Episode 115: Planning for Procrastiplanners: Turn Your Brain On!

Do you find yourself putting off planning? Traditional planning is a rather left brained, orderly process, and for some of us it can be boring. It could be that you are neurodivergent, or creative, or not a naturally linear thinker. Today we’re going to look at some examples of strategies that can make planning more fun and wake your brain up.

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Transcript

Do you find yourself putting off planning? There are many possible reasons for this. One possibility is that traditional planning is a rather left brained, orderly process, and for some of us it can be boring. It could be that you are neurodivergent, or creative, or not a naturally linear thinker. Today we’re going to look at some examples of strategies that can work well to make planning more fun and wake your brain up.

Some of us prefer digital planning, some of us prefer paper planning, and some of us do a hybrid incorporating some of each. I will touch on strategies from both the digital and the paper camp.

General things to think about:

1.     Make your planning session something enjoyable. 

·        Timing: do it when you have mental energy

·        Setting: comfy, activity around you or not – no interruptions

·        Sound: ambient noise, music that is non-distracting, silence

·        Hydration: favorite beverage - important for brain function

·        Supplies: pens and planner easy to grab, or app or website easy to access

2.     Use color. 

·        Easy to do with apps like Google Calendar. Have a different color for different types of tasks, such as work, household chores, errands.

·        Or different colors of Post It notes – be careful they don’t fall off.

·        Or different pens.

·        Example: For infrequent tasks that I might otherwise put off or forget, I use a wall calendar. It is staring me in the face every day. You don’t have to open an app to see it. It also changes every month, and I make it fun with brightly colored polka dot stickers. I love the way it looks when I’m done. Much more fun to see bright polka dots than a boring typed list.

Here's how to do it:

1.     Write your appointments, special holidays and vacation days on the calendar first.

2.     Grab a large Post It note and brainstorm tasks that come up every month and occur anywhere from twice a week to once a month. Write your brainstormed task list on a piece of paper. I like to use a large Post It note. Leave space between each item.

3.     Put a different colored sticker next to each item on your list. For example, watering the plants is a brown sticker, paying the bills is a red sticker, doing laundry is orange.

4.     Next, go to your calendar and decide when you want to do each task. I water my plants on Mondays, so I put a brown sticker on each Monday. I pay the bills on the 10th and the 25th, so I put red stickers on those days.

5.     If you see a conflict with a special day, put a sticker on a different day. For example, the 25th is Christmas, and I don’t want to pay bills on Christmas, so I will put that sticker on the 26th instead. 

Doing the calendar this way is not only fun and colorful, it also lets you see at a glance whether you’re cramming too many monthly tasks into one day. Try to limit any given day to no more than two monthly tasks. 

When you’re all done, hang your calendar on a wall where you will see it every day. I also take a picture of the calendar so I can see it when I’m in a different part of the house or away from home.

After you’ve done the task for a given day, you can put a checkmark on the sticker. 

If you’re dividing chores with your partner, instead of putting a checkmark on the sticker, you can put your first initial on the sticker. That will make it clear who’s doing more of the work and who needs to step up.

3.     Use variety. 

·        This is often harder to do with a digital system, but you may be able to change fonts or colors.

·        Use a wall calendar with a different pic for every month.

·        Make your own planner, using a 3 ring notebook and whatever fun pictures you choose. 

·        Change your planner layout – vertical to horizontal, or vice versa.

·        Change the location where you do your planning.