Fail to Plan and You Plan to Fail

I've heard my pastor say that many times and it makes complete sense. When we are in those seasons of life when we're flying by the seat of our pants and hoping for the best, that is when we're most open to failure and disappointment. By nature, I am a planner. I have notebooks, notecards, sticky notes, and day planners that help me "plan" my every moment. However, by failing to plan, we set ourselves up for inherent failure. Just as we would never travel to a place we've never been before without a map, why then would we go throughout our day to day lives without a "map", or plan of action?
This week is going to be particularly busy and challenging for me...the control freak. My husband is having his gallbladder out on Wednesday. All three of my boys are spending the night with my parents on Tuesday night and then my mother is bringing them back on Wednesday and spending the night with us Wednesday night in order to help me on Thursday. As a result, I have to make sure Joshua is caught up (and preferably ahead) in school, my housework is completed, meals are planned, if not already prepared, and everything is in order so when my husband comes home from the hospital, I can put it in auto-pilot and focus on taking care of him. I could never succeed at this if I did not have a plan in place.
I think I thrive in situations like this. I do my best work in the "pressure cooker". Last night, for example, before I went to bed, I had my lesson plans laid out, my house cleaned, my to-do list completed and ready for Monday morning, and my espresso machine was armed and ready to fire at the push of a button. :) As a result, I am now sitting at the computer 'blogging' about it. It is 6:30am, I've already gotten the first several things accomplished on my Monday list and I'll be waking Joshua in the next thirty minutes or so to begin a day of 'double school' in order to stay ahead. Plan, Plan, Plan! It has been said, the weakest ink is better than the strongest mind! Everyone forgets from time to time, so why not take ten second to write down your thoughts and plan out your day? You'll be much more productive in the long run.
~audrey