Planning With Intention
By Marla Regan
Organized Time is not only the name of my business; it is also what I do. In addition to being the business owner, I am also my best client! Planning has become a part of me and I love it when a plan ‘comes together’!
Learning to organize your time requires a strategy. First you’ll need a calendar to organize your time commitments. There are lots of different calendar layouts.
Keep these needs in mind as you shop for a calendar:
- Your calendar goes with you EVERYWHERE—car, office, school, shopping etc.
- EVERYTHING goes into one calendar—put personal and business appointments all in the same place. You only have one life and you can only be in one place at one time so keep organized by having all the information in ONE place.
- Vow to stick to this rule: “When I write it down I get it done!” (When I don’t, I won’t!) That’s why you take your calendar everywhere. No more blaming missed appointments or double bookings on a poor memory. You write it down so you DON’T have to remember it.
- I recommend a calendar that allows you to categorize business-time and personal-time.
- Your calendar should include a monthly page for ‘the big picture’ as well as large weekly pages.
- You also need lots of white space to create project planning, ‘to-do’ lists and appointments.
Every Sunday, take a few quiet minutes to orient yourself with the needs of the coming week. With the proper calendar you’ll see everything that must be done for the week. Next, schedule each day and break longer tasks down into manageable time segments. Menus and personal tasks can also be entered. Notice how relaxing it feels to take these few minutes to gain control of your week before it unfolds into chaos.
The next thing you’ll need is a system for handling phone messages. You can add phone messages to your calendar ONLY if there is room. Most often, I recommend a steno pad or binder.
Message Keeping Strategy
- The strategy here is to keep all phone messages, lists and notes in ONE place and one place ONLY! You’re creating a great one-stop reference place to look for any past information you may need again.
- Make sure to date each page in the top right hand corner.
- When full, date your steno pad or binder on the outside and store it on a handy shelf for reference. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how easy it is to retrieve information that you may have lost otherwise.
- As with your calendar, where you go—your steno pad goes. (This article was written on mine!)
The right tools make it much easier to get your time organized. Staying on track is more manageable when you have a solid system in place. And remember to plan time for planning. It will be easy with a system you can trust!
Stuck in your planning process? Need help moving forward? Organized Time can get you in the flow and moving along. Marla Regan is a Time Management Expert and Strategic Synchronicity Attraction Coach™.
Contact Marla at: marla@OrganizedTime.com.