Whether or not you consider yourself a planner, you probably do at least some planning in your life. If you didn’t, things would fall apart–appointments would be missed, meals wouldn’t get made, vacations wouldn’t happen and life would be jumbled. In this post, I’m sharing a little bit about why planning your time is important and how to get started. 

Why Planning Your Time Is Important 

Truth is I’m a planner. I like to know what’s on the schedule for the day, the week, the month, and the year. Planning gives me a tiny piece of control over some things I can control like do I have enough milk in the fridge? And when was the last time I had my teeth cleaned? 

I find comfort when I plan for four reasons that I’ll dive into in this post. Planning helps me reduce or eliminate two stresses: craziness (1) and frittering (2). Planning also gives me joy (3) and reminds me that I am not actually in control (4). 

#1. Planning your time helps to slow the craziness.

The Craziness

If I don’t plan, I feel all the craziness. Last-minute stresses and oh-no’s. I’m not prepared! And I do not like to be unprepared. 

Now for some people, this might not phase you in the least. You may be the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of person. My mother-in-law was like that about hospitality. She’d always have enough food on hand to invite extras for Sunday dinner after church. “Please come!” she’d say with a smile. She didn’t let the little things stop her. So what, the kitchen floor wasn’t swept? She’d give it a quick sweep even as company came in the house. I have often longed to be more like that.  

But it’s not easy for me. 

Last-minute invitations threw me for a loop, and my kind husband learned quickly that I didn’t appreciate impromptu guests. People would see our bathroom mirror splattered with toothpaste! Yikes! We could have BLTs but is the lettuce all mushy? How many tomatoes do we even have? And my laundry basket is still sitting by the couch with a load to be folded. And on and on. 

But you know what? Nobody cared if my house was clean or the table was set like a (back-then) magazine photo spread. Nobody but me. (I’m still working on this – looking like I have it all together, just like my main character in my novel!)

Planning Makes All the Difference

So this planner gal attempted to face the problem head on. With a plan. I could plan for last-minute guests. Now isn’t that a brilliant thought? Planning for an impromptu dinner or even out-of-town guests would be simple. Keep the fridge and pantry semi-stocked and the house presentable, which means surface clean, closets not. 

Take last night, for example. I had a tentative plan for a small family dinner with our granddaughter. I’d make the meal she loves (homemade hamburger helper) and steam some broccoli. And then our daughter’s dryer was on the fritz, so she asked if she could come do a load of laundry – of course! – and then our little dinner turned into a big and wonderful and memorable family dinner and I made our long-time favorite meal Pacific Rim Stir fry. 

I set aside the original plan, made a new one, asked my son-in-law to bring yellow peppers, and we were blessed. No craziness. 

#2. Planning your time helps to set aside the frustration or frittering.

If I do not have any plan for my day, I will either waste precious time or throw up my hands in frustration. 

When I was teaching full-time with kids at home, the list of to-do’s in my head was so long, I struggled to figure out how to organize all the things. A written list or schedule helped me know I didn’t need to worry about doing laundry today because it was Friday. I would do the laundry on Monday. A plan helped me know that we’d have leftovers, so I didn’t need to thaw the chicken yet. This wasn’t a rigid schedule but a rough draft with room to shift as needed. I often used a pencil in my planner! 

Lately in this empty-nest season of my life where I do my writing work at home, I still need to keep organized because I have a tendency to fritter away the precious moments in the day. I don’t have a rigid schedule most of the time, so without any plan I will waste time on social media, playing Wordle, or organizing my pens and colored pencils. Usually this is because I’m procrastinating the hard work of writing and editing! Planning your time keeps you (and me) from frittering away the moments.

#3. Planning your time helps you savor (and pray for) what’s ahead.

Part of the joy in planning is looking ahead. Do you remember what it felt like to get ready for a high school dance? For many, the best part of the dance was the planning. Yeah, sometimes the slow-dance with that cute guy was special, but much of the fun was before the dance, finding the right dress, ordering the boutonniere, hanging out with friends and doing hair or nails. 

When we plan for a vacation or trip, much of the fun is planning what we will see and where we will stay. The planning helps me get even more excited about what’s to come. It also helps me focus on prayers for these future plans. 

Even simple planning gives me joy. As I look at the week ahead, I note the work, chores, and volunteer responsibilities that need to get done, but I also leave plenty of “white space” or opportunities for impromptu moments, family time, letter-writing, and prayers. I share these with my husband so we can be “on the same page,” so to speak. 

