Lately I've been coaching several people on being more organized – as well as working on putting together some of my future plans after a busy year. I wanted to share an interesting insight that may help the readers since I know a lot of us are scrambling to plan for a future in a tough time.
What I noticed was many people have a particular "level" they're most aware of in scheduling – they may think ahead a week, a month, a year, etc. and that's where they plan best. Though they may plan well on that level, they're often surprised or unprepared for things happening in a different timeframe. Some examples:
- A person who plans best on a yearly level may have a hard time focusing on specific tasks on a weekly or daily level.
- A person who plans well week by week may lack the sense of the big picture.
For a few people, they may even operate well on more than one level – but these levels are not necessarily connected – one can be good at planning five years ahead and a week ahead, but miss, say, planning well on the level of one month. Thus they grind to a halt caught between timeframes, trying to reconcile plans.
If you're trying to be more organized (and who isn't?), you need to be aware of you have a particular "level" or "levels" you like to schedule on, and work to ensure you plan well on all levels of your schedule.
– Steven Savage