There is something very satisfying about a wallplanner, isn’t there?  Or is it just me?

I do enjoy planning out the year ahead and getting an overview like this that I can refer to easily.  I know a lot of people don’t do this, and definitely don’t do it in August – which is when I began thinking about 2025.

Of course, one of the reason I started doing this was because I needed to book venues for events a long way in advance, so that I can publish dates with confidence and give everyone plenty of notice to get the dates in their planners.

There is more to it, though.  Running your own business is great if you like a lot of flexibility.  It can also be challenging because of the lack of external structure.  Planning help me keep the right balance for me between structure and flexibility.  Most of what is on the calendar can still be moved, but having a plan is the important part.

Here are some of the benefits:

1)  If you have goals, you need a plan to achieve them.  Being able to see the shape of the year, of each month and each week can make it easier to plan when you’re going to undertake the work that will lead to the achievement of your goals.

2)  Mapping out regular and one-off activities means that you spend time thinking about those activities.  Do they need to be done weekly, monthly?  Is April the right time? And so on.  In other words, you have the opportunity to re-evaluate how you spend your time.

3)  You make sure you get some time off.  It’s all too easy to put off committing to specific holiday dates and think ‘I’ll see how the quarter pans out and then book some time off” or even, “I don’t have time for a holiday”.  Planning now and committing to dates means you will get that much-needed rest.  It also means you can book early and get a good deal on your travel!

4) It’s fun!  Well, I think it is.  Maybe I need to get out more…

I’ll be publishing the dates for 2025 events shortly.