This Philosopher-in-Residence trusts ye fans of plans have been enjoying a pleasant summer. Whether you have children or not, the summer holiday period takes a fair bit of navigation – whether that’s getting to buy groceries before the shelves are stripped by holidaying hordes, or finding activities for the offspring that don’t involve endless pots of cash or staring at screens.

The back-to-school September vibes bring a sense of routine but also an undertone of work dread/change management fear/self-judgement as the festive season and wintertime approaches apace.

The good ship Make Me A Plan likes to employ our tips to take control in situations like these. So if you’re feeling the back-to-school blues, take five to construct a simple list:

Things I’d like to change about what I do

This can be things like eating less junk food, drinking more water, pressing snooze less often, trying a new hobby, making time for reading for pleasure.

It doesn’t have to contain things that are a big deal or big time commitment like learning a new language or losing 3 stone (although it can, just be measured with yourself and don’t apply too much pressure for this to happen in a quick timeframe).

Next, just choose one thing, that you’re going to aim to do next week. Quantify what success looks like and be honest about your baseline – so if you currently eat 2 items of junk food daily, your goal could be to reduce this to 1 daily, or to have 2-3 junk food free days within the week. The following week, that could be progressed to 1 item every other day, or 3-4 junk food free days within the week. Aim for small success, not overnight dramatic changes. And let us know how you get on!

This isn’t a sales plug, but if you need someone to help you with this kind of planning, be it for life coaching, fitness or nutrition planning, get in touch and we can make you a plan.

Next fortnight, I’ll be writing On Babies, be there or be a boring grown up. Please get in touch with any particular aspects of this subject you’d like me to write about.

In the meantime,

Happy Planning

PS If you want some other free tips for your business life, check out the Working Well blog – out fortnightly on Wednesdays, courtesy of Make Me A Plan’s Productivity Expert, Penny Le Kelly. Browse the latest edition here:

https://www.makemeaplan.com/news/the-work-school-balancing-act/