​​Planning for Uncertainty: A Conversation with Megan Sumrell

Identifying Your Uncertainties

Katie: Can you introduce yourself and let us know what you do?

Megan: Thank you for having me! As Katie mentioned, my name is Megan Sumrell. I'm a time management and planning expert. I work specifically with women, because the reality is that men and women are different.

Women tend to carry the vast majority of the mental load. A lot of women are in a caregiving role, whether it's for their children, their parents, or anyone else.

Because of that, we typically need to create plans that implement a lot of flexibility and accommodate a lot of change. I mean, if my daughter gets sick, they’re calling me first—they’re not calling my husband.

That is why I really like to lean in and really serve women through a structured time management framework that teaches how to create realistic plans that also accommodate change, that also include time for ourselves, and also include hitting some of those big goals, dreams, and desires that we have.

Katie: Exactly. You’ve got to factor in real life, right? People have asked me before what they do with their business if their kid is sick, and I always go, “Oh, I always just assume that's going to happen.”

I never expect that everything is going to go according to the plan, especially with three kids. It would just be impossible to expect that. So for me, it's always about not operating at full capacity. And I know one of your things is having a plan that knows that stuff is going to happen.

Megan: I actually call it “planning for uncertainty.” It’s one of the skills that I teach; I guide you through a process to figure out what that looks like for you, because each individual person's going to have a different level of uncertainty, but we all need to know what ours is.

If we don’t figure that out, we cannot create a plan that accommodates, acknowledges, and supports that uncertainty. Because if we don't, we end up in a place where we’re staying up late and getting up early to catch up, we’re cancelling all the things that we were going to do just for us, and we get stuck just on this vicious hamster wheel of trying to check every item off an impossible task list.

When planning, most people struggle because they are missing the step of taking all the realities of their lives, all the roles that they play, everything that they're juggling, and integrating it with a more traditional goal-setting approach.

Not a Planner? That’s Okay…

Katie: Even if you’re like me and you’re more plan-averse, Megan’s method can work really well for you, because it’s so unique…but first, let’s consider why we’re so plan-averse. Megan, can you talk about busting through plan aversion and how you actually end up with so much more space to play and relax when you have one?

Megan: So, part of the negative perception of planning comes from the fact that it is, in essence, a type of boundary.

Here’s the way I want you to reframe this idea of having boundaries within your calendar: usually when we hear the word boundary, people go very negative with it. They think it’s like saying, “Let me put up a big fence here and not let anybody in.”

Well, let me run with that. Let’s go with the analogy of a fence.

I have two dogs. We just fenced in our backyard. And we put the fence up not so that nobody can come in; we put the fence up to protect these two precious pups that we love so much.

When we learn how to plan in alignment with our core values, we can ensure our time is spent on what we value most.

We can create plans that allow us to look back on the year and say, “I was present when I wanted to be present. I played when I wanted to play. I got that big thing done with work or my business that I'm really proud of.”

That's what this type of planning is all about. It's going to help you put the right boundaries in place to protect your time and ensure you are spending it how you want to.

Learn How to Protect Your Time With an Annual Plan

Ready to learn how to make a plan for your year that actually works—one that gives you more time, more peace, more mental space, and more avenues to hit your goals? Attend Megan’s Plan-a-Palooza now—recommended by me, a non-planner!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

Sign up for Megan Sumrell’s Plan-a-Palooza: https://www.megansumrell.com/plan?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.megansumrell.com%2Fa%2F2147912766%2F9MbY2DoT 

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