Each morning, I’ll ask my husband, “What’s on for today?” Or I’ll text my family, “Whatcha doing today?” because I want to pray for their plans and delight in their journeys. 

#4. Planning your time helps you remember God is in control. 

But ultimately, planning helps me remember that God is God and I am not. I am not in charge of my moments and my days. How does planning do this for me? As I look back on my day/week/month and reflect, I see God’s hand in all of it. In the last-minute stop at the ice cream shop because the power went out; in the friends I chatted with but didn’t have on my to-call list; in the conversations and quiet times with my husband or my adult children that were not on my schedule. These things happened because I did have a plan – and so I wasn’t experiencing the craziness or feeling guilty about the frittering. I had already finished what I wanted to finish. 

But these little gifts came about also because I held my plan loosely and trusted the Lord to open the doors that needed opening and to shut the doors that needed shutting. Remember, planning your time doesn’t really make you in control.

How to Start Planning Your Time

Maybe you can see yourself in some of my stories. Maybe you find yourself frittering the day away and then frustrated when you get hit with some unexpected craziness. You might feel like your days are slipping past more quickly and you struggle to keep up with time. I have been there. I have found a few key things to help: goal setting, daily, weekly, and quarterly planning, and remembering to hold it all loosely.

Goal Setting

Yes, a key part of planning your life is setting goals. Wait! I know many of you will want to click away at the mention of goals. You think you don’t need goals for whatever reason, but I challenge you to think of goals in a different way. Yes, you can set SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, timebound) goals, but if you’re not in the career- or business-building stage of life, SMART goals might not be for you. Instead, I challenge you to think of your goals as arrows that help you continue to move in the direction of what is important to you. Whether that is health, faith, strong relationships, or all of the above. 

No matter what time of the year, it’s not too late to set goals. There is nothing magical about January 1. 

If you’re curious about diving into goal setting, check out some of my posts about goals: 

• Why set goals? (Plus Picking Your Word of the Year)
• How to Set Goals
• How to Create an Action Plan for Your Goals
• A different approach to goal-setting: 3 Old Things and 3 New Things I’m Practicing This Year

Daily, Weekly, and Quarterly Planning

Once you have a grasp on what you are working towards (next year’s vacation, a healthier cholesterol number, or more time with your family…), you can take those plans into your months, weeks, and days. 

To do this, you’ll need a good place to keep track of your tasks (fancy planner, simple notebook, or the Reminders built into your smartphone). There are countless articles out there to help you get started. Here are a few that might be helpful: 

• 3 Tips to Help You Stop Rushing
• Starting Fresh Each Month
• Seasonal Planning: How to Organize Your Personal Goals
• How to Set Yourself Up for a Productive Day, Full Focus
• How to Better Control Your Time by Designing Your Ideal Week, Full Focus
• The Importance of the Weekly Review, Full Focus
• The Importance of a Quarterly Review, Full Focus

Keep a Record

Our brains are full of stuff. That’s why planning and writing things down is such a helpful tool. Another tool I have learned recently and am implementing is creating a life timeline to help you remember the important events in your life. A life timeline can be useful for referencing major dates and locations (former addresses, educational background, or surgeries). It can help you tell your story in seasons of life to remember the Lord’s faithfulness. And it can help you dive into a scrapbook, photo album, or memoir project by giving you cues.

Remember to Hold It Loosely 

You can do a lot of research on planning and goal setting online, and you will find a lot of helpful tips (I especially like Michael Hyatt’s guidance–check out this post on why you need a written life plan). I love learning new things, and planning and productivity tips are high on my list of things I like to learn about (also anything writing, of course).

But one thing I always try to keep in mind is to hold these things loosely. When I was a kid and collected stones from the lake, I’d scoop up some pebbly sand and water. I’d open my hand and let the water and sand and tiny pebbles flow through my fingers. I was left holding the big stones I wanted. My days are just like this. I try to cling to the things that matter and let go of the rest You’ll see that theme pop up in a lot of my posts, and if you find you are being hard on yourself, I encourage you to read these posts: 

• One Thing I’m Not Doing in 2019 (Hint, this was big in giving myself grace that year.)
• How I’m Simplifying This Year

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Psalm 23 has been my go-to passage for much of my life. It’s a comfort as I plan my moments and days because I’m reminded that no matter what I plan, what I desire, and what comes my way, I have a guide, a comforter, a Redeemer. While you make your plans, remember that you don’t have to trust in them because God has you in His plans.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 

He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.

    He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Psalm 23

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