Planning Templates

I have been working on a few templates to help me better organise my time and priorities. I've called my series of templates 'POA' for Plan of Action. The reasoning behind this is that, for me, it's all about action / doing things / getting things done.

It's all too easy to make a list that doesn't actually involve the action needed to achieve the end result. For example 'lose weight' doesn't offer much insight as to the action that needs to be taken to achieve the result. Losing weight is a constant focus of mine, but my action points for the day might be complete 20 minute yoga session, or prep chicken and vegetable soup for dinner.  Getting things done is what is going to achieve the goal - not making lists or writing a plan - as nice as they may look or make me feel.

The first template I created was a daily POA. I thought about what I needed out of a planner and created something tailored to my specific needs. It has a to-do section as well as a time plan for appointments etc.  There are also sections for occasions, kids events, bills to pay, things to buy, our main meal for the day and a prep for tomorrow space. I keep the templates in a standard lever arch file binder. At the moment I don't use this everyday, more so if I have a busy day ahead that I need to be especially organised for, but it is my aim to spend 5 minutes every evening to plan ahead for the following day. This way I can be productive and make the most of each and every day.

Once I had created the daily POA, I realised that It would be helpful to have my projects / goals listed so that I could refer back to this to then plan my daily actions. So my next template was a Projects / Goals POA.

This is one I completed last month. I originally thought this would be a good weekly template, but I found after a week I had not gained a lot of traction with many of the projects / goals, so I figure I will change this to fortnightly or monthly.

The projects / goals are listed on the left, under four subheadings which I felt worked specifically for me. On the right is a corresponding list of planned actions. I use the list on the right to make my daily POA's.

I have included ideas for my blogs in this template as well, these are 'nice to dos' as the blogs are not a high priority, but I do see them as a motivational tool. I enjoy using them to document progress and if that helps me get things done then it's worthwhile for me to keep doing.

The next template is a monthly review. It's a bit hard to see. I've tried to colour code the templates to make it easier to find them in the binder.

I have used the same subheadings as the projects/ goals POA including the blogs and have added in a section for finances, each of the kids and a focus for next month area.  I thought it would be helpful to review progress on a monthly basis and then use this information to check off my projects / goals as they are completed or see if progress is being held back and work out how to get it back on track.  It is something that takes more time to complete, but it's only once a month and helps keep things on track.

These three templates make up the core of my system. The hardest challenge was not creating the templates but using them regularly. I'm the kind of person who needs to stay motivated to achieve consistency and sometimes a little help doesn't go astray.  The only person I feel I can rely on for this is - me! This inspired the creation of another template, the Motivation POA.  It is something that I can complete each day as I need to, to help me see where I might be falling down, to understand my moods and what I can do help myself. In effect it is a tool to try and cheer me up and make me feel good about my day and hopefully be more productive. 

It looks a bit different to the other POA's but it's meant to be a bit more inspiring and uplifting. I've crammed a bit in this one. The first section is 'three things I am grateful for today'. This is a challenge straight off the bat, if my mood is low it can be difficult to see what is good in the world - but it is important to focus on the positive.  Next is a mood and anxiety gauge, sometimes it helps to better understand my mood - actually ask myself 'how do I feel today?'.

The next section calls for information  'what's eating me'. Sometimes I have no idea why I'm in the mood I'm in, but in order to do something about it, I need something more specific to act on than ' I feel like sh*te today'.  Once I have worked out what is contributing to the mood, I make a plan to deal with those things in the 'how I can help myself' section. 

Next is another challenging section, 'three things I can be proud of today' I struggle with that, but it gets me thinking about the things I have achieved and that the day has the potential to be productive and fruitful. 

I have a self care checklist included, this is often a wake up call - it reminds me that I'm not doing everything I can to reduce stress and improve my mood. If I checked off more on this list, then I probably wouldn't need to be filling out form in the first place!

The POA also includes a reward for the day section, it can be nice to have something to look forward to. Lastly there is as motivational quote section. I really should have this completed as part of the template with a variety of my favourite inspirational quotes and affirmations - something to work on later!

That's my POA Planning Template System.  I'm thinking of offering it as PDF printable at a later stage. For now I will trial it and see how I go.