What does Planning Mean to Me?

Years ago when I was in sales, I was required to take a Franklin Covey class on how to manage your time by using a Franklin Covey Planner. It was my first insight into how to structure my week and how to plan out projects and how to goal set.

It was a wonderful class for a young 24-year old that was only starting to learn how the real world worked. This mandatory class also brought my entrepreneurial spirit to life and drove me to want to work for myself and strive for bigger things aside from having to work long 12 hour days, along with every weekend and every Holiday. It’s where I recognized that if I created goals for myself and broke them down and actually did them, that I ultimately could anything I set my mind to.

Then I became Married and a Mother. Please understand this isn’t to look down on motherhood at all but for ME being a stay home mom, changed my path during this time in my life. I found I no longer needed my daily planner and the structure of a having to plan out every hour of my day because quite frankly my newborn did that for me. My every day became more about tracking sheets to help me write down all the times of feeding and amounts along with when the baby was changed and when baby slept and for how long. My weekly planning turned into daily tracking and record keeping.

For me it was my season to be all about baby and motherhood…however the entrepreneur in me never quit. I still managed to start and grow an online freelance web development business as well as a successful handmade jewelry making business with my second born. However, both came to a halt when I finally had the courage to escape my abusive marriage. It seemed in these years not much planning was ever made as my life was filled with record keeping of the abuse and living my life as how my ex-saw fit.

Fast Forward years later and to right now…I am blessed to be able to plan and do so freely. I feel tracking is still a vital part of helping plan a week or month. As you can see in some of my custom planning layouts I create. Goal setting should be based on the things you need to improve upon. To visually be able to see where your weak areas in your life are is to be able to track the areas you do most and least. Life should always be about wanting to improve yourself but to figure out those areas of needed improvement is where tracking becomes a critical role to planning.

So planning for me is my way to find peace for the week. It reminds me that I get the freedoms to pick and choose what I want to focus on and what I don’t. It’s my time to physically oversee what I’ve accomplished throughout a week or month and reflect on the areas I can approve upon. For many of us, I know this is done either digitally or physically with pen and paper. For me, I feel there is something satisfying about being able to take to paper and writing it down. Something with writing and how it connects with your mind and how this activity is something no digital form can never replace. It’s why my online business MooreTanPaper.com was formed and why I will find a piece of me in a planning realm always using paper.