Episode 187: How to Plan When You Can't Plan

Jun 16, 2020

Explore the challenges of planning in unpredictable times and the emotional toll of uncertainty. Discover how to embrace change and create personal comfort in chaotic environments. Learn about a unique planner designed for flexibility, prioritizing mindfulness and aligning with natural cycles. The discussion goes deeper into surrendering control, navigating personal health, and finding balance between structure and creativity. Anecdotes from sobriety and parenthood highlight resilience and growth, making it a conversation that inspires adaptive planning.

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ANECDOTE

Mike's Comfort Preferences

Mike Watts is particular about his physical comfort, especially pillows, firmness, and their size.
Kate Northrup teases him, highlighting his "princess and the pea" tendencies regarding linens and furniture height.

ANECDOTE

Linen Game

Mike critiqued Kate's linen game upon meeting, finding it lacking compared to his own.
However, Kate's cloth napkin collection impressed him with its quality and folding.

ANECDOTE

Planning in Uncertain Times

Kate Northrup, a self-proclaimed planner since age seven, discusses the challenge of planning during uncertain times.
The pandemic has disrupted their family and business plans, highlighting the difficulty of planning when so much is unknown.

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One of the walls of our basement is covered with 12 poster-sized dry-erase calendars showing a truly stunning 2020 business plan.

When I look at it, I chuckle.

Because so far, 2020 has been the year that cannot be planned (nor planned for).

None of us could have planned for sheltering in place. None of us could have planned for the number of things that have been cancelled. None of us could have planned for the racial justice revolution that’s sweeping the world right now.

So what about those of us who use planning as a coping mechanism? What about those of us who find safety and calm in calendaring?

I started planning as a way of life when I was about 7. It started with a little hand-drawn schedule for playdates after school, evolved into my school agendas where I’d write down my homework, developed into my Daytimer system that became Filofax, and now has made its home squarely with the Do Less Planner system (by far the best I’ve experienced, obviously ;)).

Someone asked in the Do Less Facebook group (it’s free - search it and join us!) the other day how to use the Do Less Planner system (or any planner system) during this time when we can’t plan in the ways we used to.

I realized that though the planner system I developed can certainly be used in the expected ways of mapping the year and looking months in advance, it was actually really created for times like this when we come right up against our humanity.

If you’re a planner and are struggling with feeling out of control because you’re not able to use your normal strategies of planning to cope, I’m so glad you’re reading this.

Listen in to this week’s episode of The Kate & Mike Show about How to Plan When You Can’t Plan to learn:

The difference between planning as a trauma response and planning from a place of wholeness
What the only consistent thing we have to lean on right now is...and how to use it as a touchstone for safety and calm
How to optimize your time right now specifically so that you can still get done the things that need to get done while finding space for everything else that matters to you
The 3 elements of the Do Less Planner system that I’m leaning on right now for my sanity

Press play and listen.

We may not have any idea what’s going to be happening 6 months from now, but we are here, right now, today. That much we know for sure, and it turns out it’s a grain of truth upon which an entire beautiful life can be built.

Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.