At the heart of it, planning is really about knowing what you will be doing, when you will be doing it, and what you can change without undue stress if the plan doesn't work out.
As I write this post, my life is pretty stressful. The picture shows my jam-packed Thursday (chaperoning a field trip, working out, doing an hour of work, dinner with my mom, karate for the big kid, delivery to the school as the room mom) and the crazy rest of the week. All of this is happening while my husband works 10 to 12 hour days.
But when I described my day to friends, I didn't call it stressful.
I said it was "exciting."
Who am I kidding? I will barely make it through tomorrow, much less that weekend.
But something funny happened when I called my schedule exciting.
Instead of a panic attack (my usual response), I felt challenged. I can do this. I will do this. And at the end of it, I will schedule some well-deserved downtime.
Instead of looking at my planner as a to do list, I looked at it as a goal list. It changed my world.
Now, open your planner and look at tomorrow's plan. Instead of stressing, remind yourself that you have a plan of attack, that it is doable (and change it right now if it isn't), and you will be living life tomorrow!
Excited?
I thought so.
Etcetera.
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8 comments:
Sometimes, saying "I GET to do gobbledygook" instead of "I HAVE to do gobbledygook" makes DOING said gobbledygook more palatable.
These times don't last and you will miss them -- even the busy days. Especially the busy days! My youngest is graduating in two weeks and I am off to a Lacrosse game -- the second to last. Where did the time go? I will cherish these next two games and these next two weeks and allow myself to feel proud of a job well done. A hectic, busy and exhilarating job for sure.
I love that concept--calling it a goal list instead of a to-do list. That's the same way I look at my New Year's resolutions every year. I don't call them that. I call them goals, because resolutions carry the connotation that they can (and usually will be) broken, while goals are something for which you can continuously strive. :)
Thank you for your wise and inspiring posts - I'm on a big learning curve trying to move my life on from a mess of disorganisation. And it's ideas like these that will lead me there!
Life is a challenge and I sincerely prefer embracing it than running away.
Sometimes it is indeed exciting, other times, scary. Either way we gotta do what we gotta do.
Thanks for the inspiration. #FridayReflections
It's amazing how much our mental attitude changes things. I've even found that if I'm really tired in the morning and I say out loud, "I'm not tired!" I feel a lot less tired.
Thanks for sharing.
-Tara
#FridayReflections
Love your attitude! I alway feel most alive when I'm slightly overstretched; just enough to achieve it all without quite believing I can! But I could do with taking some of your advice, because I'm a devil for winging it without a schedule, now that's an exciting ride, but I certainly don't always end up where I wanted to go!!
Thanks for joining us this week for #fridayreflections - love this idea and I think its something I definitely need to start using (i.e. your thinking!).
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