The Beauty of Plans.

Plans really are a beautiful thing. Heres why:

They stop us procrastinating:

It stops the step ‘thinking through choices’. What I mean is that if the plan is on the table/phone, ready, then we don’t have to think about what we could be doing. We know. It’s there, in ink.

It also stops us ‘one-stepping’. Here’s an example: “Well I could do the washing, that’ll probably take half an hour. Then I’ll decide what to do after.” You’ll do the washing, and then because you deserve a break, you’ll sit down and watch tv. There’s no plan reminding you of your other tasks.

They give us an aim:

We may be unsure how to complete a certain task, especially if there’s lots of components to it. Write down one component and break it down in steps. Bit by bit you’ll get through it, eventually achieving your goal.

They’ll help our brain relax:

You remember you must do this, then you remember that other thing too, before you know it there’s ten things you gotta do and you’re relying on your brain to regurgitate each one. Poor brain. Give it a rest. Every time you think of one thing make sure you quickly jot in down in a diary or on your phone.

Then put it onto the ‘Master List’. I’ve made the error of having more than one list on the go; and it gets confusing. So make yourself a Master. When you have a spare five minutes add those new things to it.

Added bonus: you’ll be worrying less about the amount of tasks you have to do because you can see them all written down in manageable chunks. Your brain won’t be clogged up with anxiety anymore.

They’ll manage our time better:

The more you make a plan, you more you’ll gain an understanding over how long you take to do things. That way, next time you make a plan you can change it to suit your speed. It’ll remove any disappointment at not having completed some tasks, or remove annoyance that you procrastinated too long between tasks because you did them faster than you thought.

There’s two types of plans: one for a day and one for a project.

The day plan is straight forward, I either put down exact times, e.g.

8am: wake up

8.15-9.15: exercise

9.30: shower etc,

or I put AM/PM to next task.

There’s a few ways to do a plan for a project. While I was created my business I roughly jotted down what I had to do, then added to it when something else popped up. Then I transferred this list online and under each task I wrote the steps involved. For example:

Website: find a free website builder, design website, add a logo, blog posts, add the headings: consultation /about me and complete. Publish by Nov 2018.

Then I could break this down even more:

Blog posts: Blog Ideas. Blog posts written.

Find what works for you. Just remember, have just ONE list/plan all in the same place. Guys, I can’t express enough how important having a plan is.

#stepbystep #plans #lists