Category: planners

When is the best time to make plans?

It’s the end of July. August creeps up to us with soft feet, barely making a sound as Summer clings on. Fall starts to ever so slowly make herself known.

This time of year brings out the poet in me.

August brings with it back the back-to-school season. This is often a time used for making plans and goals by people whose lives revolve around a school schedule.

For someone like me, who only knows if school is in or out if the yellow buses are making their rounds, this isn’t a time of year I start doing a lot of planning or goal setting. I set goals at the start of the year, breaking them down and modifying them by quarter.

Then sometimes something happens that makes me throw the whole damn plan out and start over. More on that soon.

There are many schools of thought as to when the best time for goal setting is. And as someone who really, really likes her planners, I love this. I love just about any excuse to sit down at my desk with my calendar and bullet journal, and dream on paper about what I can accomplish in a given period. It’s magical. There is my dream, my goal out in front of me. Now let me lay myself mile markers. Let me prepare so that I can bring this dream to life.

So today, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the most popular times to set goals and make plans. Let’s look at the pros and cons of each. And we’ll end with what I think is the very best time for goal setting.

New Years

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first. New Year’s Day, New Year’s Resolutions.

I love this one, personally. Generally, December 26th every year is spent in the pages of my brand new planner, making goals and plans for the year to come.

There’s a lot of social momentum in this. Many of us are surrounded by people who are also making goals for the year. And it’s inspiring to have everyone on this same page, the first blank page in a book of 365.

But there’s a downside to this. First off, most people who set New Year’s Resolutions don’t keep them. So if you’re following that crowd, it might well lead you right back where you were. And you don’t like it there. That’s why you were trying to leave it.

There’s also a lot of pressure at this time of year to make goals. Which isn’t always a good thing. It’s also not a great time of the year for things like seasonal depression. Or, I don’t know, taking up running if you live somewhere where it’s still snowing.

So if you love planning in January like I do, awesome! If not, it’s okay to hit snooze on the whole thing.

Spring

Funny story, the new year used to be thought of as a Spring activity. Which makes a lot of sense to me. The weather’s starting to warm up, lots of cute things are having cute babies. And my seasonal depression has started to melt into Original Flavor depression.

Spring can be a great time for goal setting. Not everyone is doing it, so you don’t feel all of that social pressure. And if your goals include things that require you to go outside of your house, that’s a much more pleasant experience.

Of course, if your goal is to spend more time writing or learning a new skill, Spring might be a fucking awful time for that. After all, what’s more miserable than trying to sit at your computer while the birds are chirping and the iced coffees are calling. So plan your planning accordingly.

The start of a new school year

If you’re a teacher, a student, or have a student living in your house, this is a great time of year to make goals. Your routine just got a lot more structured. Or, at least, the structure changed. You’ve got different responsibilities, and often a lot more of them.

Even if you don’t have anyone schoolbound in your life, the start of a new school year can be a fun time to plan. All the good stationery is out in the stores. And there’s a sense of something starting. Something changing.

Back to school is also really busy. And for some people, this might well be the worst time to start making goals. It’s awfully hard to find some quiet time to make plans when you’re figuring out schedules, making carpool agreements, and being guilted into volunteering for school activities. It might be better to have plans and goals in place before the madness starts, not while you’re already getting used to packing lunches and coordinating football practice again.

Quarterly

There’s an argument to be made that making plans for a whole year at a time is maybe not the best way to handle things. And the older I get, the more this makes sense to me. Things change. Things we don’t see coming just come right on anyway without our consent.

For instance, I didn’t know in January that I was going to be caring for a husband recovering from a stroke and moving my house.

Making plans for three months can be easier. While the unexpected might still knock you on your ass, it won’t mess up your year-long plans. Because you didn’t have any.

Quarterly goals are also smaller than yearly goals. At least they’d better be. And this can feel far more attainable. It’s much less intimidating to break down goals. Consider writing a book.

After all, that’s what we’re originally here to talk about.

