​

Hey Reader!

I hope you're enjoying this Life Edit! Today we're diving into the final life edit... a planning purge. Can we be honest about planning for a moment?

Planning is exactly what we think it is, and also nothing like it.

At its core, planning is meant to support life. But somewhere along the way, it became a tool for control. A way to prevent the unexpected, manage uncertainty, and arrive at some imagined “perfect” destination.

Here’s the truth: planning isn’t really about the plan. It’s about the posture behind it. The question isn’t how you plan, it’s why. What’s motivating your planning? That motivation either expands your life or quietly constricts it.

Unfortunately, planning has often been about controlling outcomes or the “God-space” of life. The place we don’t actually have full control over. All while neglecting what we do control. That’s when it stops serving us, and life starts feeling like a never-ending game of catch-up.

It's here we get sucked into the trap of what I call schedule shaming, where you adopt someone else's way of doing life.

This is why you need to clean up our planning system, doing a little planning purge. If your plans aren’t helping you create better days and move toward your outcomes, you're always going to feel like you're just digging yourself out of life. It’s going to appear like you’re always playing “catch-up.”

Here’s a small-scale example about laundry.

I used to believe that I would be satisfied when the laundry was done. Which also assumes I thought laundry was another destination point you could just check off. I’m giggling now, because there is no “done” with laundry. That mindset created a constant cat-and-mouse game.

The mountain of laundry would grow and grow and grow because I had no real plan to deal with it. I was just angry that once again, it was never done. Leaving me reactive to it, trying to fit laundry into a space I didn’t have.

Then one day, I decided enough. Laundry would no longer own my weeks. I was going to build a better plan.

Here’s the thing: the laundry still exists. It’s not that there’s less laundry, but now I have a system and created space to live around it. Planning doesn’t eliminate the work, but it gives you the capacity to do the work and, in the process, open up more space to actually enjoy the rest of life.

This is what purging your planning system is all about. It's not doing more, but removing what doesn’t belong, or what isn't working. It's letting go of timelines that create pressure. Releasing goals that no longer reflect who you are. Simplifying commitments so your energy goes toward what actually matters.
​

Space #05: Clean up Your Planning System

Space five isn’t a conclusion to the Life Edit. It’s an invitation. It might even be the best place to start cleaning up the other four spaces.

Take time to evaluate your planning system. Remember, planning isn't about control. It's about building capacity.

Here are a few prompts to begin evaluating your planning system:

• Are your plans helping you to make the most of life?
• Are your plans in alignment with your outcomes?
• What areas are you not planning for that are taking up time?
• Where are you being reactive? How could you create plans to be proactive?
• Are you living the plans you are creating?
• How can you adjust your planning system to fit your way?

Over the remainder of the month, take time to notice which spaces need tidying or rearranging. Get specific, and schedule a little pocket of time to tend to them.

This isn’t about perfection or trying to control the outcome. It’s about making the most of your days and building capacity for a year that actually feels like yours.

Take the weekend to assess your plans. Sweep, sort, delete, and rearrange your plans. And try out your new system by planning to clean up the spaces we talked about here.

Here's a little recap of what we're cleaning up this month to create space to grow all year:

• ​Learn Why January Is the Worst Month For Change (And What It's Better For)​​
• ​​Space #01: Cleaning Up Mental & Digital Clutter​​
• ​​Space #02: Cleaning Up Your Physical Space​​
• ​​Space #03: Cleaning Up Your Finances​
• ​Space #04: Cleaning Up Your Routines​​

What space are you working to clean up first?

I'll be back next week with a little motivation! If you're like me, you'll need it. My cleaning style always leaves things looking much worse before they get better!

But they do get better!