The Value of a Planner
How good is your memory? Is short term memory a problem for you? Or is long term memory more difficult? Or are they equal? My memory is all over the place. I went to the market to buy juice and bought everything I hadn’t needed, but no juice. That’s what makes a list important. It’s planning ahead.
To know when your appointments are, or things you want or have promised to do, it makes sense to write them down. And you must write them all in the same place. Thus, a planner. Or a calendar of sorts will do. That way you have one place to turn to every day to see what you’ve got going that day, or to look ahead at the week, or even the month.
There are so many planners out there I could spend hours telling you about them and still not get through them all. There are entire planner systems designed for making and achieving goals. Someone has created a planner for just about every aspect of life. Paper or electronic, you could plan yourself to your last breath. Or you could keep a simple calendar and look at it regularly.
My dentist always asks me about scheduling an appointment six months out from my current appointment. E.g. “Are you free September 4th?” How would I know that? Fortunately, I have a calendar in my phone and can scroll to September, check the date, and enter the dentist appointment. Now I won’t schedule anything else for that time. I may even set a reminder to make sure I leave the house on time.
I have a friend I have dinner with every Saturday. If I call her earlier in the week to make a plan (in case we need a reservation), she never has an answer. Only on Saturday afternoon can she come up with an idea. She does not have a planner.
To take charge of your life you need to plan how your life will unfold rather than just letting it happen.
Life is never as easy as we plan it to be; however, having a planner makes the bumps of real life easier to deal with.
– Sydney Metrick