Why should we make plans, anyway?

At our last live Q&A chat for Simplified Organization eCourse, the recurring topic seemed to be plans and how they usually don’t work out as planned. When that happens – which is often – is the problem with our planning or with our families or with ourselves? What’s wrong? Why can’t I do this thing?

But the answer is in the perspective, as is so often the case.

Why should we make plans when they don’t work?

Because they actually do, just not in the way we expected.

Remember, as moms we are working with people, not machines and not as our own solo gig.

It’s important to have the plan not because our plan always works out – because it doesn’t – but because the process of making that plan helps us be intentional about our choices in the moment. When we know what we have to do and what we should be doing, we can determine in the real life day how to handle the interruptions and the temptations.

It’s easy to blame the children for the plans not working out, but at least for me, it’s just as often the case that I decide to do what I want to do rather than what I’ve previously determined I should do. So a plan is an accountability tool. It’s not something to whack everyone else over the head with, but something to remind myself of what a better me, an intentional me, has determined is best and I have to face whether I’m going to listen to her or to the right-now me, which is more like a two-year-old, really.

It takes a lot of tweaking and thinking and revising for a plan to come together, and then with a growing family, situations and needs change so fast that you might just be in perpetual planning mode. That’s ok. The goal is not to arrive, but to keep heading the right direction.

I recorded a short 5 minute video about plans and how we use them and why we make them. I hope it encourages and refreshes you!

Don’t worry about making a plan that is perfect and executing it perfectly; use the plan to keep you making better choices, prioritizing the right things, and moving in the right direction.

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