My Brilliant Plan for How to Plan

**This post does contain affiliate links, which means that when you purchase through links on this page, April collects advertising fees from Amazon.**

My Brilliant Plan for How to Plan

Was I always a little flaky? I don’t know. For years, I could get away with being very loosy-goosy with my planning because I was a stay-at-home mom of preschoolers. We moved all the time too, so by the time people developed expectations of me, we were off and away to the next town.

Over the years, I have slipped into a routine of planning as little as I can get away with planning. I’ll procrastinate decisions until they are made for me. Yep. Guilty of that. Sometimes I get this fear of commitment. If I sign up for things, I’m going to have to figure out how to actually accomplish those things with toddlers in tow.

And I never knew when my husband would be here or not be here, so making plans felt like shooting darts– real darts–in a room full of people, blindfolded.

No thanks.

So friends, that is how I became the version of April you have today.

April, are you going to the yada yada yada meeting?

**Total deer in the headlights**

Ummmm. Uhhhhhh.  Umm, yeah, you know, I might…

(Inside my head I’m thinking……IF all 4 kids are well, IF Alan is in town, IF I have energy left that day…..IF I am not supposed to actually be at Dan’s tee-ball game or some Army function that I can’t remember the exact dates for…..If, If, If…..)

My Brilliant Plan for How to Plan

I love to rock me some babies. Go away, world, until I finish this.

Actually, for the past 11 years those were all perfectly good reasons to be flaky, indecisive, unprepared, uncommitted, and unsure. Did I shut the world out a little bit? Yes, yes, I definitely did.

In fact, I had to google the word “twerking” not too long ago. I’m so out of touch with pop culture, and I kept hearing that word. All I can say to that one is ew, girl! Ew. Somebody get that poor girl a sweater and some capri pants.

But things keep popping up on our calendars, and I’ve re-entered the world of work with my blog. I actually HAVE to FORCE myself to plan and be less free-spirited, more grown-up like.

You people who have a plan amaze me, and I mean that in a good way. You totally have my respect.

You know when you are going on vacation. You’ve actually committed to specific dates, and you probably even know how you are gong to pay for that.

You have a budget.

You know when people’s birthdays are, and you plan for that accordingly.

You keep some sort of planner or calendar.

 My Brilliant Plan for How to Plan
About that….Y’all! I have purchased TWO different “planners” this year. They are both mostly blank. I have a calendar hanging in my kitchen too, which makes 3 planners, really. All I’ve written on that one is what the kids are doing for lunch and when their dentist appointments are.

I even downloaded an editorial calendar plug-in to try and start planning my blog posts. (It’s actually extremely helpful, fellow bloggers, check it out. It’s called “editorial calendar.”)

Only I’m so anti-structured in my thinking, I can rarely bring myself to write about what I’m ‘scheduled’ to write about.

I also have 2 different e-books I’ve written half of, and now they are just sitting on my hard-drive taking up space. My hard drive is so full, my computer has actually stopped letting me download or upload new things.

And suddenly I find myself wanting to change.

See, I bought all those planners. That’s the first step. I WANT to do the right thing and be all responsible again. I always was one-half responsible and one-half not at all, even back in high school and college. I used to make myself plans and stick to them, sort of. Well, I used to make plans. Maybe I never did really stick to them. I almost always turn in everything on time, actually, but I live in fear of signing up for extra things.

So I decided to pray about this today.

And this was my answer:  If you can plan out each day by making a list and crossing things off, then you can apply that same strategy to weeks. Then apply it to months. Then do that for years. Do it at the start of each week, each month, and each year, just like you are doing now for days.

Huh. Brilliant. Maybe even doable?

My Brilliant Plan for How to Plan

My planning tends to never go past the day that I’m on. This is the typical extent of my planning.

What I do now for each day is this. After I have safely delivered all of my children to school, I come home and have a little time for Bible study and prayer. You have to pour inspiration in to yourself if you expect to pour any out, right?

I close with prayer, and I ask God to help me make my to-do list for that day. I write the list out on the wipe-off board in the kitchen. Then I mentally prioritize the things that HAVE to get done.

That’s why I usually cook supper in the morning, by 12:00, because I know everyone HAS to eat, and I don’t want that task hanging over my head. Also, I have no energy left at 5:00pm.

I see no reason why this method for planning each day could not be applied to my weeks, months, and years, with one of the 3 planners I’ve purchased laying open on my lap.

My Brilliant Plan for How to Plan

And don’t even say that I should use my phone as my planner. I can’t do it. This falls under scatter-brained people problems. The minute I open my phone to use the calendar or some other useful, productive app, I immediately forget what I was doing and end up reading Instagram or my email or something.

So watch out, world! I now have a plan for how to plan!!!! Who knows? Maybe next week I will make a budget, a meal plan, or catch up on my 2,809 emails…….nahhhhh…

Please share your best planning tips in the comment section! We would love to hear more ideas! Thanks, y’all!

14 comments

  • I’m a crazy planner, I have three different planners, and I use my calendars on my phone and computer. If I don’t plan it out or put it in my schedule, it will not get done. Realize, it’s just little ole me, no kids, no husband and I can hardly keep up with my own schedule. I love crossing tasks I complete off of my list. It’s therapeutic and gives me a serious sense of accomplishment. That Mommy Planner looks super helpful.

  • Nonna

    I HAVE to have a Planner! I am a list person. I like to mark things off as I do them. I have even been known to go back and add something I just did so I can mark it Off! I have read a good bit about bullet Journaling on pinterest. That might be the way to personalize one just like you need. I haven’t really jumped into that yet but I did apply some of it to the planner I found at Target. It had about 50 empty pages in the back! Oh, and I really find spiral bound so easy. But mainly I just enjoy using a planner to keep all of my notes and lists in the same place.

    • Well I have 3 planners. I just have trouble remembering to write in them. I want to though. I’m for it. I also have trouble giving myself time to plan beyond this day, and that’s all because I dislike planning. Ha but it is annoyingly necessary…

  • Haha! I am an overall planner, but the day to day gets all jumbled. 4 kids right?! You go girl! Let me know how this all goes down 🙂

  • I am a planner-aholic, but I have yet to find a single planner that meets all my needs. Either I am not looking as hard as I should, or I am exceptionally scatter brained! hehehe (probably a little of both!!) – http://www.domesticgeekgirl.com

    • Design the perfect planner! And then all of us planner-aholic WANNA-BES will buys it from you, or opt-in to your newsletter/subscription in exchange for your downloadable perfect planner. Just saying. You got the skills.

  • Your boys are adorable!

    I couldn’t function day to day without my planner. A white board is a fabulous idea though. It would really help with the endless questions the gals are always asking about what plans are! Glad to have found your blog and looking forward to looking around!

  • Haha – I wish I didn’t know what twerking was! You can’t unsee it!
    I’m not as great of a planner as Cassidy. No budget to speak of. Barely even shopping lists. That’s family life.
    My work life is organized on editorials calendars, post-it notes, and starred email. That’s kinda it! Somehow I always hit my deadlines.

I love comments! Otherwise, it's really just me talkin' to myself...

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.