Planning Helps Me Be More: Organized

One of the things we love most about planning is its transformative nature. It’s a simple practice that, over time, helps you turn thought into action and transforms you into a better self. Planning out actions and goals is the secret to reaching your potential. Simply put, planning helps each of us to be more.

For this first post in our new series, we talked with some of our most dedicated planners in the Golden Coil community and asked them to tell us how planning has made them more organized. Their answers were insightful and inspiring!

“As a teacher, musician, and creative I find that nothing is more important to me than keeping my thoughts organized. I love writing in a physical planner because it helps me stay on track and remember my crazy schedule. When I can organize my thoughts and schedule in a way that makes sense for me, I can better plan out my week and stay focused on what I need to do.” -Kelsey Menze

“Having a good planner helps me feel more organized throughout my work week. I am old fashioned and have to write everything down, whether it is a to-do list or notes for different projects I am working on. I am in a career that is very detail oriented so it is important that I stay organized and am able to find information quickly. If a client has a question I know exactly where to turn in my planner to tell them when their project was started and when it should be completed. Staying organized with my client’s information and due dates helps me to stay on track and gives me the peace of mind that nothing is going to fall through the cracks and be forgotten.” -Rachael Dilbeck

“Our family is pretty busy and requires organization to work well- I work at church and run a ballet company and my husband works at our local college, and we have two lively daughters! At the beginning of each week, my husband and I review our commitments and then find areas that are going to need special attention. We tend to work our way backward, so we know for our special Friday night dinners we need to pick up groceries on Thursday morning but order them on Tuesday night. Having everything down on paper keeps us more organized.” -Sara Allison

“I work full time and have two young children, and when my oldest started kindergarten a couple of years ago it became apparent I needed to organize our home lives with the same level of detail I use to organize my work life. I was attracted to Golden Coil because the customize options seemed endless. I use my planner as a place to house my to-do lists. I write everything down - kids' sports practices, things I need to do for meal prep, my workouts, even the load of laundry I want to do that day. The customize options allow me to have weekly pages for both meal planning and exercise/wellness planning in addition to my daily layout. I feel so organized having everything in one place!” -Kate Comeau

“I am of the age where my memory isn't quite as good as it used to be.  I will be 52 in a few months.  Writing notes, tasks, to-do's and lists as they come to mind is essential to keeping my life moving forward.  I use my planner to keep everything important corralled until it is dealt with.  Dealing with a less than stellar attention span I am able to sit down with pen and paper and focus on what is coming up and what has passed.   The tactile nature of the weight of the paper and smoothness of the pen keep me grounded in the task at hand.” -Rebecca Valletti

“Planning helps me be organized about how I set up my day and week. Being able to write down my plans gives me an idea of where I have open spots in the day to add new tasks. It helps me to visualize my day and understand where I have pockets of open time and where I am already booked up.” -Jacqueline Serrano

“Writing down all the tasks and appointments that need to be attended to, and checking them off when completed, brings more than a sense of achievement. It brings chaos into order. My head is more clear, my home is more tidy, and I’m less likely to miss our appointments. I’m still that Mom who is always frantic, always forgetting something and often over scheduled. Every little bit of organization is invaluable to me!” -Mary Koppert

“Being organized makes it easier to accomplish my goals, and planning out my time helps me to see where my time goes, where I have time available, and where I want to make time in the future.  Organizing my time helps me to organize my life, and I feel completely out of sync when I don’t make time each week to plan out the week to come.  From meal plans to grocery, to-do lists to daily agendas, my planner organizes my life.” -Cynthia Wolf

How does planning help you be more? Share with us in the comments!