Ashley Brown 0:00 [Intro]
Why is it so hard to stay consistent with planning? This is a question I get asked often and to be honest, is deeper than you think. In this episode of the routine and things podcast I share what could be contributing to you not planning on a consistent basis, tune in here's three hidden reasons you struggle to stay consistent with planning.
Ashley Brown 0:35
Reduce daily stress and keep overwhelmed at bay using the routine and things planner, our one of a kind planner merges routines and planning to help you get organized and stay organized. You'll build and incorporate routines into your life little by little. And using the signature routine block planning method, you'll organize your weekly tasks into four routine categories, to maintain a strong foundation for your home, and your life, the things that typically get lost in the day to day shuffle will now be brought to the forefront every single week, which will help you lessen stress and avoid becoming overwhelmed. To get your very own routine and things planner, be sure to head to routine and things.com or click the link in the show notes.
Ashley Brown 1:21
Hey, welcome back for another episode of the routine and things podcast. I'm your girl, Ashley, and you are back for another episode, which always brings me so much joy, if you are a listener of the podcast and like you always listen, can I just take a moment to say thank you, I appreciate you, I value you, I really, really do. Because I know that in this world with a lot of information swirling where it's a lot of people that you could be listening to, you take time to come back and listen and chat with me or just hear me every single week. And that is a beautiful thing. And I truly, truly appreciate it. And I'm happy that you're here. Today we're going to be talking about three hidden reasons you struggle to stay consistent with planning. Okay, three hidden reasons. And here's the thing, why I did three hidden reasons rather than just three reasons. Because if I were to ask you right now, if you know that it's hard for you to stay consistent with planning, and I were to ask you, why do you think is so hard for you to stay consistent? You're going to tell me what first pops in your head? And honestly, that's going to be a superficial answer.
Ashley Brown 2:32
It may be true, I'm not saying that it's not true, it may be. But it's just what your conscious is on a conscious level of what you can share with me, I'm going to share with you today three hidden like subconscious reasons why we are not staying consistent with planning why it may be hard for you to stay consistent with planning, because there are very much conscious reasons why we give like, Oh, I just forget to do it, or I just had a busy week, and it just slipped my mind, or I can't stay consistent with it. Because planning just doesn't work for me, or I can't stay consistent with it because I'm more of a digital person, or I can't stay consistent with it. Because the planner that I just bought just didn't work. We'll give those reasonings, right? This is a reason why I can't stay consistent. But I'm here to share with you there are many times underlying reasons why you're not staying consistent with planning that if you are unaware of this, you will continue to not be consistent with planning because it's deeper than you think is deeper than you know, sometimes it's not just oh, I forgot, if you keep forgetting you're planning because you're a smart chick. I'm here to tell you right now, you are smart.
Ashley Brown 3:47
How do I know that because you're listening to this podcast, you're smart, you're capable. So if you are saying I just can't stay consistent, because I forget? No is deeper than you think is deeper than you think. So let's go ahead and get into this three hidden reasons you struggle with staying consistent with planning. Reason number one, your expectation of planning is too high. Let's start here. Let's start with this one. Because this one is a big one, you are expecting too much out of your planning. Okay. And what I mean by this is when you sit down to plan, many times what we expect is that that plan should come to life. That plan should come to light that everything we wrote on our planner has to come to life. Like I'm looking at my planning page right now for this week, and many of us will look at our planning page and be like, Okay, this is what's gonna happen this week. This is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna stick to it. This is what's gonna I'm gonna make it happen this week. That will stop you so quick from staying consistent with planning. If you think that every time you sit down to plan your whole entire plan that you wrote down is going to come to fruition.
Ashley Brown 4:58
No, that is a plan. That is not reality that you're putting on that paper. So when you think that is reality, and then it doesn't come to reality, it doesn't actualize in your life, you feel some type of way that makes you feel some type of way. When you feel like wait, that didn't come true in your brain, you're like the why the freak did I do it? Why did I do it then if it didn't happen? Another thing about having high expectations is sometimes we can feel like, well, what's the point of planning, if my life changes so much, and I'm not going to be able to stick to the plan, that is a clear indication that you have high expectations of your planning. Because we are not planning I'm here to share with you we are not planning for the expectation of dotting every i and crossing every T on that plan. We're planning for the expectation to be intentional with what we're doing on a day to day basis to lead our lives with intentionality. Because this thing called life is going to be things that come up that take you outside of your plan. Also, your plan is your reference is for you to refer back to.
Ashley Brown 6:16
So instead of thinking of your plan as a reality, you need to think about your plan as a reference, try doing that, because you should honestly be referring back to your plan, often not just planning on Sunday, and then you put it away, that doesn't do you any good, right, so. So that's the first hidden reason why you may not be able to stay consistent with planning because you just have not leveled your expectations for planning, you do not have leveled expectations of planning. And that is throwing you for a loop that is causing you to really become resentful of planning. And that will stop you in your tracks. So that could be something that's happening with you. So think about that, you know, process that for a little bit. Okay, let's move on to reason number two. So hidden reason number two of why you struggle to stay consistent with planning is that you feel like a failure when you plan, it kind of goes back to what we were talking about. But you feel like a failure when you plan. So when you plan, and you get to the end of your week, and you realize, Wait, some of this stuff didn't actually come to fruition, you start to beat up on yourself. You don't just say you know what, maybe the planning was ineffective.
