How Planning Can Change Your Life

If you’re the type of person who plans out their days, weeks, and months you are often looked at as “type-A, uptight, intense” and a whole list of other words that are the antithesis of fun.

But planning your days isn’t about being the most productive person in the room. It isn’t about showing the world that you’re “super busy” and “always working” because we all know people who say those things are low-key watching Netflix at their desk (no shade, we’ve all been there, don’t lie).

Planning isn’t about staying busy, it’s about having more mindful and fulfilling days.

It’s about going to bed at the end of the day knowing you took steps to further your goals. It’s about organizing the inner dialogue into tangible tasks. As our beloved Gretchen Rubin says, “outer order equals inner calm.” If you can stay organized on the outside, you will feel better on the inside.

When you plan your days, you can prioritize your to-dos and leave the excess behind. You will find that your days become more productive and less busy. You will find yourself doing the things you actually want to do, and checking off tasks you have been putting off.

When you use a planner, you’re taking time to ask yourself, “what do I want?” And that is powerful. That is something worth doing every single day.

Planning can have a stigma of being too strict or not flexible enough. But it is more about creating a guide for your days that allows you to accomplish the things that make YOU feel good. It’s about considering the priorities in your life and making time for them. You don’t get an award for hustling all day with no time for yourself. In fact, you only hurt yourself.

Planning ahead gives you the ability to time block the things you HAVE to do, in order to make time to do the things you WANT to do.

Planning our days, months, and weeks has also given us great confidence. Something about creating a plan, holding yourself accountable, sticking to it, and accomplishing it, brings you the bad ass mentality. You get to prove to yourself over and over again that you can REALLY do anything you set your mind to. We like to say, “where there is a plan, there is a way.” Being the person who doesn’t just talk about doing things, but actually does them boosts your self-esteem.

You start respecting yourself and what you say (because you actually do what you say you’re going to do!)

Planning is a practice just like meditation or yoga. It takes a little bit of thought, patience, and discipline, but the results are so worth it.