Sometimes, and I do mean sometimes, I am a good planner. I tend to work off of lists and schedules and often routines. Other time, I am a really last minute kind of guy. Most times I fall somewhere in the middle, probably like most people in the world.
Planning takes takes a lot of effort. I feel like I want to explore the idea of planning just a little, as it really should help demonstrate why it is I typically don't fall into the category of a "plan ahead" kind of fellow.
A number of years ago I came into possession of a Franklin Day Planner. At the time this type of thing was the norm. Many people in this day and age when technology has become so commonplace in our daily lives probably have no clue what a Franklin even is.
A Franklin is basically a binder, of varying sizes. Some are made to fit in a pocket. Some are more of the type that would typically sit on a desk or fit into a briefcase or purse, and some are full binder sized. They contain pages for calendars, contacts, notes, and just about anything else one could think of to jot down during the course of a business day. The Franklin was indeed the professional standard when it came to the day planner. You could even enroll in ridiculously expensive seminars which would teach you how to integrate your planner into your daily life and increase productivity to boundless levels.
I meticulously started keeping track of my contacts. And my daily schedule. And birthdays of important people in my life. Mind you, I was 19. And I quickly came to the conclusion that a kid not to long out of high school really didn't need a planner. Most of my days in the calendar section looked like this:
Yes, that's a blank calendar page. Who was I kidding to think I could actually find enough things to do which would even necessitate the need for a daily planner. My daily activities could generally be summed up with the following:
Planning takes takes a lot of effort. I feel like I want to explore the idea of planning just a little, as it really should help demonstrate why it is I typically don't fall into the category of a "plan ahead" kind of fellow.
A number of years ago I came into possession of a Franklin Day Planner. At the time this type of thing was the norm. Many people in this day and age when technology has become so commonplace in our daily lives probably have no clue what a Franklin even is.
A Franklin is basically a binder, of varying sizes. Some are made to fit in a pocket. Some are more of the type that would typically sit on a desk or fit into a briefcase or purse, and some are full binder sized. They contain pages for calendars, contacts, notes, and just about anything else one could think of to jot down during the course of a business day. The Franklin was indeed the professional standard when it came to the day planner. You could even enroll in ridiculously expensive seminars which would teach you how to integrate your planner into your daily life and increase productivity to boundless levels.
I meticulously started keeping track of my contacts. And my daily schedule. And birthdays of important people in my life. Mind you, I was 19. And I quickly came to the conclusion that a kid not to long out of high school really didn't need a planner. Most of my days in the calendar section looked like this:
Yes, that's a blank calendar page. Who was I kidding to think I could actually find enough things to do which would even necessitate the need for a daily planner. My daily activities could generally be summed up with the following:
- Sleep in.
- Wake up.
- Eat something, fail to clean it up.
- Shower.
- Think about heading to J.C.
- Decide to not go to J.C. that day.
- Think about the homework I had due.
- Fail to the homework I had due.
- Go walk around the mall.
- Eat something.
OK, so the planning wasn't my strong point. Not to mention, I was never a guy to carry a backpack everywhere like some of my other friends. As such my planner would sit in my backpack for days on end and rarely see the light of day.
Lets come back to the present. Digital technology is at our fingertips at all time. Calendars, emails, to-do lists, whatever you can think of, there is an app for that. Need more info? There are few places Google can't reach. So really, there isn't a lot of excuse for not having a plan for things if you want one.
From time to time, I get a bug up my ass and find myself making use of this technology. It comes and goes in spurts. Each instance lasts about halfway through a shopping trip, as I check off toilet paper and cat litter. And even then, I probably have a shopping list which is only halfway checked (at which point I got distracted by something shiny and wandered around and just started grabbing things I thought I needed and spent way to much).
At other times I'll think to myself, "If I had a way to track this <insert whatever project here>" and then I'll spend an inordinate amount of time creating a spreadsheet to track whatever which inevitably starts off looking pretty solid, but eventually ends up being moved to the recycle bin.
So intentions are good, follow through, not always so much.
Now, back to planning in the present. The whole idea of planning is to get things done in a timely manner. Organize, prioritize,and of course, execute.
As a perfect example, I was at the store yesterday. It was a quick trip, getting a few essentials. However, I am going back to the store today, because one does not simply go a night without Moose Tracks ice cream. Or gummy worms. These are staples. And I failed to get them. And so I will be going back.
No trip to the store is complete without a second trip.
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