Plan the Work, Work the Plan - Part 1

Source: Pixabay.com

When Work Wisdom Shows up in Bible Study Part 1

 Working in the corporate world for my entire career, I've been exposed to no shortage of workplace wisdom. I've seen them all. Those bold photos of eagles, parachute teams, and lonely trees on rocks with small print mottos below the photograph. You've all seen those 1990s office decor staples.

One motto I've heard for years is "Plan the work and work the plan." I've always associated it with health and safety plans and applied it to other work plans but always strictly related to my day job.

That was until my Bible study on Proverbs when "you need to plan your work and work your plan," slid out of the leader's mouth. That made me think about how to apply this to my everyday life and my writing life. This study is teaching me that Stephen Covey had nothing on King Solomon when it comes to workplace wisdom.

In reality, I have been doing this for a long time. I just never thought about using that phrase in any context outside of my day job. The Bible study inspired me for two Writer's Life posts. There are two parts. One where I excel. One where I do not.

Plan the Work

This post is about the one I've got nailed - Planning the Work. I love a good planner. I've been using one since college although they've evolved over the years. It started out with a Mortar Board Planner, which I learned is specific to my Alma Mater. 

A copy of this bad boy was my first planner
Source: http://purduemortarboard.com/archive/

A Mortar Board is basically a standard spiral bound weekly planner, which would be my go-to for many years after my Franklin Planner phase inspired by that Covey seminar. Yes, I have Outlook and have cycled through electronic devices from a Handspring Visor to my current smartphone. But I still need a paper planner.

What can I say? I'm a writer. I'm a to-do list girl and at times juggle a number of meetings and switched to a daily spiral planner, then a Moleskine one before I tried bullet journaling (too much work). Last year, I tried a larger format binder themed for writers and creatives. Ugh! I loved the concept but didn't like the size. Also, it was geared to a full-time writing/creative professional. I needed something small that worked for a writer with a day job, two busy teens, and church activities.

I found the Legend Planner. It's kind of perfect. I love the size of the weekly planners I've been using and became especially fond of the hardbound Moleskine planners and Leuchterm dot journals. The goal setting and holistic life approach of the large format creative journal was something I knew I needed once I had it. The Legend planner combines both.

I had to make one tiny tweak. There are 8 life areas where you fill in goals and rate your performance each month: Health and Fitness, Career & Business, Finance, Personal Development, Family & Friends, Romance & Relationships, Fun, Recreation, & Hobbies, and Spiritual. Because my husband and I do Finance together, I turned that one into Writing. You could also adapt Romance & Relationships (to me that really overlaps Family & Friends) or maybe use the Hobbies one. If you're a writing professional, of course Career & Business is there for you already.

Source: Amazon

Of course you have to actually plan the work and work the plan. I guess this will be a 3-part series.

Do you have a favorite planner? If so, tell us about it!