This week I stepped waay back from my strategic plan and tried to figure out a way to make this really work without throwing me headlong into overwhelm.
Which is a relatively easy thing to do…
I haven’t exactly made up with my plan, but we’ve agreed on a truce.
Plan lives on my computer where it’s easily changed.
Plan only gives me the next three months of things to do so I don’t rebel against it like a hormonal teenager.
Laminated Plan is removed from planner. This one was a major sticking point. Plan didn’t quite want to be sent to the shredder so I relegated it to the book shelf tucked inside one of the multitude of journals I have lined up.
Don’t ask me which one because I’ve already forgotten.
Now, to support my 3 month plan, I have the following in place:
- My Strategic Planner: which contains the three things I want to accomplish in the next three months instead of everything I want to do for the entire year.
- Google Calendar: holds all of my appointments and syncs with iCal which in turn syncs with my iPhone. This is so I don’t double/triple book myself or forget important appointments because I get THREE reminders.
- Weekly Moleskine Planner: in which I write down everything (3-5 things) I want to accomplish during the day and the appointments (so now I have 4 reminders).
They get crossed off when they’re done. And if there’s one or two left, they get moved to the next day. - My Big-Ass Calendar of Doom: this is a 5 foot long yearly calendar where I put all the stuff that can’t be missed. Vacations, going out of town, classes I’m taking or teaching. Before I make any new appointments/commitments, I look at the BACoD (I tried *so* hard to make this BACoN, but nothing sounded right. I’m pretending I have a stuffed nose.) and make sure there’s nothing already on the calendar. I know I already have it in my Google Calendar, but I’m visual & need to see what’s coming up.
- Accomplishments Journal: a small handmade (by me) journal with hand-dyed leather covers that sits on my nightstand where I write down the 1-2 things I’m most proud of accomplishing that day. I have a very short memory for the cool stuff I’ve done in the past, so this reminds me to honor what I’ve done and celebrate them in a small way.
Why such redundancy?
I’m hopelessly disorganized.
At least when it comes to time. Unless I have someone else telling me where I need to be & what I need to do, time seems to scuttle away from me like a… well, something that scuttles.
I imagine it’s kind of ugly, mottled and beetle-ish looking with hairy legs.
And it delights in making me miss appointments and look like a complete moron by overbooking myself.
Redundancy. Keeps me sane & on track.
Now on to the links!
How to Encourage your Creative Ideas to Come Out and Party All Night: They’re shy lil’ buggers but once you get ‘em going… at least I know once I get them going it’s hard to put a lid on it.
The Alexander Graham Bell Guide to Changing the World: It doesn’t matter who had the idea first or if other people have done it before. An idea is only going to spread if you spread it. Why are you keeping it all to yourself?
Avoiding the Sumo Death Grip: Feeling a little constricted? It could be that “survival job” you tell yourself you’re so lucky to have in this economy. You don’t have to leave it (just yet) but for your health & sanity take a step back.
The Signal-Magnifying Power of Permission: Give yourself permission to figure out who you are and to be who you are.
The secret to self promotion: radiance and the facts, jack: You are what you’re selling. If you don’t then how will you ever get any money? How will people know what you offer unless you tell them? If you love what you do, then promotion will come naturally. It has to. Or else you better stick with that soul-sucking day job…
What’s been swimming around your head lately? Any awesome blog posts you wanna point out? Leave a comment if you do!
Related posts:
#1 by Square-Peg Karen on January 14, 2010 - 8:16 pm
Quote
Love this! Both the actual plan and the way that you know yourself well enough to say something like: “Plan only gives me the next three months of things to do so I don’t rebel against it like a hormonal teenager.”
And – OH i get the “rebel…like a hormonal teenager” thing – makes me laugh that I do that against things I set up MYSELF – jeez!