Coming from a sales background, I am sure you will have heard some variation of the maxim “Piss poor planning results in piss poor performance”. I have had that one thrown at me from the time I started in my sales career, well before I acquired nearly 20 years experience in pharmaceutical and medical equipment sales.
As an author, I have heard a variation. Authors are described either as “Pantsers” or “Planners”. Planners is obvious in terms of meaning. The story is planned out, sometimes in more detail that the actual word-count of the finished book. I have several friends who write fantasy. For them, the planning process is essential: world building, religions, language, weaponry etc. For others, such detail holds back the flow of their writing. They are the “Pantsers” of the world, the writers who ‘fly by the seat of their pants’. I would have said that, until now, my style of writing was definitely “Pantser”. Perhaps that was as a result of my online role-play background, where part of the fun was the spur of the moment writing. You would never know what your partner would write, and would have to write something to maintain the flow of the story.
Given that this blog series is about “Life After Redundancy”, and more specifically, maintaining employment-relevant skills, planning is a key part. Fail to plan, and you won’t achieve in sales. Whilst I am working, it is something that I would do without really thinking about the process. Now that I have time to think, it is proving an interesting exercise.
So, I have ‘nothing’ to do all day. Right? Err … nope, as anyone stay-at-home parent will tell you. That’s where the planning comes into play. When I visited the Stationery Show in London, I looked at some of the planners on offer. One in particular caught my eye: the Ponderlily Planner:
Why did I like this system? Simply because thought had gone into its design. The To Do list was extended, but not too much to make it a rolling list. The weekly view also has just the right amount of space. However, what made this one different was that it also had a substantial undated, ruled section. How many people take both a diary and a notebook to a meeting? The intention was to avoid taking the notebook,
and just have one relevant book. One book and less chance, in theory, of losing sight of the goals.
Then we have exhibit #2. I have to admit that prior to researching this topic, I had not heard of the American brand, Happy Planner. Their planners comes in several formats, but simply put, you have Big (about A4 sized), Classic (around A5 organiser size) and Mini (about the size of a personal Filofax).
To me, it seems that this is a crossover-type planner. The Happy Planners and other similar brands, are designed to be used with sticker kits. In medical equipment parlance, the planner is the equipment and the sticker sets are the consumables. It is easy to say where the company intends to make its money. I use the Big as a ‘family planner’ The sticker decoration changes each month and each week. I do this so that the weeks don’t merge into one timeless event. This set comes from an Etsy shop run by Mac&Gray. The Classic may be one I will use when I return to work, but it is far from certain. The picture at the top of this post illustrates a sticker set from the Crafty Planning Shop. The Mini HP is my ‘handbag’ planner.
Now, it might be suggested that I could just create a Google calendar for this, but as I pointed out to my son, his father doesn’t use one of those. Visual works best for both of us.
This is an example of my weekly spread in my Mini Happy Planner, using a mixture of write-on stickers for specific events and stickers for various tasks or reminders. This particular set comes from Little Thoughts Store store on Etsy.
One of the issues I had when working was that the work/life balance went out of the window. I am a ‘visual’ kind of person, so having these sorts of reminders works for me, in terms of planning out what sort of tasks need to be done. There is still space for appointments to be noted as you can see on the left-hand side, so neither the routine nor ‘special’ tasks are forgotten. The relevance to work is that when it comes to finding time to block out for my writing, editing and research, I know what else needs to be done.
Piss poor planning leads to piss poor performance. Remember?
By remembering to plan, I am maintaining a very vital skill for the workplace. It is also encouraging me to maintain the discipline.
One final note is how planning in my writing is also having a positive effect. When I started writing, I had quite a simple story. Now, three years down the line from my online role-play days, the stories are a lot more complex. The most recently published book featured a storyline that involved Special Forces and computer hacking. If I didn’t do some research and make copious notes, I might lose the continuity.
Planning. We may not like it, but it is important. Just remember, to paraphrase Mercedes Lackey, the only thing to come out of glorious plans are glorious funerals. Plan, yes. But, don’t plan to the point that you are unable to change and adapt those plans when circumstances change.
RELEVANT LINKS FOR JO PILSWORTH
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JKPilsworth
Paranormal may not be your thing. Urban fantasy may not either. But who knows? I may be one of your friends new favourite author.
Inspired by #Legends an #UrbanFantasy series. #RBBC
Alpha: https://t.co/IRZLR92AFu
Beta: https://t.co/DGDDI03VB9
Merysekhmet (US link): https://t.co/fFOUm5MHUs
Toho: https://t.co/oKtbDgrqiHhttps://t.co/mGMuJWd6Xd
Medved: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C19QKPH
AMAZON LINKS
Alpha (US link): https://t.co/IRZLR92AFu
Beta: https://t.co/DGDDI03VB9
Merysekhmet (US link): https://t.co/fFOUm5MHUs
Toho: (US link): https://t.co/oKtbDgrqiHhttps://t.co/mGMuJWd6Xd
Medved: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C19QKPH
Katie Vincent: The Autistic Romance Author 