We’re spending all this time invisibly planning. I desire for it to be more visible. For home, I have always planned in these trimesters, 120 day chunks. You can hear all about it in ep. 132. I call these chunks summer, fall, and winter. When the PhD is finished (hopefully in Dec.) I will have planned 9 chunks. Each chunk of time starts with this natural break in the hustle of life and gives us these organic bursts of energy to declutter, organize, and reset. It became very clear to me the energy of each season during this PhD journey. What did I plan? How did it go? And how am I leaving this PhD phase of life?

Summer (May-August)

Sing it with me “Schoooooool’s out for summer”...these are the more relaxed months of the year. The invisible work you would have done for this chunk was planning how to keep the kids busy, summer vacations, and this is usually a personal development time for me. The PhD is all personal development. Summer of ‘23 was “Busy” because I’d applied and been accepted into the PhD and lil Grayson turned two so he was into everything! I had each minute planned with the goal of getting my PhD that I basically missed summer! This summer was the hardest. I took less time to plan because Greg and I went to England. And I don’t regret it! Grayson was 3 and he was on to me. He KNEW when I was home and he wanted to play. But I’d made the choice to pursue this PhD and I had to choose it over Grayson for this season. So I moved almost everything to the office. Another lost summer.

Fall (September-December)

Fall seems to be an easy chunk of time for me. This season you have planned for back to school and the holidays. Things seem to go easier and thank God for football. Because Greg loves football and that means I don’t have guilt getting in a few more hours of studying or completing more assignments. I’d only taken 2 classes which lightened the PhD demand on me. In fall of 2024, I had to ask myself “How do I not do again, what I just did in summer?” I took a trip with Greg, I only took 2 classes and focused on the holidays.

Winter (January-April/Mayish)

Winter starts with all of us coming back from Christmas/Holiday breaks. In 2023, I planned to change all my habits and routines to be a PhD student, you can hear all about that in ep. 519 and/or the Monday PhD episodes I did around that same time. I knew it was going to take me 25 hours so I blocked that time off my calendar. It's no good to set a goal but not set aside time to achieve it. For my 2024 winter chunk, I’m calling it “treading water”. This was a really hard chunk of time because Greg had rotator cuff surgery, we’d remodeled Joey’s condo, and we were planning to remodel Abby’s space downstairs next.

How I’m Ending My PhD Phase

I’m calling this last chunk of time “the grind”. I have finished the classes portion of completing the PhD. As I see the finish line in sight for the PhD, I am walking away so happy and proud! I’m proud of myself for the mental capacity I’ve grown. I am so proud that I put earning a PhD as one of my priorities. I would cheer anyone on in my family to do the same for themselves. It forced me to set better boundaries with my family. I encourage you all to do Planning Day and I do it for myself too to make sure I am pouring into my marriage and family, that I am prioritizing self care, to travel, and breakdown a big project I want to accomplish. Sometimes you get that project done in one 120 chunk and sometimes it’s multiple chunks over the course of 3 years. Just make sure you prioritize your family and have good communication so they have accurate expectations. None of this happens accidentally, like a PhD, you have to plan for it!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Sunday Basket®

• Home Planning Day

• 120 - Productivity #6 - 10 Ways to Find More Time

• Ep. 519 - Organizing my PhD journey Part 1

• Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

PLANNING…it’s the one thing that you can control in these unsettling times. Planning Days are now 20% OFF! The best part is, when you sign up for the subscription, that price is locked in for future planning days. Planning will help you to make better choices and establish routines and new habits. Routines and habits take a little more time to become second nature. Routines and habits change your character of who you are over time through intention and discipline. That’s what we do in Planning Day. There are three types that Organize 365® offers; Home, Friday Workbox® and now the little sister…Teacher Planning Day.

Planning days help you to look at your time and plan ahead for the next 120 days for the Home or 90 days for Work. You will establish routines that will lead to habits that end up freeing up your cognitive load. You will look at how you are currently spending your time and think about how you want to spend your time. Each planning day comes with a workbook to work through what your next 120 or 90 will look like.

You all may be familiar with Home and Work Planning Days but I want to share with you a little bit about what to expect in the Teacher Planning Day. You will look at the personal development goals you have for yourself, not the ones given to you by your administrator. You’ll look at theme days, your planning time, and how to be productive. I’ll go over the Teacher Workbox with you and we’ll talk about the pink slash pockets and what you want to do for personal development or ideas for your classroom. The purple slash pockets used for 3-5 projects you want to complete. With the blue slash pocket you’ll think about a communication goal, your team, and maybe a goal you all set together. And then the green slash pocket, I’ll explain how to use it for administrative tasks and your checklists.

OOOPS…we made a mistake and I have decided to roll with it. I know how planning will help you to feel in control in a time when you may feel uneasy. So the Complete Home Organization Bundle accidentally got included in this sale. I feel so strongly that planning is what we all need right now so I’m keeping this on sale too. If you have been interested in the bundle, now is your time to get it. And at this price your planning day is almost free. You will get the Productive Home Solution® as well as a Sunday Basket®, the Paper Solution, Binders, and the workbooks, check out the link below for full details.

If you wanna be around other go-getters, driven, and positive people then Planning Day is the day you don’t wanna miss. Once the Planning Day has happened pricing will go back up. So take advantage of this deal and get in the driver’s seat and get the Planning Day that is right for you!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Home Planning Day

• Friday Workbox® Planning Day

• Teacher Planning Day

• Complete Home Organization Bundle

• Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media.