"There are dreamers, and there are planners; the planners make their dreams come true" Edwin Louis Cole
Planning is an essential personal tool that we can use every day to help us work towards achieving our dreams. Without a plan, we can often get caught up in day-to-day life, and our personal and professional goals can get caught by the wayside.
We can achieve so much more by planning every aspect of our lives. We have clarity within our daily lives and know exactly what we want to accomplish. We become more focused, driven and motivated.
Having a plan allows you to take a broad look into your future. You can see where you envision yourself in different aspects of your life and know what steps you need to take to get there, from your personal life to your professional, relationships, finances, family, friendships and so on.
We love to start by setting long-term plans, at least five years ahead - it might seem like a long time, but it'll come around soon enough, and we all can have a rough idea of where we want to be by then. Think of this as your five-year vision board. Setting plans so far in advance gives you a rough outline of your immediate priorities. The next step is to take those plans and break them down into goals and then break the goals into actions.
Without breaking down your plans into goals, your dreams are just that; they can seem overwhelming and feel unachievable. Setting yourself goals means that you can view the roadmap you need to take to make them a reality. By breaking your goals down into actions, they become manageable and the simple stepping stones we need to take. Small steps of action turn into achieving goals and achieving goals turn into creating the life we have visioned for ourselves.
It's essential to quickly check in with our plans and goals regularly; we like to check in daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly. While this might seem like a lot, schedule this as your personal growth time, your self-care session. Don't waste your time; it's precious, so spend it wisely - literally plan it out.
This is how we do it...
Daily:
Our health is our wealth and our daily priority. We plan our health and wellness first, including our meals, hydration, movement and mental health activities. After this, we like to check in and see what we have in the schedule for the day ahead, any urgent tasks or priorities, and appointments. We prefer a time-blocking method that gives us the most productive day by stacking relevant activities in each area, for example, home, work and personal blocks. We use daily routine reminders and trackers to keep up with the small tasks and habits. At the end of the day, we have a daily reflection and gratitude session; this really helps our mental health, and we also use it as a brain dump session for anything on our minds for the following day.
Weekly:
At the end of every week, usually on a Sunday evening, we reflect on the week prior and see what actions we achieved or missed, what worked during that week and what didn't. We check in with appointments for the week ahead, anything we need to schedule, meal plans and our action list for the goals we need to achieve over the following week and which are the priorities. By scheduling these actions into our plans, we're more likely to achieve them faster.
Monthly:
At the end of every month, usually the last day of the month, we reflect on how the month before went, our spending habits, the goals we achieved and what we want to take into the following month. We look at each area of our lives and quickly check how we're feeling in each area and if our current plans, goals and actions are aligned with them or if we need to change them. We look at the month ahead in a more general context and leave more minor details for the weekly and daily planning; our broader actions for goals are scheduled here. We look at when we can batch any tasks together to be more efficient, and for anything coming up, we need to have sight on more than a week in advance.
Quarterly:
Our quarterly check-ins are scheduled at the end of March, June, September and December, and these are purely to see if we are on track with our goals and, if not, what we can do to get back on track. We look ahead to the next quarter and aim to ensure we're not over or underachieving.
Yearly:
Finally, our annual check-ins are scheduled throughout December, yes, the month. Whilst this might seem daunting, hear me out. This gives us time to genuinely reflect on our past year and achievements, check in with our five-year vision board, and see what our goals or might have changed for us are. We then set our goals, actions and intentions for the year ahead.
Planning is different for everyone, and we recommend trying a few styles out to see which suits you; for example, some people prefer to plan digitally, some pen and paper and others a mix of both. Try, and you'll soon find out what works for you.
We are so passionate about planning and how much it can personally help you achieve more than you thought you could do.
Any questions about planning? Reach out to us at hello@dotplanner.co.uk
Wishing you all the best in your planning journey,
Hayley x