Ashley Brown 7:33
Maybe just the process of what I did didn't really work this week, you start to beat up on yourself and be like, I just wasn't productive this week. I wish I would have just been more productive this week. Sweetie, it's not you. I'm here to tell you that because I don't want you beating up on yourself. It's not you it was your plan. It was the way that you planned. That's all let's tweak the plan and you're not a failure. But if you keep repeating that to yourself, because like subconsciously, because you're not coming out and saying I'm a failure for not sticking to my plan, but in the way that we talk to ourselves, even if it's just in our heads the way that the verbiage, the language that we're using to describe an experience sometimes will equate to, oh, I'm a failure, because this plan didn't come to fruition as I wanted it to or as I planned it to. And the thing about it is it's not that you're a failure, just something didn't work that week, or maybe you just got thrown off so much, right. It's understandable sometimes where our plans don't come to fruition. And we have to make sure that we're talking to ourselves in a way that is healthy.
Ashley Brown 8:37
Because when we start to feed ourselves stories that are unhealthy, especially in our planning, that will stop you from planning, because who wants to feel like a quote unquote, failure, if that's what you're feeding yourself who wants to feel like that. Your brain is gonna be like, Girl, I'm over this, I'm done. Because I don't want to keep feeling this way. So instead of you getting to the end of your week, if you see that in a week, you didn't do many of the things on your to do list, instead of you being like, I wish I would have been more productive and saying those types of things. Just be like, You know what, I'm gonna try something different this week, when I plan I'm gonna try something different and see how it goes trying to plan in a different way. That's it, you want to really be positive with yourself when your plan doesn't come to fruition as you would have liked. So that's the second hidden reason why maybe you're not staying consistent with planning. Last but certainly not least, is hidden reason number three, and that is you don't constantly acknowledge the benefits of planning. I'm pretty sure you probably heard me say this before, because this is something that I've tried to harp on that I tried to make sure that I say you don't have to acknowledge the benefits of things when you do them.
Ashley Brown 9:45
Many of us will plan we'll move on start to do the plan, get to the end of the week and just be like Okay, that's it. We just be like okay, we just do the plan, and you don't really take time to assess As how beneficial the planning was for your life. No, don't get to the end of your week and just be just move on with your life. No, get to the end of your week and go back to your plan. Say, You know what I did the daggone thing and I'm glad that I plan because you know what, it helped me to not miss that appointment. It helped me to be a little bit more present with my kids when they got out of school. It helped me remind my husband to clean the kitchen, because I know I didn't feel like. It helped me to x y&z like you need to really take inventory and acknowledge the benefits of your planning, when you do it, even in the moment of planning. Because as you probably know, when you plan that is a mental release, you instantly feel like 10 times better, I'm telling you, do you not? You instantly feel 10 times better, you be like, dang, I felt a little bit lighter, that planning helps. Say that, say it out loud. What this does is it helps your brain to connect to the activity that is important when our brain right because it gives us a little like dopamine rush, right?
Ashley Brown 11:07
When our brain connects us that something is important to us. What does it want to do? It wants to keep feeding us that it wants us to keep doing it. But if you plan and you just move on with your day, that's not helping your brain connect that this thing is important to you. So please acknowledge the benefits of planning when you do it. That will help you stay consistent. Those were the reasons I wanted to share with you. And like I said, these are hidden reasons that we don't really think about, you probably have never thought that any of these reasons were reasons why you couldn't stay consistent because it's more on a subconscious level. And so now you know that these three hidden reasons could possibly be why you haven't been able to stay consistent. And then in the future, if you're not able to stay consistent, maybe you can come back to this and listen to this again, and start to make some changes so that you can jump back into planning and become more consistent with it. So I'm hoping that this was helpful. That's it for this episode.
Ashley Brown 11:38
I'm so happy that you joined me today if you could do me a huge favor and rate and review the show. I would love to hear from you to hear what you love about the show what has been helpful for you why you listen like that really brings me so much joy and outside of myself. It helps when we have reviews of the show so that people looking for this type of information can have it available and it is brought to the top of their list when they're searching for information like this. So it's really beneficial not only for me because it makes me so happy but it's beneficial for the community and for the world. And so if you can leave a rating and review our greatly appreciate it. Thank you for joining again and until next time, continue to enjoy wherever you are, whatever you're doing, Stay happy, and I'll talk to you next week.
Ashley Brown 12:53 [Outro]
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, take a screenshot and share it on social I would love to know you're listening and for tools to help you start maintain and enjoy your routines. Be sure to head to routineandthings.com Here's to staying happy