in which I could also include my calorie counts

         – A reminder to drink at least 8 to 9 glasses of water a day

         – Something to make me smile and/or encourage me.

         – Fun design and colors
         

         How I plan for life with my Awesome Planner

         I use my hourly portion of my planner to plan out my work and home chores, appts, and even fun, etc.  As previously stated, I do not have a normal 8 to 5 job. I come home when the job is done and therefore often work many hours. My husband and I had discussed this issue on numerous occasions, some not so cheerfully, and I realized, that I had to get control over my work schedule. In order to do that, I started planning my week.  By doing this ahead of time, I can carefully line out what I need to accomplish and the appropriate time frame to accomplish it. For example, I know my weekly Tuesday report will only take me 30 minutes if I’m focused. However frequently, I get to work and get sidetracked by somebody coming to talk to me about their cat, their weekend, even their shoes, and I let time get away from me. If I’m not careful I may not even get the report done on Tuesday. By planning ahead of time, I am better able to ensure the time frames that are needed and then I can keep myself on task and schedule by looking at my planner and the clock. I have found when I follow this system I get home within 30 minutes of the planned time. (Woohoo!  Big win there!!) If I don’t follow this system, it’s anybody’s guess.

         -To Do list: pretty self explanatory though I do divide it into two categories “Must do Today” and “Should do Today”.

         -My daily chores: in a way this is silly I know, but it goes back to what I said. I like to check off on my list of accomplishments. Also the chores are slightly “Pie in the Sky” so that helps me to push myself to accomplish those tasks each day.

         – Fitness plan – not going to accomplish this one if I don’t put it in writing!

         – I plan my meals for a week at a time, but I also write down any changes to my meal plan as well as the new calorie count.  This makes it so much easier to hold myself accountable.  I often think that I have been pretty good so a Snickers won’t really be too bad.  Ha, look at the calorie counts. No more lying to yourself.

         – Water intake reminder:  I check off a glass as I finish a glass of water.

         – Last but not least seeing your accomplishments makes your day better!

         I have created this attractive and useful planner for myself, but have set it up where you can get a free copy of this sent to your email box.

         I hope that you too will find Value in this planner and that it helps you gain back time and control in your life!  Just look below for the gray sign up box and then check your email.

         [magicactionbox id=”Planner”]

         I hope soon to give you access to the different color schemes that Jack and I designed.  (It’s not on my planner to accomplish yet though.)

         Feel free to leave me some comments below.  I’d love to hear what works well for you in planning and organizing your life!  How do you Plan for Life?

         The Winding Way,

         Jill