As someone who has always loved planning, I’ve seen the difference it makes in my day. One time I tried unplanned Sundays and my day felt like a chaotic mess. But, I’ve heard from people who don’t plan that they feel it takes away the freedom within their day. It is a common belief that having a plan, structure, or routine that governs your day limits your own personal freedom to just do what you want, when you want. I disagree with this.
I’ve been reading “Atomic Habits” with my Crunchi team and he talks about this in regards to habits. He mentions that people wonder if habits and routine will make their life dull, restrict their freedom, and take away the spontaneity of life. He writes that it does the opposite, it creates freedom.
Having a plan, structure, or routine for your day actually opens up more freedom for you. It allows you to live your life proactively rather than reactively. You know what you need to get done that day, so you don’t waste precious time and energy on less important tasks or wander aimlessly, unsure of your priorities. It allows you to spend time doing the things you want to do rather reacting to the needs and wants of others all day long. It can completely change the way you live your day to day life.
I’ve talked about a few different ways to plan your day in previous posts, but below I’ll list some tools you can use for planning.
Google calendar, I LOVE to color code mine
Paper planner, keep it basic or go all out with the fun planner stickers
Desk weekly calendar to be able to easily glance at important tasks or events for the week
Shared family calendar with the app Cozi
White board daily, weekly, or monthly calendar
A simple to do list on a blank piece of paper
I encourage you to try something for at least a week to see how you like it and how it makes your day run differently! Remember, you don’t have to plan out each minute if that isn’t your jam, you can have a loose plan, a general idea for your day, certain blocks of time for certain things, or just a simple list, but having some sort of plan will create more calm within your days,
Which one are you going to try or do you already use?!
Raising Clean 