https://www.planning-club.co.uk/blog daily 0.75 2026-09-29 https://www.planning-club.co.uk/blog/when-planning-can-block monthly 0.5 2026-09-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69284b9bc8ad58282faa8f0d/7a13e94b-b369-4e61-8a0e-b075a54a8f96/Pondering+076.png Blog - Can planning sometimes become a block? - (just click on the pondering pic to enlarge if needed) Obviously I believe in the positive power of planning - otherwise Planning Club wouldn’t exist! But one of the principles of Planning Club is that there’s no ‘one thing’ that’s going to be right for everyone all the time - and so planning won’t always be the answer. In fact, sometimes it can get us stuck… https://www.planning-club.co.uk/blog/connection-over-perfection monthly 0.5 2026-09-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69284b9bc8ad58282faa8f0d/a108443d-3c9f-466a-ad12-3a63a6bad135/Pondering+075.png Blog - Could “connection over perfection” help with planning? - (just click on the pondering pic to enlarge if needed) This idea comes from Priya Parker who wrote the book ‘The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters’ - in which she encourages “a human-centred approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play”. The aim of Planning Club is to help us use planning to ultimately make our lives happier - and that means hopefully creating more meaningful & memorable moments. But it’s easy to get caught up in the logistics sometimes, so I feel that this “connection over perfection” mantra might be a useful one to keep in mind… https://www.planning-club.co.uk/blog/ffts monthly 0.5 2026-09-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69284b9bc8ad58282faa8f0d/bafb65c6-b1d9-414f-a59a-ffa1966d12fc/Pondering+072.png Blog - Doing something new can be tough… are you in an ‘FFT’? - (just click on the pondering pic to enlarge if needed) This pondering might not seem immediately connected with planning – and it can definitely apply to other areas of life too… but planning often involves starting something new (whether that’s establishing a planning routine in the first place – or trying out other new habits) and that can sometimes be tough, which is why I think Brené Brown’s words of wisdom are worth thinking about… She’s put a name to something that many of us have probably experienced – feeling out of our depth when starting something new. Just giving something a name can help us to deal with it – so she’s called these moments ‘FFTs’ (which stands for ‘f*cking first times’ – or she suggests TFTs for ‘terrible first times’ if you’re using this idea with kids or just prefer being less sweary!) https://www.planning-club.co.uk/blog/not-urgent-not-important monthly 0.5 2026-09-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69284b9bc8ad58282faa8f0d/5b66524f-a148-4033-a8dc-973a39e6003c/Pondering+071.png Blog - Could more ‘not important, not urgent’ be helpful? - (just click on the pondering pic to enlarge if needed) The ‘important/urgent’ grid (also sometimes known as the ‘4Ds’ or Eisenhower matrix after the former US President) is often recommended as a way to categorise our tasks and figure out what our priorities are… and I do think that it can be useful for some (in fact, it’s one of the options given in the workbooks for the monthly & seasonal Planning Club sessions - though always with the caveat that no tool will work for everyone). Traditionally though, anything that was in the ‘not important / not urgent’ section of the grid was considered something that could be ignored (i.e. ‘ditched’, ‘deleted’ or ‘dropped’ depending on which ‘D’ you choose!) But is that actually best for us? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69284b9bc8ad58282faa8f0d/daa1d291-51db-478d-a791-d0d2a08d4a3e/4Ds+amended.png Blog - Could more ‘not important, not urgent’ be helpful? - What is the Eisenhower matrix? An example of the ‘urgent/important’ grid - also called the Eisenhower or ‘4Ds’ matrix https://www.planning-club.co.uk/blog/planning-to-be-happier monthly 0.5 2026-09-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69284b9bc8ad58282faa8f0d/9c33180f-0795-440a-8d16-e0c6b1cf5d02/Pondering+070.png Blog - How can planning help with being happier? - (just click on the pondering pic to enlarge if needed) When people talk about planning then it’s often as a way to be more organised or productive - which it obviously can be and that’s great… but I also think there’s much more to it than that. For me, planning is a way for us to get the most out of life - and to help us make sure that we’re doing things that make us happy! That’s why all of the Planning Club sessions include a mention of the ‘10 Keys to Happier Living’ from Action for Happiness - we can’t necessarily get all of them into our lives every week, but I think that just being reminded of them regularly can be helpful… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69284b9bc8ad58282faa8f0d/e133ed1f-ef28-4aad-8176-61170b3150b6/10+Keys.jpg Blog - How can planning help with being happier? - Make it stand out Find out more at https://actionforhappiness.org/10-keys https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69284b9bc8ad58282faa8f0d/1b8d1fdf-aa15-4393-bfe9-d9262d19fb52/Daily+kindness+chart.png Blog - How can planning help with being happier? - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.planning-club.co.uk/blog/habit-approaches monthly 0.5 2026-09-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69284b9bc8ad58282faa8f0d/5fab7e65-7617-4930-b460-c344af68b14d/Pondering+001.png Blog - With habits, how regular works for me? - (just click on the pondering pic to enlarge if needed) Something I really believe is that there’s no ‘one-size-fits-all’ when it comes to planning (or to anything really) - we all have different lives, different priorities, different brains and so different things work for each of us. If/when you’re trying to establish a new habit, think about which approach appeals to you most - below are a few options… https://www.planning-club.co.uk/blog/category/Ponderings monthly 0.5 https://www.planning-club.co.uk/blog/tag/Happiness monthly 0.5 https://www.planning-club.co.uk/blog/tag/Overwhelm monthly 0.5 https://www.planning-club.co.uk/blog/tag/Habits monthly 0.5 https://www.planning-club.co.uk/home daily 1.0 2026-08-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1618511387030-5LI1E5QMVTQ2RY9S00A4/20140228_Trade+151_0046+1.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1618511387030-5LI1E5QMVTQ2RY9S00A4/20140228_Trade+151_0046+1.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1618511387030-5LI1E5QMVTQ2RY9S00A4/20140228_Trade+151_0046+1.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1618511387030-5LI1E5QMVTQ2RY9S00A4/20140228_Trade+151_0046+1.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1618511387030-5LI1E5QMVTQ2RY9S00A4/20140228_Trade+151_0046+1.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1618511387030-5LI1E5QMVTQ2RY9S00A4/20140228_Trade+151_0046+1.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69284b9bc8ad58282faa8f0d/afac0347-a419-4a84-a08d-7d838a310a48/Planning+Club_logo-01.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69284b9bc8ad58282faa8f0d/105980d4-5b63-42ea-a5e7-293d8afbbc76/Planner.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69284b9bc8ad58282faa8f0d/1764688404113-P2R1MM2XOLIM505ZKJAH/unsplash-image-hb00NH1JXh0.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69284b9bc8ad58282faa8f0d/42f8ede4-4e93-4da6-b5d4-fbbe61d94f37/Karen+Woodman+-+headshot.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69284b9bc8ad58282faa8f0d/1764688747836-WRI3WJ7JY33JSJA3FXYH/unsplash-image-0r3GWjxTr3g.jpg