Man, May 2023, what a month that was shaping up to be. As a Virgo, you know, my brain just screams “PLAN!” at every little thing. But sometimes, even for folks like us, life throws so many wrenches you just stare at the calendar feeling totally lost. That was pretty much me right before May hit. Everything felt like a big jumble, work stuff, personal goals, family bits – all just swirling around in my head without any real order.
I remember sitting down one evening, absolutely fed up with the mental chaos. I thought, “Alright, enough is enough. Virgo Monthly May 2023: Plan! This ain’t just a title, it’s a command.” So, I grabbed my old beat-up notebook, the one with the coffee stains, and a pen that was almost out of ink. First thing I did was just write down “MAY” in big, messy letters at the top of a fresh page. It felt like declaring war on disorganization, in a good way.
Getting the Chaos onto Paper
My first step? A complete brain dump. I just let everything spill out. Every little task, every big ambition, every nagging thought for May. “Finish that report.” “Call mom.” “Fix the leaky faucet.” “Start exercising again.” “Read that book.” “Figure out what to get for Jim’s birthday.” “Clean out the garage.” You name it, it went on the page. It looked like a crazy person’s grocery list, honestly. Just lines and lines of random stuff, no order, no priority. Just raw data from my overloaded brain.
Once I felt like my head was empty – or at least emptier – I started to bring some method to the madness. I drew big circles and started categorizing. I remember making headings like Work Projects, Home Chores & Maintenance, Personal Growth & Health, and Social & Family. Then I went through that monstrous list and started assigning each item to a circle. It was like sorting laundry, but for my life. This part was surprisingly satisfying. Seeing “fix faucet” move into “Home Chores” felt like a tiny victory.
Breaking It Down and Scheduling It Out
After everything was sorted into its main categories, I started breaking things down. “Finish that report” wasn’t enough. I broke it into “Gather data for report,” “Draft intro,” “Write main body,” “Review and edit.” Same for “Start exercising again” – I turned it into “Find a workout plan,” “Buy new shoes,” “Schedule first three runs.” Suddenly, these big, intimidating tasks didn’t seem so overwhelming anymore because they were just a series of smaller, doable steps.
Then came the heavy lifting: assigning actual days and times. I opened up my digital calendar, but I still prefer a physical one for this initial planning phase. I literally drew out the month of May, week by week, day by day. I started plugging in the non-negotiables first: recurring meetings, appointments, specific deadlines. These were the anchors. Then, I began slotting in those broken-down tasks. I tried to be realistic. I knew I couldn’t cram “clean out the garage” and “write main body of report” on the same Saturday and expect to keep my sanity. I learned that lesson the hard way too many times.
I also factored in a bit of wiggle room. Life happens, right? So, I didn’t schedule every single minute. I left some empty blocks for unexpected stuff or just, you know, breathing. This was a hard habit to build, as my Virgo brain wants to fill every second, but it’s crucial for not burning out.
Dealing with the Reality Check
As I went along, I hit snags. Of course, I did. My initial brain dump for May was way too ambitious for a single human being. I had to face the reality that some things just weren’t going to get done in May. That’s where the prioritizing came in. I looked at each category and asked myself, “What absolutely HAS to happen?” and “What would be nice to do, but isn’t critical?” I had to be okay with moving some items to June, or even later. It felt a bit like admitting defeat, but really, it was just being smart. Better to do a few things well than try to do everything and do nothing properly.
I used different colored pens too – green for work, blue for home, red for personal, black for social. It made the whole thing visually less intimidating and easier to scan. By the end of it, my notebook page for May wasn’t just a list; it was a roadmap. It wasn’t perfect, nothing ever is, but it was my plan. It gave me a clear picture of what was ahead, what I needed to focus on, and perhaps most importantly, what I didn’t need to worry about right then.
Walking away from that planning session, I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. The mental clutter was gone, replaced by a sense of direction. It wasn’t about perfectly executing every single item, but about having a game plan. Knowing where I was going, even if the path got a little bumpy, made all the difference. That May, things still went wrong, as they always do, but I felt prepared for it. I had a foundation, and that, my friends, is what planning is all about for me.
