I once had a mother of three little ones ask, “What’s the use of planning when my plan never works?” Life is anything but predictable especially when you are juggling several roles of spouse, parent, employee, etc. So if your well thought out day doesn’t always unravel the way you’d imagined it, should you trash your planner? I answer with a resounding NO!

In the book Alice in Wonderland is a profound exchange between two of the story’s characters: Alice, the little girl who’s found herself lost in the forest and the Cheshire Cat, a strange feline who intermittently appears during Alice’s jaunt in Wonderland. Their brief conversation goes as follows:

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to walk from here?” asks Alice.
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” responds the cat.
“I don’t much care where,” says Alice.
“Then it doesn’t much matter which way you walk,” replies the cat.

What can we glean from that? Well, without a clear idea of where you want to go, there’s little to no chance that you’ll end up in a place you’d ultimately like to be. Success and balance aren’t a matter of chance. They are the result of living with a clear plan and acting on that plan. Having a plan doesn’t always translate into a day without interruptions or emergencies – throwing off your carefully thought out schedule.  In fact, I guarantee it won’t! But if you will at least be committed to making a plan, you will then have a map to guide you through the day – helping you use your time in a more meaningful, effective way. There is so much vying for our attention, much of it trivial and unimportant.  Unless we make a conscious effort to determine how we’re going to spend those precious hours, we’ll find our time whittled away without anything to show for it.

A word of advice when it comes to planning: Plan around your priorities (not the other way around) and do your best to stick to your plan. But when something more important comes up, something that is of higher priority, be flexible and address the greater need. Frustration often sets in when we fail to recognize the place of priorities and flexibility within our schedule.

To plan or not to plan? Remember, success requires a map and your map is your weekly/daily plan. Be committed to it and watch yourself rise to great heights!