Plan
Hi, Thinking Out Loud here :D
Welcome to Mindful Monday, Week 35
Here is the link for this week's playlist. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4OWunoFMMvmLsrwg5iDOMk?si=caacb590d38f45b6&pt=b1cbf15b334327cb27b019e3017695e2
I hope you enjoy listening whilst you read, and I hope you find the music relaxing.
If an ad plays, please stop reading and wait for the playlist to play again. The playlist will be timed for you to read to the end of this blog post, with maybe one song running over after reading.
Get a drink, maybe even a snack, and find a comfy seat so you can relax. Let go of all worries and enjoy the next five deep breaths. Please prepare for the first breath in by breathing out.
Now time for your first deep breath; take one deep breath in through your nose for five 1..2..3..4..5.. Hold for 1..2.. Breathe out through your mouth for five 1..2..3..4..5.. Hold for 1... Breathe in for five 1..2..3..4..5.. Hold for 1..2.. And out for five 1..2..3..4..5.. Hold for 1... Breathe in for five 1..2..3..4..5.. Hold for 1..2.. And out for five 1..2..3..4..5.. Hold for 1... Two more to go; breathe in for five 1..2..3..4..5.. Hold for 1..2.. And out for five 1..2..3..4..5.. Hold for 1... Last one, deep breath in for five 1..2..3..4..5.. Hold for 1..2.. And out for five 1..2..3..4..5.. Hold for 1... Now go back to your regular breathing pattern. I hope you feel calm and relaxed.
When someone says plan, it can seem boring and daunting, planning for the future, planning a big life event, even for myself as a writer planning a book. It can seem like a big mess of ideas, battling to be the one that gets picked. In all honesty, I would have to say I am not much of a planner; I would rather wing writing and life in general; that’s not to say that I don’t have plans, as I do; I just don’t write them down or plan them out, so if one of my plans happens it is quite out of the blue for it to have happened. I’m undecided if this is a bad or a good idea. What I am learning as I get older is planning seems more and more like a good idea. Like everyone, I have big life ideas, big things that I want to achieve and most of these things I know I can only achieve most of these things if I plan for them and work hard to achieve them. The main thing is planning for them, having an end goal to work towards, and having smaller targets to aim to keep on track with reaching that end goal.
So how do we plan and stop it from seeming boring or daunting?
The short answer is to write bullet points, and each one of those is a goal for a bigger plan. Now the long answer is pretty similar to the short answer, but with each bullet point, write a bit of a description with each point, what you aim to do, how you aim to achieve it, and when you want to have reached that particular goal. Then decide your ultimate big plan, when you want to achieve that and how you aim to achieve it. Each point can be a month or a year, however long you want it to be. I often hear what is your big five-year plan, ten-year plan and so on. If you want to do those, please feel free to do so, but going straight into doing a five or ten-year plan for some of us, I know, will be a bit intense, so start small and eventually aim big.
Here is a little bit of my plan that you can use as an example. This is based on writing.
Weekly blog uploads (here is where I would stop for the short plan) - this means picking a day every week, spending about an hour or so writing the following week's blog post, and maybe more weeks if I know I have a busy few weeks ahead. This also included editing and creating a playlist for the blog post to share when uploaded.
This is an ongoing weekly plan, so I aim to start and finish it weekly. (this is a much longer and detailed plan)
Publishing (short plan) - getting works I have done edited, sent to beta readers and final edits done to a standard that is acceptable to publish, whether that be self-published or done through an agent.
I aim to hopefully be published by the end of this year or, at the latest, very early next year (long plan)
Creating (short plan, also vague as it covers a wide variety of things) - this means anything that I get ideas for, mostly writing but not limited to writing.
This is an ongoing plan for creating when ideas come to me. (long plan still vague but some form of ideas to it).
I hope these three ideas help; I know only some people reading this post will be writers, but I hope the general idea of how to write a plan comes through. I’m not an expert; this is just how I write my plan. How you make yours might be different; please do what works for you.
I would love to read about your plans in a comment below and only share what you are happy to share. Remember, not all comments show, but all comments do get read, so please be kind. I am the only person running this page, and I moderate all comments.
Let's finish with a three-deep breath breather.
Take one deep breath in through your nose for five 1..2..3..4..5.. Hold for 1..2.. Breathe out through your mouth for five 1..2..3..4..5.. Hold for 1... Breathe in for five 1..2..3..4..5.. Hold for 1..2.. And out for five 1..2..3..4..5.. Hold for 1... Final breath in for five 1..2..3..4..5.. Hold for 1..2.. Last breath out for five 1..2..3..4..5.. No hold here; you can now go back to your regular breathing pattern.
As always, thank you for taking the time to read this week's Mindful Monday. I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read them and listens to what I have to say.
Love always
Thinking Out Loud xx :D
A plan can be anything you want it to be as long as you put it into action and work towards it; a single thought of the day can become the biggest plan you ever make.
