A Planner's Guide to Better Planning

Unofficially, I consider myself a planner. Not a notebook to write plans on but a plan-er, an architect of a particular party or event of sorts. I wasn't bestowed this title, but for some reason I'm the guy that everyone sets up to plan stuff. While I've been accustomed to this task, trust me, it is hard to plan a "plan". Why is that?

1. People are lazy.
2. People like to change their minds.
3. People who ask you to plan would later dismiss your plan because it doesn't suit their taste.
4. People don't like to have the stress of planning something but doesn't have the initiative to follow it.
5. People are people (and yes you should buy new clothes I guess).

Through it all, I always take the burden of planning a concise plan only for my plan to be treated as trash. I USED BRAIN CELLS PEOPLE! I analyze stuff and expect my plan to push through (this is not a rant, okay maybe a little). But hey, I'm use to it. So for all you guys out there who wants to be a planner of your group or is "planning" to make a plan, here are my tips to be a successful planner:

Planner not needed.

1. Be engaged - First thing you need to do is step your foot and say "I AM IN CHARGE BITCHES!" (unless you are in a Christian group then just change the last word) You need to make the people realize that your plan is the ONLY plan that they will follow or hell will break lose (again if you are in a Christian group then use another biblical passage). It is important for people to understand that you are in command so that there won't be any confusion on who to follow. You need to be quite active about this because you are the heart and brain of this plan (and sometimes the liver if you plan to include alcohol). Without you, someone else would probably do the planning (and we don't want that) so man up and make sure this plan is good to go.

Yeah you the man in charge!

2. Get commitment - Before you plan the specifics of your event or outing, you need to make sure that everyone is on board. You may be the heart and brain of this operation, but a body wouldn't be complete without arms, legs, eyes and ears (including penis and vagina a.k.a. your horny friends). The approach could be different and would vary from each person in your group. You can try the personal approach (e.g. Hey man, I'll be planning our event next Saturday. I need you to support me on this or this plan will be fucked up. Don't make me hurt you.). Or you can go ahead and message them through text or online (e.g. Planing a party dis sat!!! Expecting every1 2 participate. Dont make me hurt u.) It's all about making them understand that you are the head dog in charge and they are expected to follow through.

3. Note all options, check all options - Now this is the crucial part. You need to know now what you are going to plan about (because you are the planner right?!). Mostly, planning is made for happenings such as an out of town trip or your birthday (because no one wants to surprise you on your birthday you poor thing). Options will vary as well depending on certain factors such as budget, time, and availability of people (unless you don't have friends then this wouldn't be a problem). For starters, ask people about what they think. As a planner, as much as you are the one doing the planning, you need to know the preferences of the people involved especially if it is an outing. List all their ideas (even if they suck) and once done, try to do some research about their suggestions. Most of it will be ignored anyways so let them feel involved. Once everything is settled, sort out which is the best option of them all and start working on it (which is of course, your preference).

Just like love, it is made of ocean water and offers tons of fishes.

4. Provide a systematic plan - If possible, use an Excel for this (if you are poor, paper and pen will do). First thing you need to work on is the agenda. Put some time frame for it. Let's say you'll start of 6AM and then allot an hour to wait for people. And then provide another time frame for the next thing you are going to to for the day up until your day ends:

     6:00AM-7:00AM       - Circle Time
     7:00AM-7:30AM       - Travel to Bus Station
     7:30AM-8:00AM       - Wait again for those lazy-ass losers
     8:00AM-8:10AM       - Contemplate on just going by yourself
     8:10AM-10:00AM     - Travel time to place
     10:00AM-10:01AM   - Receive a text saying they decided to go to another place
     10:01AM-End of day - Weep like a bitch

Next is the budget. You can't do stuff without money so it is important to make sure your cost is balanced. From breakfast to lunch to dinner, your fares and all additional costs should be accounted:

     Breakfast - PHP50.00
     Lunch - Ask some from friends
     Dinner - PHP20.00, and if possible ask some from friends
     Fare (Round trip) - PHP100.00, if friends won't lend money, walk
     Total: PHP170.00 and donations (SAVINGS!!!)

Once everything is settled, prepare for people to have some input. Some (and I mean almost all of them) would be late so you need to bump the circle time to 8AM and your friend's budget is short as well, so, good luck with that. Changing the plan is part of the job until you can finalize a perfect plan.

5. Have a Plan B - Of course, as hard as you plan, not all plans will push through. Especially with a friend who out of no where has an excuse emergency or a natural calamity has destroyed the venue that you are about to go to. You need to prepare yourself another plan. You mostly would go back to Step 3, look for the next best option, create a plan and go for it (which sadly is your other friend's plan).

6. Prepare for the worst - This is something that hits me a lot (and most likely to you too). As good as it is to have a Plan B, often times, there aren't even plans that can be push through at all. At times if a plan is cancelled, then the whole outing or party is cancelled. What's worst, they might go to another person's plan. You are left exhausted, unappreciated, which leads us to...

7. If #6 happens, don't plan anymore - Look, it is always nice to plan, but if nothing really pushes trough, then hey, just be a good scout and follow whatever plan is made. You may not like it, but at least there isn't that much pressure on you if everything goes haywire (and I know you'll be hoping for that).

Two is company, three is a crowd. Four is just pushing hard. Go home.

