Today is one of those days where I stopped to think about how important it is to have and use a planner or datebook. A planner is an essential piece of business equipment for any home-based professional, no matter what type of work they do. The type of planner that you choose does not really matter. The only thing that does matter is that you choose a type of planner that you are comfortable with and that you use it all the time.
My planner is not overly fancy, just a paper day planner with room to write in all of the things that I have going on each day. As soon as I know about something that I have to do, I write it in the planner. All of my court dates go in there, along with times blocked off to prepare for them. All of my writing assignments go in there too, no matter how big or small they are. If it has a deadline, into the planner it goes. Personal events are in there too including vacations, birthdays, and other celebrations.
While I prefer a paper calendar and I am sure that some of you do too, many other people find that using an online calendar like Google Calendar works best for them. Others prefer to use a smartphone or iPhone to keep their schedule up to date and at their fingertips. I had a Blackberry for a couple of years and I kept my calendar and to-do’s in there. I went back to paper after getting a new phone that does not have a very good calendar on it. There are many different types of planners, smart phones, and computer programs that you can choose from. Like I said, though, any planner is only as good as the information that you enter into it and the frequency with which you look at it. An unused planner is about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
Today, my moment of planner gratitude occurred when I checked my email and saw that I had been awarded a rather large project. Since it is rather large, I decided to break it into smaller pieces of work to do each week over the three month time period for the project. These mini-assignments went into my planner, along with all of the other work that I already have planned. If I get tempted by other assignments that come my way, all I have to do is check the planner to see if I have time for them. Right now my schedule seems pretty full. My planner is there to let me know what I have to do each day and it also keeps me from taking on more than I can handle by providing a visual reminder of all of the things that are currently on my plate.
Photo by jdurham on morguefile.com.