What Makes for a Good Planner?

Planning isn’t only an essential for work, business, and those organising trips or events.It is an essential skill for life. Some thingsin life are done spontaneously (and there should always be a place for that) but most require a little bit of forethought. Fail to prepare, and you prepare to fail – and all that.

So, there are definitely a set number of attributes, skills,and qualities that make for a good planner. To some people, this comes very naturally while to others it becomes much more of a learned skill. Nevertheless, everybody can do it, and we all have a pretty good idea of what a good planner, in general, looks like.

Planning Aids

Of course, though, as a workman has his tools, the same goes for a top planner. Next Level Daily are a company producing advanced high-performance planners to help people get through their daily tasks. They say that however effective a planner you are, you can be made an even better one by using the latest planning aids. Unless you have an exceptional memory, it can be veryuseful to have the structure of your days and tasks planned months in advance if you can keep some kind of comprehensive, yet editable, record.

Daily planners are perhaps still the most comprehensive and useful planning aids. Nonetheless, you can also go digital and fill your smartphone with all manner of timed prompts, alerts, and alarms to help you plan out things weeks and even months in advance. Planning is a skill to learn, but the right tools can make it much easier.

Qualities of a Good Planner

So, what are the qualities of a good planner?Someone who is considered a safe pair of hands whenever any complex project or event needs to be planned. Planning skills and the attributes of a good planner are highly transferable, and you’re likely to find that being able to plan out the most complex tasks in work, leisure or businesswill also allow you effectively plan everything else in life.

So here are the qualities of a good planner:

They Plan Well in Advance

Or, at least, as far in advance as is needed and practical. Naturally, it depends on the extent of the task to be completed but planning in advance not only allows you to start working towards it as early as possible, but you can also adapt as you go.

They Make Flexible Plans

Andspeaking of adapting, the best plans are those which can adapt to changing conditions. If the plan exists far enough in advance, then this is almost a certainty. Being able to adapt as you go along is absolutely essential for an essential plan. Things can change.

They Can Handle Stress

The reason you’re making a plan in the first place proves that there is some chance of a stressful situation if you don’t. However, the process of making a plan itself can also be stressful – especially when it is complex and subject to changing circumstances. Failing to plan is one way to ensure unneeded stress, but making a plan properly can be stressful in itself.

They Can Communicate Well

When planning involves other people – as most complex plans do – a top planner needs to also be a good communicator, and be able to keep everybody abreast of the plan. Specifically, this can also mean explaining the relevant part of the plan to the relevant person. Communicating a plan can be just as much of a challenge as making one!

Planning is a skill that everybody needs for daily life. Sometimes though, it takes a real expert to plan something out properly.