I Stopped Buying Planners & Do This Instead
What if a successful day included more of these things & why greatness can't be the goal.
Hi lovelies! It’s Wednesday and it’s time to give ourselves permission to wander…lean into the lostness, confusion, and questions without answers! I promise you don’t have to worry… there’s nothing wrong with you. This IS how we find our way through life.
Read on for:
encouragement to leave your calendar behind
some ideas for how you could redefine a successful day
the book you’ve been waiting for on how to honor the pivots over the plan!
First up…
Cal Newport is an authoritative voice in our culture on all things cultivating productivity and focus. There was a time when I appreciated his perspective and even ordered his time-blocking calendar (I sent it back on the second day, in case you’re wondering).
What once served as motivation to manage my chaotic days, now feels annoying:
No matter how hard I try, my life doesn’t want to be chopped into 1-hour squares.
Focusing on being deeply focused has the reverse effect on me and makes me less productive and more anxious.
When I finally gave myself permission to STOP buying planners, to contain and organize my life between its spiral-bound pages, I started to feel more creative and accomplished.
Life’s richness doesn’t come from my ability to focus or organize my calendar, but from the spontaneous conversations and unexpected delights I experience outside my to-do lists.
Our culture drives us to be slaves of efficiency and productivity, but we’re burned out and in need of encouragement to take the long way home, linger in the cafe, and loosen up on our routine just a tad.
When I notice and participate in the adventure unfolding before me I stay awake to life.
It’s only 1 pm and already today I’ve had 2 lengthy conversations with incredible women I randomly bumped into. One is a mom from my daughter’s ballet studio, and the other is a lady who lap-swims around the same time I do.
During the first conversation, in the YMCA locker room, I received wisdom from a former public school teacher about how to navigate my son’s stress in 6th grade.
In the second conversation, amidst the hot bar area of Whole Foods, my friend and I ranted about how we hate going to the doctor, our low iron levels (that we don’t notice until a blood test), and the challenge/joy of raising 3 + kids and the flurry of activity that accompanies it. I even revealed something to her I haven’t shared with anyone else. Those 10 minutes felt like an hour, standing there with our grocery items, we formed a kindred bond and I left feeling fulfilled, connected, and nourished.
I have a hunch… if you reflect back on your day, you’ll see the impromptu, unintentional moments surpass the “important stuff” you originally set out to do… and they carry greater significance.
Of course, I’m not saying we give the finger to focused time or rebel against any routine, lord knows I would lose my mind, but what if we could start to ditch the fear around letting our inner wanderer roam…
Traveling with you in circles and spirals,
Charissa
Here’s a prompt to support your efforts to release culturally approved ways to schedule your day and instead make space for more peace and openness to the present adventure wanting your attention.
Be curious about…how you define a successful day.
Is it tied up in your tasks and what you can accomplish or could you expand it to include more invitations to:
follow those strange, shimmering nudges,
strike up conversations with the people along your path,
go left instead of right (aka: allow your creativity and imagination to come out and play),
linger on a task,
just rest (whatever that looks like for you),
loosen up on a strict routine just a tad,
surprise yourself!
leave the planner blank and see how it feels
document your days like an explorer rather than dictate or direct them
Please tell me you’ve listened to Kendra Adachi’s podcast, The Lazy Genius, or read one of her books! If not, we must fix that right now. Kendra is bursting with joy and practical advice. Her strategies are doable for our real lives and she talks to you like a best friend.
With the release of her latest book, The Plan: Manage Your Time Like A Lazy Genius, she’s been featured on numerous podcasts. In one interview, she reminds us,
“If something doesn’t go according to your plan, whether it is your plan for the day or the plan for your life, it’s not a pass/fail. We simply intend to do something and sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t…
“…prioritize and honor pivoting just as much we honor planning if not more, because life is probably more full of pivots than it is actionable plans that fall into place.”
“Do not judge every day against your best day.”
“Small adjustments aren’t as attractive as big systems, but they sure do work.”
Also, I’ve started her book and can’t stop highlighting every other sentence! Here’s the latest highlight:
“You’re not a steadily humming operating system. You’re not something to fix, leverage, or optimize.
You’re a flesh-and-blood person with a beautiful, slightly unruly life who just wants to get your stuff done, have fun, not yell at your people too much, and occasionally feel bone-deep contentment. You want to make hard things a little easier and enjoy life a little more often than you endure it.
You want to continue becoming more deeply and confidently yourself.
The goal can’t be greatness, not for people who are trying to live wholeheartedly. Instead, we seek integration.”
The podcast mentioned is Good Life Project: The Lazy Genius Guide to Mindful Productivity | Kendra Adachi, October 6 2024
The book: The Plan
Thank you so much for reading! If you like Welcome Wanderer please consider sharing with someone in your life today. Your support means so much to me!
See you next Wednesday my friends and in the meantime…
remember the most fulfilling, interesting, adventurous days aren’t usually the ones where we feel the most productive.
