How Do You Plan?Do You Plan?

Here I am at the edge of another work week, my trusty Franklin Covey binder is open to Tuesday, September 6 2005 and so far nothing is planned. Looking forward, as I have done so many other weeks, it seems that I'm starting fresh. Looking back, however, is an entirely different view

How do you plan? Do you plan?

You can't change things in the past, I know. I also know you shouldn't worry about stuff that happened yesterday as the Bible says. But what about the things that didn't happen yesterday? The unanswered emails and unfulfilled obligations. Items and issues that I told others I would get to after the long holiday weekend? Looking back at these fragments jolts me into the reality that I'm not starting the week fresh. Yet the clean pages of tomorrow's planner bring hope to the part of my psyche that craves autonomous lifestyle organization rather than the minute-by-minute struggle to control episodes of chaos that rage throughout my workday.

How do you plan? Do you plan?

Even though I own a planning system and possess the knowledge to make it really work for me, at most times it's nothing more than glorified piece of scratch paper. I jot down notes in real-time and plan a couple of hours ahead, but have never really done the weekend or even consistent nightly planning for the week and days ahead. So what gives? Why the disconnect? I mean, if I fail to plan then I plan to fail, right? Could it be that I have an unclear vision? Don't I see in high definition where I want to be in 5, 10 or 20 years? But, in order to see where I'm going, I have to understand where I am - the mission. Do I have an internal compass that guides my every decision with unshakable integrity? Umm, YES! I'm a Christian and a family man. My mission statement is to love the Lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind; to love and provide for my family; to lead them in the Way everlasting! OK, that's a start, but how do I connect the dots from that Pie in the Sky to tomorrow morning at 6:30 am?

How do you plan? Do you plan?

I read a good article in Networking Times by Stephanie Marston, M.F.T. called Remembering What Matters and I'm coming to the conclusion that my mission statement needs to be a lot more personal. It needs to clarify the values that define me as a Christian, father of 3 boys, church IT leader, music lover, and blogger. Then I need to post those values on my bathroom mirror, daily internalize them and look at where I spend most of my time, so that I can refocus my energies into things that I (not anybody else) hold most sacred.

But here's where the rubber really meets the road. In my planning, I need to hold my obligations up to the light of Scripture and according to my values, then decide how to prioritize and/or delegate each one. Also, during the day, instead of reacting to or immediately handling circumstances as they reveal themselves, prioritize them according to the same standards. I can tell you right now that the retraining of my habits will be hard. I'll feel like I'm betraying people who usually expect me to be "Johnny on the Spot" and I'll think I'm not getting as much "real work" done. But, if at the end of the day, I can measurably see that I'm getting closer to my goals, it'll be well worth the pain.

I'm praying that this blog entry will be followed with updates on my progress and that in some way I'm holding myself accountable to my readers for following through.

So tell me, how do you plan or do you plan at all?