So what things are working for you? Not working for you? Clearly I am an advocate for planning tools, using them and reviewing and renewing them. But if planning tools are not working for you, I’m NOT going to suggest that YOU are the problem. You know deep-down why you do or don’t use tools and whether you are using them as advised. Sometimes it’s not about your ability to plan or organise, it’s something else. That ‘something else’ doesn’t even have to be something big or even logical. But the only person whose behaviour you can truly alter is yours, so you need to be honest with yourself.

For me, problems with planning are often about my motivation. Tasks that I have no control over can be irritating, especially if I feel unfairly treated (even if I’m being illogical and childish). You might think of it in terms of things that ‘push your buttons’, or ‘wind you up’. If these are the things that I find demotivating and then planning tools are of limited value to me. It’s far better that I recognise my feelings and decide what I’m going to do about it. Now, where am going to find the motivation to do that? Cue the next series of blogs - Motivation.