Have you always considered yourself a planner? Or are you the opposite type of person: Do you tell yourself that you’re absolutely NOT a planner?

If you took the Do You Have Your Shit Together quiz, you probably found out that you fall somewhere in between.

Why is that?

Well, because you’re a human being.

Actually, there are two reasons why you might not be the hard-core planning type (or why you might not be the total chaos that you thought):

1. You are trapped in a limiting belief system.

You constantly tell yourself something that’s just not true. (i.e. I’m a planner or I suck at planning). So you have fallen into a trap of behaving in a way that’s designated by your limiting beliefs.

2. You are confusing planning with scheduling.

Planning and scheduling are waaaaaay different, and they involve different processes.

This might seem obvious.

Planning involves deciding what the hell you’re going to do. But that may be a lot more complex than it sounds.

Planning is a definition of sorts. It defines the status of your life as it is now, and it defines the actions that you’re going to take.

Two things are necessary for planning:

1. Awareness – You can’t plod ahead and plan without awareness of the status quo.
2. Vision – You can’t plan without knowing where you want to go.

Just so you know, I have historically been a terrible planner.

How many times have you just grabbed your calendar or your planner and started jotting things down? You had a goal to get more organized, damn it, and you’re going to do it.

If you’re all about writing stuff down in your planner but you’ve skipped the planning stage, you’re still not going to feel like you have your shit together.

And you’re not really using your planner. You’re just writing in a calendar.

A calendar tells you when you’re going to do what you’re going to do. It’s where you set appointments. It’s synced with your iPhone and laptop. A planner doesn’t have to be.

Why Does It Matter How Planning Is Different From Scheduling?

There are lots of reasons why it matters how planning is different from scheduling. Understanding the difference can help you:

• Stop telling yourself limiting beliefs.
• Get organized in a way that works for you.
• Buy the right type of planner once and for all–maybe you DO need a separate calendar and planner. They do different things!
• Get your shit together.
• Discover the missing link that’s keeping you feeling wishy-washy or chaotic.
• Move forward in your life and do what fulfills you every day.

Stay tuned for my next few posts, in which I’ll talk more about my struggle with planning as well as the best types of planners for busy moms who want to take back control of their lives, stop simply surviving and start living again.

Tell me: Are you a planner, a scheduler, or both?