plan

I am proud to report that this morning when I got to my desk I was agitated and wanted to get going with my work or drink some tea, but I took out my unschedule and printed a fresh weekly planner and started planning instead.

I notice that I’m slightly uncomfortable doing my planning in the morning. I suppose it’s because I’m used to see planning being done in the evenings, ‘after hours’. But it takes the same amount of time whenever it is done, so it doesn’t matter when it gets done.

Getting ill really knocked back my young habits. It was only today that I printed out the weekly planners that I want to use.

I think it is undeniable that planning depends on writing things down, and that’s not too difficult. The part that I’m really finding tricky is to actually read what I had written down in my plan.

I am toying with the idea of submitting my life to lists and schedules, just to see how far it possible to plan things in advance.

All good habits tend to die young. The cause is always the same: a good start, but then some interruption of the routine, and the good habit never recovers.

After last week’s stress, this is a good time to look at my planning again:

1. I’m happy to say that I’m still printing out my weekly planners.
2. Daily planning has not happened yet this week. This is partly due to the ‘single task’ effect, where I have only one task to focus on, and therefore think I don’t need planning.
3. My preparation for travel is nearly complete, there is only a visa to collect.
4. Planning for after Pittcon is still very, very vague.
5. I notice that I find it very hard to plan because I find it hard to concentrate.

Plans should be shared with those who are involved with those plans.

One of the reasons why I have not been a great planner is for the apparent reason that some things can not be planned for. This might be true for some things, but it is not true for all.

For example, I could not plan for the problem that I had with the calibration file: I took the program into an unusual situation, and it failed.

But that does not mean I cannot plan to repair the program. I know I can estimate pretty well how long it would take to fix the program, and I can plan when I will be on track again.

In my mind today I noticed that had started to plan the day of my departure for Pittcon. It was at the level of “what clothes should I pack?” and “will I go to work that day?” For I a moment I was annoyed with myself for looking so far into the future.

But then I realized that this was not such a bad idea. If I planned it now, then I would not have to do it later, and since that is a critical point in the process, it is worth planning well. It is also a worrying point, so taking control of it and (for example) creating a packing list weeks ahead of time would make me feel in control and so control the worries.

To plan, one has to know what one wants to achieve.

In Undoing perpetual stress O’Connor has final chapter on How to rewire the brain. He lists 12 principles, number four being “Build Willpower, Self-Control, and Self-Respect.” Under this heading there are number of points, but this one is relevant to planning.

Organize yourself. Use your time and space mindfully. If control and predictability mitigate the effects of stress, here is one area where you can certainly help youself. Go through the piles around the house, throw out what you don’t need, and organize the rest. Apply mindful attention to how you spend your time, and try to spend more in high-value activities. Don’t do this to pack more into your day, do to free up time for meditation and exercise, for joy and gratification.

Planning is the process of figuring out how to spend time and use space more mindfully.

I am glad I figured this out. I feared that planning meant only scheduling things, so I was not certain that I was doing by having this goal was the right thing.