Writing a book is a massive, intimidating goal. Most of us can’t write a book in a year. Especially when we have so many other obligations. So it’s easy to look at that massive goal, that massive task, and feel overwhelmed.

Kind of like looking at a house that needs packing and feeling overwhelmed.

But if we break down everything into what can be done in three months, that feels more manageable. I can’t write a book in three months. But I can write a rough draft. Or I can commit to writing every week for a certain amount of time.

Anything is easier if we break it down.

There’s only one real downside to this goal-setting method. You might find yourself forgetting the bigger picture. Seeing the trees and not the forest.

In short, you might start to think small.

Thinking small for a while is great. Especially if it helps you get started. But we shouldn’t be thinking small long-term. There are too many big, beautiful things that we can do. And we should give ourselves the space to do them.

Right now

This is the best time to make a goal. Today, right now. As soon as you’re done reading this.

Sit down and write down one big amazing thing you want to do. Now, write down the steps you need to do that thing. Then, start doing it.

It’s just that easy and just that hard.

You want to write a book? Make a plan, and start brainstorming today. You want to start your own company? Great! Make a plan today. You want to get healthy, adopt a dog, buy a house. Figure out what you have to do, step by step, and start doing it.

We all have things we want to do with our lives. And we don’t have to wait for the start of a year, a quarter, a month, or a new school year to start making our goals real. We can start right now, on a random Friday or Tuesday. Right now is perfect. Go get started.

So now it’s your turn. When do you do your best goal setting? Let us know in the comments.

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Check This Out, Cozi

I really like planners. Like really like them. It’s a big thing for me, and I have tried every single planner you can talk about. I’m about to order the Cadillac of paper planners, the Erin Condron Planner. (Not an affiliate, just really love them.)

As much as I love paper planners, they have one fatal flaw. My husband is all digital. He does not want to look at a calendar on the fridge. He does not want to look at my planner, no matter how much it costs. He wants a digital planner, and he wants one without a lot of extra stuff. I want one that we can both update, both access on our pcs and tablets. I also wanted color coding, because I am a dork. One way or another, we needed a family planner, because we’ve got four lives to run here. Besides, we’re less likely to forget an appointment if we both actually know about it.

So we settled on Cozi. It really does have everything we both need.
* It’s free. I mean, there’s a for pay feature, but I don’t even know what that does. The free version is great, even with the ads.
* I was able to color code the thing, so I can tell at a glance who’s got an appointment. The colors do, by the way, match up with the colors in my paper planner.
* Every Sunday, which just happens to be the day I do my planning session for the week, I get an e-mail detailing all of our appointments, my work schedule, and all deadlines.
* Cozi does a cool thing called small win Fridays, where they encourage people to share a small win for the week on social media. Just saying, that’s huge. Not all weeks are going to have great big wins. Some weeks are just going to suck a whole lot. Small wins can help keep your chin up.
* The husband and I can update the calendar from our tablets, so as appointments are being made, usually while we’re at the current appointment.
* If I’m at work, and The Husband knows I’ll be stopping by the store on the way home, he can update a grocery list, if he’s realized we’re out of something he didn’t know about when I left.
* When the monsters are older, they can log into our account too, to update with their own stuff.
* It’s really easy to use and edit. My schedule changes quarterly, and I will often switch shifts with people. I don’t get frustrated making these changes.
* There’s also a shared to do list, and a journal. I actually use my bullet journal for this, as The Husband and I don’t need to share a to do list, but if you’re wanting to go digital, that’s the way to do it.

The only thing I don’t like is that there are no weekly and monthly views. But, as I still have a paper planner I don’t need it there.

So, if you’re looking for a way to get everyone on the same page, check out Cozi.

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The Writing Life- The Writer’s Planner

Do you have a planner? It’s the start of a new year, so you might have just gotten a new one. If you haven’t, you’ve at least seen them all over the damn place.

