If You Fail to Plan...

I've been seeing this little adage around a lot lately. Perhaps someone is trying to tell me something and as usual... I'm hard of hearing. I blame it on all the Big-Hair-Band music I was blaring in my Walkman in the 80's. :)

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Sounds simple enough, right? So what's the problem?! I think I'm just not as disciplined as I need to be. Especially in the summer when everything is just kinda "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants" and there is no real schedule for us. And I've TRIED to create one for myself: for cleaning, projects, bible study, but none have really stuck.

Then the other day during one of our trips to Wal-Mart, I stumbled across a great book: "Becoming the Woman God Wants Me to Be" by Donna Partow. It's a 90 day guide to living the Proverbs 31 life. This was particularly timely as I have been doing a lot of reading about the Proverbs 31 woman on the Internet and have become compelled to try and follow her lead.

I found it quite interesting that the first thing Donna Partow asks you to do is to buy a planner. Ah... a-paper-and-pencil woman after my own heart! Complete with a calendar, to do lists, a menu planner, shopping lists, and a health and fitness tracker... I'd say I'm well on my way! Now I know some of you may think this is a little "type A" for your day to day life, but don't knock it 'til you try it. I haven't used a planner since I owned my own business and sadly, I don't think us housewives (or workingwives for that matter) put as much emphasis and importance on the tasks at home as we do/did our outside work. Home management IS very much a job and one that I've been slacking on if the truth be told. At least compared to the Proverbs 31 woman. If you have never read about her, I urge you to. It's very eye-opening.

So anyway, I'm now armed with my pink planner and I'm carrying it everywhere I go. It's just the first step, I know, but at least I feel like I have a jumping off point and it's amazing to see how much you can accomplish (or not accomplish) when you have your days mapped out right before your eyes. How about you? Does anyone else live by a planner or "home management binder"? I'd love to hear how the rest of you keep it all together, especially during the summer months and vacation times during the school year.