Being a planner is never easy. It takes a lot of toll on you and sometimes, no plans even transpire. But the important this is to try, push through with it, and learn from it so that your next plan would be awesome. Planning is a hit and miss, but anyone can be good at it. Heck, you can even make it as a career. Just remember that planning takes a lot of thinking. Never believe in the saying "that most plans that push through are not plans at all." That's #YOLO. So go and take all these tips to be a successful planner, who knows, it MIGHT just be good enough to be a success.

A more "magnificent" planner than you.

5 *Realistic and Reachable* New Year's Resolution for 2015

It's already January 8. Good thing "make new year's resolution on time" is not on my new year's resolution.

New Year's resolutions are actually quite tricky. Year by year you are able to think of things you want to change in your life, and yet you still find yourself doing the same things all over again. If you are one of those people that can't seem to live by with the resolutions you make, chances are you're not trying anymore nowadays. Hey I can't blame you. Last time I wrote was still way back 2011 and even then the resolutions I made didn't make sense. So before 2014 ended, I thought to myself "Why do people keep making glorified resolutions when half of it they can't barely keep up?" "Why can't they just DO something that they THINK they can do?!" I still feel that its good to make new year's resolution, so after some meditating, here are the most realistic and reachable resolutions you can have for 2015:

Everyone in the world is messed-up in their own way. A change is something that we all need. Yeah, no excuses buddy.

1. Eating just the "enough" amount of food for you

Okay, I think you can agree on me on this one -- "FOOD IS LOVE". It's something that we can't easily avoid. If there is food that we want to eat, hey #YOLO, go ahead and eat whatever you want. But unless you have the metabolism of Superman, you're probably one those folks who have a big bun in front of you. Look, to say that you should diet is actually a 2nd Tier-level of commitment. So, if you're just a regular joe who's not yet ready to beast up, then just eat what is enough. Some people start off by limiting their rice (or any carbs you are really into). Drink more water as well to help you get full easily and stick more with fruits. If you feel that you're full, that's it. The important thing here is that you don't go beyond on what you're suppose to intake in a day. You're doing your body a huge favor and probably by due time you can go and fulfill the diet you usually tell yourself that you can accomplish (oh you big fat liar you).

2. Do physical activities regularly

Sex. Yeah there I said it. Do as much sex as you like (unless you are still studying or below the right age then no, stop reading this blog and go read a book or something). Okay, to explain this R-18 resolution, its not more of the sex, its about doing physical activities (and I think you can agree that it is -- unless you're still a virgin then I suggest you watch a video or something). To eat properly is right, but it is important for our body to sweat from time to time. Play sports, go exercise, lift weights, do some gardening, clean your house, be late from time to time so that you'll have the need to run to work, just do make sure that you can do physical activities to trim down the big bun in front of you. Every one knows that an exercise here and there is good for the body. It's either you work your ass off or you die young. And no, to sweat under the sun isn't counted, so go out there MOVE!!! 

3. Save a specific amount of money

When you usually say "I'm going to save up money for next year.", it only gives you a reason to make excuses such us "I don't really know how much I'll save so I'll just spend money for the mean time." The idea here is "to have a goal". If you aren't that particular with your expenses, then it's time to have a certain purpose. Now, it can mean a lot of things. You might want to save up for the future or you might want to save up for a particular event or gadget. Whatever it is, always have a certain goal so that you'll have a certain amount of money to save up. It could be the hundreds, thousands or millions but whatever you may be earning now, work around on your budget and achieve that goal. It gives you a better perspective then just to say "I'll save up money". I can say I'll save a cat from the tree, but I can always say I'll do it tomorrow right? DO IT TODAY! Save 10,000 cats!!!

4. Learn or develop something new

Humans are pieces of meat that has infinite capabilities of doing extraordinary things. Since little children we have been taught a lot of things up until we grew up to being adults. But most of us stop learning from there. Most teachers limit themselves to teacher things, nurses to nursing things, carpenters to carpenter things, porn stars to... porn things. You get the point. We can't just limit ourselves in a particular type, we need to grow, develop new things. If you're a police, hey, try to learn potting and who knows, you can now make pots that you can use for target practice. If you're a doctor and you want to dance gracefully then go ahead, learn ballet and tip toe yourself around the busy hallways of the hospital. Again, develop something within you. Learn something new. Go to Youtube or read whatever, just don't be you forever. Be a much better and talented you!

5. Motivate yourself to be a better you

At this point, you might have realized that the resolution above are something basic and you can still add up on it. True, you can always make your own set of resolutions for the new year. Like I said earlier, it's easy to make one but it's quite challenging to do. But all of those talk about changing and doing things won't really be possible if you don't push yourself in actually doing it. You need to find it in you to motivate yourself in actually seeking that change in your life because plans can be cancelled and ignored. This is actually the hardest part and something not on most people's resolution list. Mind you, this is not a goal but a mindset. If you can motivate yourself, you can do anything (well not really anything but you can now accomplish your new year's resolution).

A good friend of mind pointed out that you can always deny yourself with the changes that you want, eating right, losing weight, improving yourself, it tends to be easy. But when you surpass the doubts, the mountains that you need to climb, then by the end of this year you can pretty much say that "Wow, resolutions actually work!" Yeah it does. We just live with procrastinating lazy people. Which in a way is okay since the world has always been like that. But we only have one life, and at some point we are just going to be dirt. Might as well be an amazing dirt right? So there, those are the realistic and reachable new year's resolution that you can set for 2015. It guarantees result because c'mon, its as basic as it gets. Whatever happens to you by the end of this year, just promise yourself that you are going to try, and who knows, you MIGHT just become a somebody. Happy New Year you future dirt you!

We can always start fresh anytime. But hey, January is usually the best time I guess.