Enthusiastically, Dawn

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Viktor Frankl

I get a lot of questions around this time of year about planning, planning methods and planner products. I have spent a good part of my life thinking long and hard about Time and Planning. I’ve had a wealth of experience helping people plan better as they attempt to adopt healthier habits and cultivate new lifestyles. Some might say I am a planner person. But the truth is,  I am a planner girl by need NOT nature.

People often see me with my notebook in hand and comment about  how organized I must be. They assume a planner has some magical power to make one organized! Trust me,  a planner..  is not a fast pass to planner perfection and organized living. No book, but one, has power to supernaturally transform us.

My relationship to a planner is characterized more by Linus and his ever-present blanket than any other image I can imagine.

Learning to balance planning, dreaming, living and doing in real life is something that most people struggle with at one time or another. I have observed in myself and others, it makes us prone to jump on bandwagons we have no business riding on at all. It compels us to look for answers in all the wrong places. It drives us to buy things we never use. Often it causes us to give away our power to plan and fulfill our own purpose in our own unique way.

As one who as coached and trained many in the realm of fitness,  my desire and focus was to empower and encourage the individual’s ability to tune into themselves and find what worked best for them, in the context of their season of life and goals. I observed in my own physical pursuits, as well as in those I coached,  many hindrances and obstacles that would arise in one’s plans  for success.I believe these same  challenges come up in every arena of life and are instrumental in maneuvering if one wishes to advance. Whether it is in the physical, spiritual, or mental realm your habits and choices are what matter.  Not the transient things such as current circumstance, location, particular issue.

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

-Viktor Frankl

This brings me to the reason for today’s post. Tomorrow Planner Boot Camp open enrollment will begin. This is the third time Planner Boot Camp has taken place and  it never fails to deliver fresh insights and new inspiration. If you have ever trained as an athlete or prepared for a major event, you will understand the value and benefit of an off-season. Our lives are not just about performing and achieving, but about acknowledging and enjoying the significant events and happenings along the way without feeling always as if someone else holds the answers and powers to our peace and satisfaction.

If you are tired of trying to make a planner work for you, sick of everyone holding out answers THERE for you, exhausted with gimmicks, methods, maneuvers and the madness of squeezing into a mold not made for you, then Planner Boot Camp will offer a fresh approach to discovering what works for you while helping you discern and release what doesn’t.

What Planner Boot Camp is NOT:

• a quick fix
• a new planner
• a planning “method”
• a system
• a military training camp
• prison

I think this short definition from Merriam-Webster online dictionary is a decent description of what our Boot Camp attempts to accomplish in the realm of developing a plannerly lifestyle:  a short but very difficult training program : a program or situation that helps people become much better at doing something in a short period of time.

I think “difficult” is a relative word. Let’s adopt this definition and adapt it to what I believe PBC is:

A 4 week  exploratory endeavor observing the thoughts, habits and behaviors that we currently adhere to and their effectiveness to help or hinder our ability to live as we believe we desire with an emphasis on changing behaviors in light of what is learned. Focusing on pro-activity, positivity and purposeful planning.

In other words, looking at what you are doing presently, and changing what needs to be changed so that you can  do what you need to do. 

Here’s the ADD/ADHD version:

Live like you mean it. No excuses.

I believe no matter what season of life we find ourselves we will want to make  the best choices with our time so that we are  available and present to whatever opportunities arise. I believe that a combination of Journaling and Planning keeps us balanced with our priorities. I also believe just as I did with physical training, just because you are no longer an athlete, or able to do the same exercise you did in the past, doesn’t mean you will be completely inactive. If so, you’ll increase your morbidity and decline in health ie. waiting around to die?

. Instead we modify activity throughout our life to reflect our current goals, desires, priorities and intentions. It’s the same thing with Planning and Journaling! I’m not going to throw my planner out because I am not working full-time in a career, or competitive arena. Planning habits and style and the role of a planner might change: the way I use it, the size, format, and all that might change. But as long as I am alive, I have stuff to do…and the threat always to the wrong things first and  let the significant priorities fall by the wayside.

If you aim for nothing, you’ll accomplish it.

Better to aim at something, than nothing, regardless if you’re 20, 30, 50, 80.

Are you ready to live like you mean it? No excuses? Regardless of age or season of life?

Enroll tomorrow.

The link will be avaliable under the Planner Boot Camp tab here on the blog from Thursday, January 12th- Thursday, January 19th. No late enrollment. (This is the ONE time PBC will be offered in 2017. A Reboot will be offered for those who participate later in the year.)

See you there.

*Image Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Linus_van_Pelt.gif