How Important is Planning?

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Avatar for JLoberiza
3 years ago

"He who fails to plan is planning to fail!"

- Winston Chruchill

Monday morning, the start of a new day, a new week. I have been contemplating what to write since I woke up at four this morning. I had several topics in my mind and in my list. Then I remembered there are lots of things that I need to do offline as well. After seeing a post by @MegaKyodaiBanrai (Revamping my schedule for better productivity), I realized that I need to plan my day. Not just my day, but the whole week. And I should consider my monthly goals in making my weekly and daily goals.


Hello, readers. It's on the 6th of September. The first Monday of the month. I am not new when it comes to planning my day. But I must admit I'm never consistent with it. I tried so many times in the past. I tried using a pen and notebook. But I would end up misplacing the notebook. I tried using apps like Google Keep and Evernote. But when I cram up my schedule on either of those apps, I had this uneasy feeling of looking at it.

This is how I feel with my crammed-up schedule.

But lately, with the classes has resumed, I must plan each week and each so I would have a constant reminder of what I need to do. But considering the factors that are beyond my control, I must make sure that I have some spare time to face the "necessary" distractions, especially when it comes to my kids.


In this post, I will share with you How important it is to plan. how I will make my plan using an app that I have encountered lately.

Importance of Planning

As the wise Winston Churchill (and other notable personalities in the past) said, "By failing to plan, is planning to fail."

Planning is setting a direction. It is your roadmap towards your goal. It's the blueprint in turning dreams into reality.

I have already set my long-term goals (a number of times already), I have set smaller goals toward those larger goals. But I fail in making plans on a daily and weekly basis. But somehow, in the last three months that I have been active here in read.cash, I had been setting my monthly goals already.

And now that I have to deal both with online and offline activities, I must divide my time properly to the activities that matter most. Include the time that I need to do it if I must. But my time must not be too rigid like I did in the past. Sometimes, there are activities that I can't just force myself in doing, like writing. Sometimes, when I have a certain time for writing, I'm drawing a blank! I would stare at my phone, or laptop with an empty mind as blank as a clean white bond paper. And sometimes, I could finish at least a 600+ word article in an hour or two, sometimes it would take me four or more.

My Approach.

I would plan for each week and each day. But I will not cram every hour with an activity or two. I would divide my day into four. First if the moment I wake up.

  • 4 AM to 7 AM. Which will include my morning prayer and meditation for 5 minutes, exercise, and read some articles in read.cash and noise.cash. And of course, create and upload the quote of the image for noise.

  • 7 AM to 8 AM is reserved for breakfast and some time with the kids.

  • 8 AM to 12 Noon. My morning activities will vary from day to day.

  • 12 to 1 PM. Lunch Break

  • 1 PM to 5 PM. Like my morning activities, my afternoon activities will vary as well.

  • 5 PM to 8 PM is set for family time. We have dinner around 7 PM

  • 8 PM to 10 PM Some other things that need to be done including preparation for the next day

New Tool - Zoho Notebook

As I have mentioned, I have used Evernote and Keep to do my schedule in the past, but I have long stopped that. I still use Evernote, to view and update my long-term goals. When I got my new Huawei phone, it's quite inconvenient to use Google Keep. And since I am mostly typing now from a (borrowed) Chromebook, I want my notes to be synced automatically between the Chromebook, the tablet (another borrowed device), and my phone.

My Zoho Notebooks

Why three devices? I need to, oftentimes my phone is hijacked by a little kid.

Final Thoughts

I don't need to make a perfect plan. And trying to stick 100% to a plan my cause me unnecessary stress. I make these plans to be more productive but not to cause stress and later on burn me out.

As another World War II hero, Gen. George S. Patton once said:

"A good plan violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan executed next week!"

Thanks for reading!

https://noise.cash/post/lk3m40zm

Image Credits:

Lead Image: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay with modification.

Crammed Schedule: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

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3 years ago

Comments

When you have a lot of activities, it is good to make a plan to organize your ideas. But a very tight plan can also produce anxiety if you do not keep up with the pace of execution. I made a plan of activities to accomplish my goals in September in read.cash and it's already making my debut... hahahaha.... Greetings friend.

$ 0.02
3 years ago

Yeah. Having a very tight schedule is very stressful. Yeah. Let's be more productive this month.

$ 0.00
3 years ago

that's a great start sir.. i started bullet journaling few years back, it is somehow helpful in organizing my day to day life and planning as well.. the app you are looking into seemed to look the same as bullet journal

$ 0.02
3 years ago

Thanks. I think I remember your bullet journal in Bitlanders. Paper notebooks will only be filled with scribbles and drawings. heheh. Anyways, I think I will stick with the Zoho notebook for now. I can easily organize my notes in different 'notebooks' including a list of titles of the articles that I wanted to write.

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3 years ago

, I think I will stick with the Zoho notebook for now. I can easily organize my notes in different 'notebooks' including a list of titles of the articles that I wanted to write.

i will try that app too and see if I can also work with it..sometimes, a digital journal comes handly too

$ 0.00
3 years ago

Thanks for the tag! As a person who does what he wants for the day, I often get side tracked by different activities. Setting a schedule reminds of the things that must be done and results in a generally more productive day. When it becomes a routine it's easier.

$ 0.02
3 years ago

Guess what... as I was uploading this, the power went out for at least three hours. Wrecking my schedule for the whole afternoon! LOL. So I had to adjust them including today's schedule... and tomorrow. it will depend on the weather. I'm suppose to have my first shot tomorrow.

$ 0.02
3 years ago

Nice plans. It's actually good to work on plans/schedules. I think I love the schedule. I'll work on it too, just few adjustments on my end.

$ 0.02
3 years ago

One thing I have learned about scheduling though, life sometimes will throw something to get you out of your plans. Just like yesterday. I wasn't able to do anything in the afternoon because the power went out for at least three hours.

$ 0.00
3 years ago