Plan to Plan to success

A new week and a new month all falling on the same day, has a sense of tidiness when I am planning August 1st on a Monday, is really tidy for me. It seems a doubly clean point; like a mini–New Year’s Day or starting a change of a decade.

The beginning of a week or month, as for a lot of us, has a period to finish or complete activities to wrap up from that block of time. For me, it leads into then planning what I will look to achieve in the next block.

Often, I have to be aware that I am not very good at ‘time’.

Some of this stems from that in my working career a big chunk of what had to be done was actually predetermined and whilst I had the illusion of flexibility in that, most of the markers or milestones were in fact not my own.

This also led to a struggle in what could be achieved in time blocks or chunks of time. I would overestimate what could be done in an hour, day or even a week. Though over longer periods whether a quarter, a year or even longer, I began to notice, that I could really underplay what could be achieved by myself. See how that plays out if I live to 85 (aiming to at least get to average).

I could miss out on a fair bit.

Failing at trying to do too much in short periods vs not doing enough over a longer time span. Was causing me risk. It wasn’t just success, but my own energy levels would be impacted by this. The mad rush to complete to a deadline though never fully maximising on that. Now there are some people who just stack in those mad pushes on a hugely repetitive basis, though burnout seems to be a factor for a lot of these if repeated too often. Plus, it wasn’t my style.

Planning in time to plan as an activity became a worthwhile objective in itself, with the short, medium and longer aims or goals, and became a useful tool regardless of what planning tool or method I used. Giving my ability to make doing more and more important stuff, a priority in my life.

It also has a secondary gain that I can manage my own stress and anxiety levels which is helpful in peace of mind let alone achievement.

Now you might not check in with every aim in every planning session but checking in and confirming your aims and goals in any planning method does help, it works for me. Course corrections and even resetting goals, does help the results I get.

For me planning in planning is a useful tool, that I want to get better at.

What planning method do you use? And how are you checking you are on track?