02 de mayo, 2023

Daily Planning

I don’t know about the rest of you, but my desks at home and the office will find themselves littered with to-do lists and half baked project plans. Born from inspiration and lacking the follow through required to feel like I’ve gotten anything done, planning and time management have always been a weakness of mine. Thankfully, there are plenty of people wiser than I who have given me plenty of motivational advice in which to inspire those of us who struggle to turn our endless lists into action

“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.” -J. R. R. Tolkein

Check your schedule for other plans and unavoidable time constraints before setting a daily plan into motion. You may have it set in your mind to finish all the gardening on a Saturday, but if you neglect to check the weather forcast you may find yourself sorely disappointed when it may quite literally rain on your parade.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin

It’s a well known fact that what can go wrong will go wrong- one of the strongest assets to a good daily plan is the ability to shift it around life’s curveballs. Don’t let roadblocks stop you from completing the things you know you can accomplish.

“Plan for what it is difficult while it is easy, do what is great while it is small.” -Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Don’t put off small tasks just because they are easy or you assume that you can finish them another time in lieu of larger projects. What can start as something that will only take five minutes today can very quickly snowball into a behemoth of a chore that takes out an entire day.

"Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.” – Peter F. Drucker

The hardest albeit most important part of your plan is simply to start it. You can spend all the time in the world crafting the perfect to do list or project schedule but if that’s all it ever is and you simply push back starting it, then it’s as useful as having spent the time imagining the work.