You know the project is coming up.
You know the event is around the corner.
You know the meeting is on the calendar.
And because you’ve thought ahead…
You’ve gone over the details.
You’ve made your lists.
You’ve planned to be ready.
So why then my sweet friend…
…Are you running around like cray-cray, hours, even minutes, before it’s go-time?
Like most ambitious people in the world, you’re an SP.
A Semi-Planner.
Semi-Planners are awesome individuals with generally great smiles too. (Just sayin’).
They are conscientious. They take pride in their work. They value integrity.
But because they’re going, going, going and doing, doing, doing – their expectations of how much they can get done in a given period of time is a little bit…
…Off. Wonky. Disproportionate. Unrealistic. (Stop me any time).
Perhaps this sounds familiar.
You have a big presentation in two weeks that will require hours to create and practice.
So you plan to start next Monday (still giving yourself a whole week to work on it).
At the week’s start, you get bogged down with two new projects, not to mention an unforeseen dentist appointment.
This means when you finally sit down to start working on it, you have three days left.
>> You’ve had a bunch of great ideas over the week but now that you’re actually thinking about it none of them are coming to mind.
>> You get frustrated by all the information to dig through and overwhelmed by how much you still have to get done.
>> You jump into other important projects and with under two days to go, you’re back to the presentation again.
>> Compiling all the research takes you a full day longer than you thought.
>> And, OMG, designing each slide is beyond painful (and so time-consuming).
After staying up half the night, your sleep-deprivation hangover intensifies as you find the copier jammed.
You run down three flights to use another machine, barely making your meeting on time, (and praying you haven’t sweated through your shirt).
You deliver it but wish you had had more time to practice, and it doesn’t go too bad.
But not as great as it could have gone either.
But you tell yourself it’s okay because “at least I got it done on time.”
And “This is just the way it is when I’ve got so much on my plate.”
I’m calling you out, Semi-Planner.
That is NOT the way it has to go.
There is no reason you should find yourself in that stressful situation, and certainly not over and over again.
It is time to retrain your planning muscles.
The most powerful way to do this is to reverse engineer your goals.
Work backward from the day you need to deliver, respond, create, or attend – to today.
And then PLAN…for real.
Not semi-plan, like making a list and storing great ideas in your head.
But literally plan out what that entails in terms of energy, resources, and time each day.
That also means actually putting it in writing because that’s where the magic happens.
You see what you really have time for and what you don’t.
Blowing off this step would be like an architect working on your home without a blueprint.
No bueno.
Semi-planners usually don’t reverse engineer down to those little pesky details, so they end up stressed against a deadline or running on fumes.
Not a fun or rewarding way to live.
I know you are capable of reaching all your goals and dreams – without drowning in chaos.
So I challenge you.
Drop a note in the comments below to let me know about an upcoming project you can better prepare for.
The world needs your talents and skills.
Can’t you plan ahead to provide it in the best quality possible?
With love and appreciation,
Mridu
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