64 - The F/Utility of Planning
The F/Utility of Planning
futility - noun. pointlessness or uselessness
utility - noun. the state of being useful, profitable, or beneficial
This past week I had a lot of reasons to think about the dueling relationship between utility and futility in planning.
Last week's carefully laid plans got turned upside down by an event outside of our control. That event introduced a number of urgent items which rightfully demanded immediate attention.
The plan for the week in the form of my calendar had to see a lot of reschedules and a couple of cancellations. The plan for eating for the week in the form of the meal plan and the groceries purchased had to be reconsidered, shuffled, and in a couple of cases frozen for later use.
But in the midst of all that seeming futility, there was also utility.
A funeral that was completed based on a plan made months ago. A workshop delivered with a plan made a little too close to the last minute. A graduate celebration that was a beautiful moment of joy and gratitude. And, finally, to the world stage, the coronation of a king.
"In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." - Benjamin Franklin
"It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan." - Eleanor Roosevelt
As I am on my quest to become a certified coach with the You Need a Budget (aka YNAB) team, I emphasize two of YNAB's four rules for budgeting more than the others. Here are those four rules:
1. Give Every Dollar a Job
2. Embrace Your True Expenses
3. Roll With the Punches
4. Age Your Money
What I've found is if you follow rules 1 and 3 you'll be successful because 2 and 4 just happen naturally. What does that have to do with planning? Well, Rule 1 to Give Every Dollar a Job is really to make a plan for your money at least once a month. Rule 3 to Roll With the Punches is to adapt that plan as the month goes on.
Planning has become second nature to me in most cases but I also find that, lately, I've let planning slip and have waited longer than I should to start putting my plan to paper or screen. The reason for this is often anxiety. Anxiety that I won't be able to plan for all eventualities (this, my therapist reminded me is the very definition of anxiety.). It's true, I can't plan for all eventualities. But what I can do is what has served me so well through the years. I can make the plan for how I want something to go and then use that plan as a guide to figure out what's most important to me and how I fit that in no matter what the world throws at me. In the end, Star Trek taught us that resistance (to making a plan) is futile. Okay, maybe that's just my adaptation of what Star Trek taught us.
Where’s Kara?
Join The Facts of Life LIVE Cohort - Do you need to organize your most important stuff for life’s most important moments? If so, then the Facts of Life Book course is just for you. With loads of templates, tools, and guides I’ll help you get your most important information organized. I know some of you were waiting for the first ever live cohort - and that is now available. You can still join us every Friday afternoon through June 23 for live work and how-to sessions to construct your Facts of Life Book. Join now and you’ll get access to all future updates as well as any additional future live cohorts I run. Use coupon code FRIEND1 to get 50% off of the cost of the course.
Quarterly Retreat - My Quarterly Retreat All Access Pass is a great way to discover the utility of planning for yourself. With more than 20 exercises to help you plan it’s a design your own adventure way to make the next quarter of 2023 the best it can be. Check it out and https://karamonroe.podia.com.
R.J. Nestor’s Action Powered Productivity Community - My friend R.J. has moved his community to a subscription model and you get access to all of the workshops for just $9 a month. This is an awesome community. I just gave a workshop on automation and we have upcoming workshops on artificial intelligence. Come and join us!
Creative Work Hour - Every single day of the week, at 10 a.m. eastern, a group gathers online in Zoom to do a quick check in, a brief meditation, work for about 50 minutes on whatever they want to do, and then check out with one another for 5 minutes. Creative Work Hour is one of my favorite places to hang out online and I’ve been there every single day that I could be there since about March of 2022. Come as often or as little as you need to get projects done. To register for the sessions (they are free but you have to sign up to get the zoom link) and to learn more, visit https://lu.ma/CreativeWork.
Photos of the Week
After being away on vacation last week there was LOTS of Kona time this week!
Gayle and I were in Kokomo on Thursday and had lunch at B&K Drive In - one of several drive ins in that very car oriented town.
Thursday night, Susie and I drove to Cincinnati to see Gretchen Rubin - one of my favorite authors - live! It was a really fun evening.
Friday morning, Dad, Susie, Kona and I took a little field trip to see the devastation from the big fire in Richmond, Indiana that made U.S. National News a couple of weeks ago. Dad and I have a personal connection to that the area as the company dad worked for for many years - Hockersmith Transportation - their former building (photo above) was destroyed by the fire. It was also the site of my first job working for one of dad’s colleagues.
On Friday evening, I got to be the “official” photographer for Gayle’s Business Honors Program graduation event. I think this was my sixth gig as photographer for this event. Since Gayle is going on to a new adventure at Butler this year, the students presented her with a lovely gift that features the program’s motto of “To whom much is given, much is expected.”
Storms don’t usually wake me but the one that came through Saturday night into Sunday certainly did. It also took down my neighbor’s new tree.
Tips & Tricks
Use Painters Tape (or Washi?) to seal bottles for travel.
I HATE bottles in my travel case but they are unavoidable. Although, side tip, I’ve recently switched to bar shampoo and conditioner in my travel case and I love them so much I’ll be switching to them in real life as soon as I use my existing bottles up.
Since bottles are unavoidable I’m finally sharing this travel tip that Gayle has used well for years and I am also adopting. Wrap painter’s tape around the lid of bottles to help seal it to the bottle for the jostling that comes with travel. I’m probably going to give paper tape (a.k.a. washi tape) a try in place of painters tape since I’ve got a ton of it and it’s pretty but I know for a fact after years of observation that painters tape works great.
What I Published This Week?
I’m working on a lot of content related to finance as I build out bigger plans for offering financial coaching and financial education. I’ve got a good list of articles but I’d love to know if you have questions you’d like me to answer. If so, just hit reply.
Three Strategies for Using Debt Responsibly - on Medium - on my Blog
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