Planning, Tools and Change

I love a good planner. I love working in a system that supports what I am trying to accomplish and where I am trying to go. While I stick to a specific goal planning process, I always allow for the planning tools I use to change.

While I give myself permission to move from one system to the other, I am very aware of what I need to keep in mind as I do so. I’m frugal by default and I therefore save what I wind up setting aside when I switch systems, both because of my frugality and because I know I may go back to a system at a later time. I took time over the last couple of weeks to get my planning supplies all collected and put together and that served me very well. It allowed me to see what I have and remind myself of the systems I love most. Between April being nothing like what I expected and adding another project in the midst of everything else I’m doing, I fell out of sync with my planners. I let go of what I had been using and stuck to lists more than anything. Now that May is here and with it brings a lot of family birthdays (we’re close to a dozen) I need to get back to my planners so I can keep track of everything, both personally and professionally. Seeing where all of the personal things are happening and where my time will be spent on family and friends gives me a much clearer picture of what time I will have left over for writing and projects. I reset myself back into the systems I’m using for May and June and then assessed what I had to move into in July. I purchased what I needed of the supplies I’d be out of by then, buying the same planners I’ve loved this past planning year most, and pulled from my supplies what I needed to add to that. Getting that done gives me peace of mind to know that I can move through this month and next while getting my planner stack for July ready at the same time.

This week I hope to really gain momentum back in my writing and my projects. Last week was focused so much on birthday celebrations and Mother’s day that I didn’t get into my manuscript at all. That on top of all the time I lost in April has me really anxious to get back into my writing full tilt. I can feel the impatience of my characters as they wait for me to get myself pulled back together and make time to give them my undivided attention. I’m also really aware of how much time there is before my girls are out of school for the summer and the hours I have in the morning will change. Each summer is different as my girls get older, as the world changes, and as my writing projects change. I’m not in the new writing space right now and so I *think/hope* that balancing time with my girls and my writing during this year’s summer vacation will be, maybe, easier. We usually take time in June to make a list of summer wants and projects to do and knowing what that will be will also give me a better idea of what time I will have. I know there are rooms to be painted and that my spouse and I want to completely rearrange our office space as our needs have begun to shift and resettle. Those are projects that will serve all of us really well and rearranging my office space will offer me an opportunity to streamline even more of my storage and work space. All of this requires lots of planning and I’m glad I’m ready to jump into it with my planners back in hand.

In case you haven’t been told today, you are more than enough.

With you in words, Nikole