5 Reasons Why Lists & Plans Save Time

On this, the last day of Simplify Your Life week 2020, I wanted to dedicate an entire post to something I hold near and dear to my heart: the art of a well-constructed plan.

If you have ever been skeptical of "giving in" to all those other blog posts that teach you how to organize your life, or you have trouble with procrastination, or you feel overwhelmed every time you start a project, or you dread working on a team, then hear me out on this.

I don't know how long I've been a planner, but I know growing up home-schooled definitely contributed to my obsession with being organized. My mother taught four children; I started in grade 5, but my youngest brother never stepped foot in a school building, so it's safe to say my mom had her hands full. As soon as I was old enough to keep myself on track, she showed me how to create my own schedule and then let me figure out how to keep myself accountable (stepping in when I needed help, of course.)

Because of this, I navigated college classes with much more ease than my classmates and friends, most of whom struggled to keep up on homework and assignments. I have used this skill in almost every area of my life; to orchestrate large dinner parties, schedule play and musical rehearsals, finesse my college course schedule, create lesson plans during my time as a Children's Ministry Leader, plan out chore charts, draw up work schedules and event itineraries. I am a "list freak," if you will, and at any given time I have no less than half a dozen lists written on scraps of paper, in notebooks, typed on my phone or GoogleDocs, and scribbled on Sticky Notes plastered around my work space.

I spend just as much time (if not more) on planning than I do on the task itself, yet it often saves me more time planning than if I had just "winged it". Here's why:

Planning helps control anxiety.

Anxiety is a fickle mistress; I feel the immediate need to complete a task but often can't focus on what the task actually is. I'm often in a panicked state of "fight or flight" where I am both fighting to focus and fighting off the invisible fear that something absolutely terrible is going to happen.

In my version of anxiety, things bounce around my head and take up way too much space, usually inflating themselves in my mind until they are triple their actual size. This is usually distracting and overwhelming, and the biggest way to combat this that I've found is to write out lists. To-Do lists, shopping lists, lists of story ideas, movies to watch, books to read, gifts I want to get for my husband, topics for this blog, and places I'd like to eat around town. The less I leave knocking around in my brain, the better!

Once I have lists down on paper or typed out on my laptop, I have room in my busy mind to process the projects in front of me. This blog, for example, took hours and hours of planning before I felt ready to launch. I'm still figuring it out as I go, but once I spent the time planning it out on paper, I felt much more confident in my ability to become a blogger. Taking the time to plan helps quiet my anxiety not just by getting the ideas out of my brain, but by showing myself, on paper, that I am capable of doing amazing things.

Planning allows for mistakes before mistakes are made.

Maybe you've experienced this in college or at your job while working on projects; planning things out on paper allows for mistakes to be "made" before you actually make them. If you catch the mistake before you turn in your assignment or relay your project to your boss, you're able to fix it and save yourself time, embarrassment, money, etc. Sometimes this is an even bigger plus, because you can use the list of "mistakes" you've accumulated to prove your point further. ("We should move forward with this project because we've found that doing x/y/z will result in huge profit loss, here's the work on paper to prove that.")

Play rehearsal schedules are worse to manage than a retail work schedule. Especially in community theater, people often feel that since they aren't getting paid for showing up, it's not a big deal if they skip a rehearsal day. They don't always see what the directors see. When you take that and add children to the mix, you have parents pulling their kids from rehearsal for doctor's appointments, vacations, play dates, family functions, or any other excuse under the sun. The act of planning the schedule out on paper shows you how much flexibility you have when preparing to put up a production. Before your cast and crew even get a schedule, you'll have figured out when each cast member must be in the same room rehearsing and when it's okay to let people have a day off. Usually this cuts down on actors showing up on days they aren't needed. It's similar to creating a work schedule, except there's usually more singing.

Planning keeps me on track.

Remember the anxiety I've mentioned before? Well when I try to work without a clear plan, my brain likes to get distracted by a million other things before realizing I'm behind on my work. This is probably where I lose the most time.