Planners are either something basic that everyone needs, or a really unhealthy scrap booking obsession, depending on your outlook on life. I’m sort of part of the second group, but I’m working on it. You need it to remember appointments, class and work schedules, due dates, the whole thing. The more chaotic your life, the more you need a planner. And if you’re trying to fit a writing career into your life, it’s chaotic.

Personally, I use two planners. My fiance and I keep a google calendar that we both add to, so we’re not planning things that overlap each other. I’ve also got my personal weekly planner that’s on paper, journal style that comes with me everywhere. I use this to keep track of work and school and appointments, but chances are you don’t give a damn about that. More importantly, I use my planner to keep track of my writing.

Here are some things I do with my planner that makes me a better writer.

Deadlines

First thing, of course. I like to try to enter contests when I’m not working on rough drafts. Contests have deadlines. I write the deadlines on my planner as soon as I decide I’m going to enter a contest. Because it’s me, I also put a little bomb sticker next to them, so they stick out when I’m flipping through pages. This not only helps me keep in mind deadlines, it lets me know if I’m about to over commit myself. If I flip to February and see I’ve got two deadlines that month, that’s a big red stop sign telling me to not enter any more contests with deadlines in that month unless I’m ready to sacrifice one of the others or have already submitted a piece for it.

Writing dates

I make a date with myself, at least once a week, to go out and write somewhere that isn’t home. I write better then, and can focus more when I’m not at home with the kids, cat and dishes. Not to mention this great new smart tv that’s got Netflix. My goodness, nothing is more distracting than knowing I can sit down and watch all of Firefly any time I want.

I also block out writing time the same way I’d block out time to take kids to the doctor or work. I have to do that thing then, there’s no getting around it. Seeing it on paper makes me feel committed to it.

Projected final dates for big projects

Once you’ve been writing awhile, you’ll get a rough estimate in your head of how long it takes you to do stuff. Take a really big project like writing a book. I know it will take me about fifteen pages to write a chapter, I can write about ten pages a day, so in a week I write about three, maybe four chapters. Because I outlined my book before I started, I know how many chapters are in my rough draft, 60. So, it should take me about fifteen weeks to write my rough draft. So far it’s been eight. Then I know it should take me about six months to edit it, three to write the third draft, three to write the fourth draft after my beta readers read it, another two for a final polish, and then about three weeks to get together an agent packet and start looking for an agent. So, giving some time in there for your beta readers to read it and some cushion, it takes me about two years to finish a book.

Your time will be different, so take some time to consider habits and productivity levels.

Once I have an idea of when my milestone moments will be, like finishing a draft, I write these moments on small sticky notes and put them on estimated dates. Now, this is something I highly advise. I call it a rolling deadline. These are the dates that I think I should be done. But things happen. For example, when I was writing the first draft of my last book, I realized halfway through that I’d deviated so much from my outline that the rest of the book didn’t make sense anymore. The changes were great, so I threw out the rest of my outline, and spend three days rewriting it. That set the end day back a bit.

Daily and weekly check ins

I try to have my days pretty planned. So, once a week I sit down with my planner, bullet journal and binder. (We’ll talk about binders later.) I put my day job schedule down for three weeks in advance, then factor in any obligations like deadlines, birthdays, holidays or things like that.

Then I look at the time I’ve got, and write in my bullet journal what needs done that week. I have to take that calendar into consideration. If I’ve got five appointments that week, I’ve got to know that I’m not going to have time to also write blog updates, work on Woven and still have time to edit my latest short story. Somethings not getting done, probably the short story, so I know it needs to go on next weeks to do list not this week.

I check in with my planner daily, too. Every morning, I glance over what’s still to come this week, and do a quick review of the next three weeks to come as well. That helps me keep in mind that if that contest deadline’s in three weeks, and I don’t have a rough draft done yet, I need some extra ass in the chair time.

I heard a great quote the other day. It’s not mine, but I’ve been saying it to myself ever since. “Your brain is for processing, not storing.” Don’t expect yourself to remember everything. You can’t, you won’t, and something will fall through the cracks. So keep a planner, and see how much more productive you are at the end of a year using one.

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