Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
Speaker 1: new world of work, where location and hours are more
Speaker 1: flexible than in the past. Today's tip is to find
Speaker 1: a planning system that makes sense for you in your
Speaker 1: new corner office. New times sometimes call for new methods.
Speaker 1: In any case, planning is so important to productivity and
Speaker 1: success that you want to make sure that how you
Speaker 1: plan supports your life rather than making you feel confused
Speaker 1: or sad. Many people's lifestyles and routines have changed dramatically
Speaker 1: in recent months. Perhaps you're working from home more often
Speaker 1: or for the first time. Your work hours may have
Speaker 1: shifted earlier or later so that you can balance childcare
Speaker 1: and homeschooling. The number of meetings you're required to attend
Speaker 1: in a week may have increased or decreased, or maybe
Speaker 1: you're finding that you have fewer work tasks to attend to.
Speaker 1: Whether you're a Google calendar devotee, a paper planner, planner,
Speaker 1: or somewhere in between, people generally choose their particular planning
Speaker 1: methods because they align with their lifestyles and preferences. Digital
Speaker 1: methods can be ideal if you want to share a
Speaker 1: calendar with your spouse or colleagues, and they're also great
Speaker 1: for people who frequently have meetings rescheduled. Paper methods, on
Speaker 1: the other hand, appeal to many who enjoy to do
Speaker 1: list making and the pleasure of putting pen to paper
Speaker 1: or decorating paper. Planners have the upside of letting us
Speaker 1: see future events physically, often in a more intuitive way
Speaker 1: than day to day electronic calendars. But when life changes
Speaker 1: may be a previous preference doesn't make sense. A friend
Speaker 1: of mine decided to buy a new short term planner
Speaker 1: because she felt so sad crossing off future fun events
Speaker 1: in her annual one. If you've decided to launch a
Speaker 1: freelance business from home that's based mostly on your individual
Speaker 1: creative talents, the electronic calendar you used for your corporate
Speaker 1: life might feel strange. I mean, you don't need to
Speaker 1: start sending yourself meeting invitations to block off the morning
Speaker 1: for deep work. One upside of change is that it
Speaker 1: prompts us to take stock of our current practices and
Speaker 1: consider whether they are still benefiting us. So take some
Speaker 1: time this week to ask if your planning system is
Speaker 1: still working for you. Are you finding yourself frustrated when
Speaker 1: scribbling out canceled events? Are you having trouble coordinating schedules
Speaker 1: with your partner or keeping track of your kids online
Speaker 1: school meetings. The switch doesn't have to be permanent. My
Speaker 1: friend wound up missing her old annual planner, so she
Speaker 1: eventually bought a new one and put things that might
Speaker 1: be canceled on sticky notes, And you can always switch
Speaker 1: back even if you don't have any interest in modifying
Speaker 1: your planner or calendar. You might consider if you're planning habits,
Speaker 1: such as when you plan need a refresh. Maybe your
Speaker 1: former supervisor sent you guidelines for the week on Sunday night,
Speaker 1: and so you always planned everything out on Monday morning,
Speaker 1: But after some restructuring, you're reporting to someone who tends
Speaker 1: to send assignments day by day, so you might set
Speaker 1: a designated weekly planning time like Friday afternoons, supplemented by
Speaker 1: many planning sessions each morning. Or maybe you're coordinating childcare
Speaker 1: with your spouse and you get your schedules at different times,
Speaker 1: figure out when you can chat to make sure you
Speaker 1: can cover for each other a reasonable proportion of times.
Speaker 1: Planning ahead doesn't prevent all unforeseen circumstances from arising. But
Speaker 1: in a world that often feels uncertain, it can certainly
Speaker 1: help us to be happier and more prepared. So today
Speaker 1: ask if your planning methods need an update. There's no
Speaker 1: point sticking with something that isn't working, and there's a
Speaker 1: lot to be gained by finding a new approach that does.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to succeeding in the New Corner Office. The New
Speaker 1: Corner Office is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.