I’ve been doing a yearly plan for a long time but this  weekly/ monthly/ quarterly process is recent as of 2025. It has transformed my relationship with time.

For example, a friend asked me to be a beta reader for his next novel. Typically I’d think about how much time I’d need to perform the task, add some wiggle room, and reply with “love to, should have comments back to you in two weeks.”

But now, I can look at my calendar and see how full it is with things that were previously never accounted for, mainly the ‘Tend’ category. This lack of holding space for what I really need showed up in my body and my home.

Based on my fully planned calendar, I knew reviewing the manuscript would take twice my original estimate. Not that reading it would take longer, but working it around all the other things in my already-full life. Making it fit into my life rather than contorting my life to fit it. (Can I get an “Amen”?)

The other thing about this process is that I don’t feel as if I’m in it alone, even though I sit alone in my big chair with my lapdesk as I review and plan. AI and my Council of Advisors give me virtual thinking partners. Then there’s one final component to make it happen: my accountability buddy. This is where another human enters the scene and plays a brief, ongoing, and essential role.

I’ll say more about accountability buddies next week.

Chewing the Cud of Good

Thankful for Zinnias, because they bloom in the hot summer and just keep going, even if some bug chomps a hole in one of their glorious petals.