Planning to Plan: 5 Planning Habits to Consider
“Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.”—Prov. 16:3
When my son announced he was going to get married right after Christmas and before the new year—in 3 months!—that started the clock ticking for me. I knew that in order to get through this holiday with sanity, I would need to start planning immediately.
After returning from my trip in October, I carved out some time to plan. Navigating both the holidays (Thanksgiving/Christmas), with three family birthdays in the mix as well, will require me to think ahead carefully. Without pulling back first, I will inevitably just respond by reacting to things instead of intentionally pushing forward because I don’t know what needs doing.
Generally, I give myself a 2-4 week lead time to plan a single event, but with so many special days that require so much, I chose to carve out my entire quarter to the one goal of focusing on my family. That meant that I said “no” to a lot of things or chose a simpler form of traditions I wanted to keep, like emailing my Christmas cards instead of sending them. I kept the sentiment but scaled down the work.
Over the past few posts, we’ve been discussing how to start bringing in God’s vision into our everyday lives, structuring our days to live out His Story. Each of us will do it in a different way, among different people. Though all believers are called to make disciples, we will have our own unique spin on how that looks.
Even when life is not so jam-packed, carving out time throughout our lives to do some evaluation and planning is beneficial so we stay on track. There are different levels and types of planning that can help us to reorient, course correct, and fine tune. Planning time to plan is one of the best things we can do to adjust with the changes in our lives and pivot as needed to accommodate.
This also allows us to prepare for changes in circumstances and seasons. Though we cannot prevent the unknown, planning ahead helps us not be broadsided by them. We will still need to make adjustments but planning ahead in the areas we can often helps alleviate some of the fallout.
Here are a few key planning sessions I recommend, each with its own purpose:
Annual Plan
What is it: This is the high-level planning I like to do at the end of every year
Time required: 1-3 days
Purpose: 1) to evaluate the past year and give praise to God for where He has taken you, 2) to consider your season and review your vision and mission in light of it—what would faithfulness look like now?, 3) to highlight your key areas of focus for the following year, and 4) plan to the quarterly level.
An annual plan is, for me, the highest level of planning. Whereas the others are more practical in nature, this one is refreshing, encouraging and inspiring.
We all need this kind of planning at least once a year, for this is where I begin to connect again with my larger purposes, set my intentions, and imagine things with God. Here are several things I do with each annual review:
Remember
I am always amazed every year at how much God has helped me to do. Things that were big wins earlier in the year are completely forgotten. As I take time to page back through my journal or planner, I am reminded of God’s faithfulness.
Reflect
At this time, I also pause to reflect on where I am in this season of my life. Some seasons are long—like the school-age years of your children. Some seasons may be shorter. Some are transition seasons, moving from one to the next.
One more tip: if possible, you may wish to do this with your spouse, if you’re married, to unite in the more important things in life. You may also wish to run things by your children afterwards as well—or even ask them for their opinion—so that they can know where you’re headed.
Quarterly Plan
What is it: Benchmarks for my annual goals. When I think in quarters, annual goals become more concrete. It also allows me to adjust or even pivot sooner than later.
Time required: 4-8 hours once every 3 months. I like to start this about a month before the quarter begins so I have some time to solidify and clarify my top three.
Purpose: 1) to evaluate the past quarter in light of the annual goals, 2) to set new quarterly goals that help you move toward your annual goals, 3) plan to the monthly level.
As I mentioned, it is at this 3-month level that I am able to do my best planning on the practical level. It’s not too far away but also gives me the space I need to figure out when I need to start things in advance. If you have big events, deadlines, vacations, etc. in mind quarterly planning can help you to have things lined up with far less stress.
For example, quarterly planning helped me to have the space to work backwards on my son’s wedding. With a lot to do in a short amount of time, I was able to figure out when I needed to complete certain tasks and spread them out so they didn’t end up all at the end.
So when I know I will be speaking somewhere or a deadline is due, I can give myself a runway to work up to it. If I also work in some buffer, I am able to also have some wiggle room if I don’t get things done exactly on time (which is usually 90% of the time).
Monthly Plan
What is it: Time to check in with myself before I start a new month. Helps break down quarterly goal into even more distinct actions.
Time required: 2-4 hours
Purpose: 1) to evaluate the past month in light of quarterly and annual goals, 2) to set goals for month to move towards quarterly goals, 3) plan to the weekly level.
At the monthly level, I am really just course-correcting my quarterly plan. Where am I on track? Where am I off? A monthly plan can be subdivided into weeks, where I distribute (or redistribute) what needs to be done.
Weekly Plan
What is it: Time to preview your week in advance so you can be aware of what is coming up and accommodate them (e.g. meetings or events and the prep work needed, assigning time for a big project in your work blocks)
Time required: about 30-60 minutes, once a week.
Purpose: 1) to evaluate the past week in light of the monthly, quarterly and annual goals, 2) to set goals for the next week, 3) plan to the daily level.
Here, I look at what needs to be done for the week, identify the three most important ways I want to move forward in my quarterly goals and then break that down into my work blocks.
Again, this is where looking at the week as a whole is helpful. You don’t need to try to get everything done on Monday.
After you have a sense of the week’s appointments and the time blocks you have left you can slot in the tasks at the times that are best for you to do them. Leaving margin allows you to shuffle things around if you need to do so.
Daily Plan
What is it: Time to check in to see if you can consolidate things in your work blocks, order them in a way that works best.
Time required: 5-15 minutes, every day
Purpose: 1) to reshuffle things in your weekly plan to accommodate things not yet done, 2) to batch similar tasks together, 3) to remind yourself of the big picture even in the midst of the little things.
Along with my weekly planning, I take up to 15 minutes to plan the next day as well. If you have routines in place, that takes care of most of it and all I actually am planning is the work I need to do during my work blocks.
When I first started my daily planning, I was in such a low state that for me, big wins were little things like calling the doctor for an appointment, completing a book, facing something I have been procrastinating, or making headway in a project. Celebrating these seemingly little things reminds me that all of my life is lived by His grace and help. They may not seem significant but the momentum they generate can be huge.
I then look back at my weekly goals and see how I’m doing with my progress. How am I doing in keeping my new habit? Did I need more time for a project than I anticipated?
Looking at my weekly plan for the week on a daily basis allows me to course correct early on. I make adjustments for tomorrow, altering my expectations of what I can complete, or commit once again to try my new habit again.
After I remember God’s goodness and review my progress, I reset for the new day by identifying (yes, again!) three key things I want to do for the next day. Sometimes it is simply aiming to keep training in my habit. Sometimes it is a small task that I’ve been procrastinating. Sometimes it is dedicating one of my best work blocks to focusing on a job to make some progress.
In summary: Planning is one of those things that isn’t very glamorous but helps us to stay on track. I hope you’ll install at least the quarterly, weekly and daily planning into your calendar. Give it a try and see how you do.