For example, let's look at the concept of a bullet journal. Most searches on Pinterest will show you elaborately drawn graphs and layouts that promise to help you track certain things, like how much junk food you eat or what shows you're watching or your mood through each month. Imagine having to draw those layouts every week (or worse, every day). You'd give up after two days! But by taking the time to set it up at the beginning of the year, I save myself time later on because all I have to do is go color it in.

Bullet journals aren't for everyone, and I definitely love the process of setting it up just as much as I appreciate using it throughout the year. I also apply this concept to my writing. Novels don't just write themselves; they take loads of planning. You need character descriptions, a name bank, maps, world building materials, pages of research (depending on what your style is), maybe even a Pinterest board for visual inspiration. Most of all, you need a schedule to keep yourself on track. Most novels are 100,000 words (minimum), so you have to break that down into manageable bites to get anywhere.

I decided that in order to keep myself on track with this blog, I will plan my whole month out ahead of time. I can see what I need to write, and usually that helps me figure out how long I need to spend on any given article. That way, when I have to go out of town or spend my afternoon grocery shopping or take a sick day, I can refer back to my master list and know exactly what I need to do next.

Planning regularly boosts efficiency.

The more you do it, the better you'll get at completing your tasks and projects efficiently. It will help you combat procrastination, because in my experience, half of my battle with procrastinating is not knowing how to start or what to do next. No more staring at the wall or playing Tetris until you feel adequately inspired! Your plan/list is right there, ready to help keep you on track.

The more plans you draw up and lists you write, the more you will figure out what works best for you. As soon as it clicks, I guarantee you that everything will feel easier. Learning how to plan in a way that helps my brain work efficiently has literally changed my life. It was the key to keeping myself on track in college and now, starting a blog and writing another novel (as well as some other secret projects...)

It can sound counter-intuitive, to spend time mapping out how to complete a project that may only end up taking half the time you just spend on color-coding your schedule. I've found that every time I set aside plenty of time to plan, the time planning + the time it took me to do the project is always less than the time it would have taken if I'd forged on ahead without a plan. Because I take way too many phone breaks, or let myself get distracted by videos or games or emails or anything else that comes across my desk. So be kind to yourself and invest in yourself and make a plan!

Planning is crucial to efficient and unified teams.

Teamwork makes the dream work, unless all the team members aren't on the same page. I've experienced this both during my college career and working within the theater: if there isn't a clear plan that is adequately circulated, then (often valuable) time will be wasted.

In college, team projects were the bane of my existence, and I know a lot of other people feel the same way. I would lament to my friends that I couldn't wait to graduate so I never had to deal with another team project again. But the joke was on me, because life is just one big group project. Families are teams, coworkers and bosses are teams, and even your group of friends is a team. While there is no real escape from teamwork, there is a great way to make your life a lot easier and create a better team atmosphere (something we will talk much more about on this blog): taking the time to make a detailed and clear plan, and then ensuring that everyone has access to that plan.

I'm talking about chore charts for your kids, an itinerary for your friend group's monthly winery tours, a "Honey Do List" for your significant other, even just a grocery list written on one of those magnetized notepads and stuck to the side of your refrigerator. (Also, if you do have a friend group that meets up for monthly winery tours, please consider this to be my official application to join said friend group.) I'm realizing now that I may sound like one of those crazy list people, but I am embracing it. I have spent countless evenings trying to get friends to call me back about where/what time we are meeting just to give up and go back home. I'm tired of nagging my husband to do the things he promised he'd do three months ago, but forgot because neither of us wrote them down.

The more time you spend making a plan, the less time you have to spend arguing with your coworker about whose job it was to make the copies of your project for the big meeting or nag your teenager or significant other to mow the lawn. Where's the downside to that?

I will always advocate for list-making because it helps my life run so much more smoothly. It has definitely simplified my life and helped me work more efficiently.

Thank you for following along this week! I hope that you learned a couple of things that will help you.

Question of the Day: What is your preferred medium for your To-Do list? Notebook, scrap paper, Google Doc, your phone, or something else?