A Plan for This Day

How Do You Plan For Today?

Measuring Your Length of Time – Part 6

No matter how well you plan for your year, your month, and even your week; it all boils down to what you do with a day, today.  I think of myself (and so do my friends) as a planner. My best plans are flawed until I can get them broken down into what will I do today.  If you have no control over today, then you won’t control your week, your months, or your years. You see what you do today represents the habits you’ve established which is an indication of what you’ll do tomorrow, all week, and even all year.  

The Thought or Concept:
How will you get your day to reflect what you wish to accomplish this year?  Yeah, I understand you’re doing a lot now and you’re busier than ever, but what does that matter if you’re busy doing something that’s not getting you to your desired destination?  This is the question you must ask when turning monthly goals into weekly goals and weekly goals into actions you can perform today. It can be simple, but difficult if you lack discipline.  Leadership expert John Maxwell says “everything worthwhile is uphill.” Don’t let something as simple as using a calendar be the thing standing in your way. I’ve learned to live by my calendar.  Everyday has everything I need so that I don’t have to guess what I have to do.

I plan for my days.  When I review my “what-I-wish-to-accomplish-this-week” list, I begin to fill in my available/designated blocks of time with those tasks and goals.  Once I get those big stones in place, I can then review and see what slots I have leftover and choose how I wish to use my time. This is called budgeting your time.  Just like you budget your money for good finances, you must have a way to budget your time. In this way, I can plan for my day, so that I don’t have a day that fails me.  If you don’t plan, you plan to fail. Let’s plan to have a productive and satisfying day.

The Practice:
How does this look when put into practice?  I’ve always found it helpful to hear how others put this into practice so let me share how we do it.  

• Give each hour a name.  In the previous web-post, “Your Life In A Week“, I outlined what my ideal week looks like and how it’s used as a template.  Now that you know where the holes are (available free time), you can insert some activities that matter.  Fill in the holes with something even if it’s to watch a movie or wash your clothing. In this way, each time someone wants to get some of your time, you know what you need to trade off and ask yourself is what I’m being asked worth the trade?
• Re-calibrate your priorities.  Side-note: remember we’re people of faith.  Each morning we ask God to re-calibrate our priorities for this day.  It’s a day He’s given us so we want His input. Planning your day in advance like this provides a few benefits beyond the obvious.
  • You now have spots on your calendar for the action steps you must take and you don’t have to fit it in when you can.  No more cramming activities into an already cluttered calendar.
  • You now have an easy method of knowing what to pray for each morning.  You can pull up your calendar and ask God’s help with each scheduled item on your calendar.  You can use your calendar as a prayer checklist which will give you something to discuss with God each day.
    We always check with God in how we prioritize what happens in our days.  I’d rather go to Him with a plan for what we need to do today and let Him re-calibrate it, than to go to Him with no plan, for this day He’s given us, at all.
• Giving just 24 slots an assignment is easy.  The daily calendar is easy to handle because it’s made up of only 24 hour blocks.  Once you place the staples in like sleep (6-8 hours) and work (9-10 hours) that leaves you with roughly 7-8 hours for your own use.   Now all you need to concentrate on is the 9 hours for work, the 7 hours outside of work, and sleep. What will you do during each set block of time?

Your life is the sum total of what you do with your days.  How will you plan to make the best of your today?

Today is Friday!
Today is another day and the only day you have.  Don’t forget that. How will you make the best of this one day so that when you add up your days, it creates the best life possible?  Have a plan that works to accomplish what you need. A plan isn’t meant to limit you, but it’s meant to give you the tools you need to say “no” to all the wrong things and “yes” to all the right.  Your life is your business and it’s measured in days. Until next Friday, share this with a friend.

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