10 Steps To Planning a Better Day

December is a busy month. I wanted to share 10 basic steps to planning a better day. Working, going to school, being a stay at home mom already keep most of us busy. Then add a few holiday events, a special family gathering, musical, church play and band performance and the days get very full very fast.

10 Steps to Planning

10 steps to planning are my simple steps I have put together over the last few years. Some things work and some things don’t for me. But I know a little planning is better than no planning. Planning good days instead of just letting random circumstances direct the day is important.

I also remind myself as a believer “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I don’t self sabotage myself, and tell myself what won’t work, it is impossible and that I can’t.

Before we get started with the steps, I wanted to give an example of what ‘doesn’t work’ for me. I am a morning person and not an evening person. I learned this about myself in college years ago trying to pull an all nighter studying, falling asleep, waking up in the morning in time to rush and take the test and missing the mark because I slept instead of studied during the wee hours of the night. (Yikes).

So for me, laying out my clothes, the night before-doesn’t work.

Making my lunch the night before – doesn’t work.

Anything requiring the night before….isn’t a good plan for me. I need to do things during the day, or the morning, or the morning before to accomplish anything successful. I am such a big baby at night. That is just me. Think about what works for you and make your game plan successful for you and your time frame.

I want to share what helped me purposely edit some unimportant things so that I could focus on the important things I really wanted time for. Even if I give you a couple ideas to help your day be planned better that will

be a good thing! There are specific and successful things you can do to set your day in order.

Game Plan – Step 1

Game plan – Make a goal. Make the goal easy, simple, something you will follow-

The goal is to have a smoother day, a smoother beginning to your day. We all know life happens and that means unexpected changes to our day. I start with a good plan. My basic morning plan is to have clean clothes to wear, food to make lunch ( I have no lunch or eating places nearby so if I don’t make my lunch I have a fast day, which I do one or two times a week). I also keep all my computer and phone cords in one place so that I can always find them in the morning. This is a huge goal, simple, but very important to my. mental well being! I hate looking for things in the morning, and I seem to look for things because that is something I am working on.

10 steps to planning a better day are obviously my ideas for planning, but your list may look completely different. This his what has worked for me in my life, over the seasons and years of my life.

Game Plan – Step 2

Planning takes planning. This is a simple thing to start with. Much like looking at your paycheck and deciding how much money you have, and how much you need to spend on bills and expenses. What is left is what you have to work with.

Being determined to have good days I sat down and wrote out realistically what our time frame was for each day. How much time we had, how much time we needed. Where the breakdown was. The planning began. I wrote down everything.

This was huge. I had 16 hours to start with, and I wrote in what we did, traveling time, school, work, eating, waiting, sports practices or church. It was amazing how much time was spent in the car. But it helped me ‘SEE’ what my day really was filled with and why certain things didn’t get done.

So make a plan. Look at your day, write specifically what you do when you do it. Be realistic about how much time it takes to drive, eat, get ready, etc.

HERE is day printable for you to print out and write things down. I have shared this before, but it is basic and helps to see your actual schedule.e.

Life happens and we can’t Make some new goals that will of course have a positive effect on your day. 10 Steps To Planning a Better Day

Game plan – Step 3

Step 3 is the quick view of your day. I am surprised by people (my co workers for example) who just start their day but don’t know what their day looks like. They go to work, and let circumstances direct their schedule, their time and basically their life.

Your day may have different options, but you need to have a quick view of your day, your responsibilities. This will affect your goals and your plans. Remember you are making good goals for good days. You are the one who will run towards your goals.

You are in problem solving mode right now.

You+solutions=Good Plans

Realistically jot down your day from beginning to end. It doesn’t have to be in order, just write down from start to finish. Write out what a good day looks like to you from start to finish. How you would like your day to go.

Think about what you need in the physical realm for a good plan. (gas in the car, eat out or take your lunch, clean work or school clothes, computer, tablet, charging cords, etc.) Decide how many hours need to be towards responsibilities (managing kids, work, school, money making activities.)

Plan the other hours that are not taken for school, work, home responsibilities-plan what you want to do and need to do. Go shopping, do laundry, unload dishwasher, pay bills, buy groceries, meal plan, etc.)

Game plan – Step 4

Make a goal that you will move towards. After you look at your days schedule, and the time slots for responsible activities, need to do, want to do, think about doing. Make a goal towards what you really need to do. An accomplishment type of goal. (for example: learning how to play the piano, learning how to create a website, or write an ebook to sell, etc.)

Next take your list you have written down, your days, responsibilities and look where you have an opening. When I was the mother of little ones, there were no openings! But I created one. I started replacing time slots getting up 30 minutes early. I used my lunch time while kids were eating and I replaced the hour that I normally watched my tv show (there wasn’t DVR at the time) with an activity that I wanted and needed to do for my happiness level.

The simplest thing to do, whether on your to do list, or in your mind is decide what you really really want and need to do with your life. Then get rid of the time wasters that daily keep you from staying focused.

Make a plan that works. Fill yourself up and avoid crash and burn moments, days, seasons, and years. Make the plan Solve the problem places.

I remember going through an incredibly difficult season after losing my parents. I had a hard time just doing regular things. My son told me I needed to spend more time filling myself up with the things that filled me. Those things were my devotions, reading God’s promises to me, listening to worship music, sewing, stitching, etc. I didn’t get up earlier I just spent more time during the day figuring out a way to do those things. Less tv which didn’t help me in the bigger picture.

I adjusted my daily self needs and schedule to fit my season. And my schedule isn’t someone else schedule. Decide what works best for you during this season.

Mindless activity doesn’t fill me up with my soul gasoline. My soul and spirit respond to God. A good message, good worship, listening to a faith filled message, that fills me up.

I need to be filled to work at my job (Hospice) and I need to bring strength to my home and workplace.

Manage the time you have. Do not give away or waste your important time. If you get paid for 8 hours you don’t waste those 8 hours you go to work so you will get paid. Managing your time is using your important time to benefit you, your home and your daily responsibilities.

10 steps to planning a better day starts with your day, and then your week. Use the free printable above and write out not only your daily schedule, to do list but your kids as well. Or write one for home, print out another one and write one out for your work. The entire printable planner is available in my shop HERE

I work 2 jobs. I go to my one day job, and then I have a small business that keeps me very busy. With this in mind, I have 2 planners, and write out necessary tasks and responsibilities for each job. Both important and both extremely different.

To stay on track I write out my daily tasks, but also my goals.

I do not live by just a To Do list. I live by a ‘TO ACCOMPLISH’ list. To see more of my planning printables, motivational social media stickers please visit me @ https://www.etsy.com/shop/CottageChicPrintable

When I gave my life to Jesus Christ and became a believer I was no longer able to live with mundane and generic living. There is more to life. John 10:10 says “For I have come to give you life more abundantly.” This is why I post on this blog and I am always reaching towards more.

Get what you need to accomplish and do what you need to do. There are times where you quit eating out every night or something similar because you want to buy the computer.If you can’t do both, then one has to be edited or shelved for the time being to accomplish the goal. make the goal. Why? So you can reach and get what it is you really want. However some goals take longer than others. Be mindful and be merciful on you

Remember the athlete who is training for the Olympics may really want to go to the latest movie or concert with her friends but because of her big life goal she sets that aside so she can train….to win.

This is about winning. You winning. You accomplishing.

Game plan – Step 9

Game plan step 9, this is important – Fill yourself with the right gasoline to get yourself where you need to go. A

car runs out of gas. It has to be filled. It has to have gas to get where you need it to go. You don’t ever get in a car that is empty and think you will get where you need to go. The same applies with your spirit and your soul. You can’t run on empty. You have to fill yourself up. Running on empty leads to breakdown, collapse and ultimately disaster. One of the best ways to fill yourself up is to start your day with good words and powerful messages of faith and motivation ( I listen to Joyce Meyer, Stephen Furtich, Bill Scheer- pastor of Guts church in Tulsa who is absolutely amazing, and a few others). Don’t neglect your spirit. God made you, and you are a mix of spirit, soul and body. Fill up all three with good things.

Game plan – Step 10

10. Get up and get yourself ready. Do you need extra time in the morning to wake up? Then schedule a few extra minutes for waking up. Coffee or breakfast? Schedule your time. Figure out how many minutes this realistically takes. Planning means you realistically know how long it takes you to get ready for your day. Be good to yourself in the morning. It makes a difference. Also, know what works for a person in their 20’s is going to be different than someone in their 50’s and 60’s.

Bring the best version of you to each day, each situation, work, school, marriage, family, and your inner circle of influence.

Do you feel that stirring for more? I wake up with it! I would love to hear from you if you do Leave me a comment below. This post “10 steps to PLANNING a better day is filled with ideas, however there are more ideas out there. These are just my ideas!

More ideas here @ Ribbonwoodplanner.com