Pam Alison Knits

I am not a fan of anthropomorphism, though it is a delightful word. I don’t need to attribute human characteristics to my possessions. I don’t even name them beyond any convention the manufacturer has designated. This doesn’t mean I am cold and unemotional about the things I own: I love them deeply, I just feel that names are for animate objects such as people or pets. I can therefore proffer no explanation for the way in which I have started referring to my Vista Blue Finsbury as “Bluebird”. This happened without conscious thought and before I even moved into the binder. I am at a loss as to why the name should be required, but it’s here and I’m having to deal with it. Bluebird it is, and Bluebird is going to be my everyday Filofax companion through Quadrimester 2.

The next four months are going to be very difficult to plan. Restructuring at work means the future of my job role is unclear, and my year’s plans were based on being in full-time employement. As June begins, I have two very different potential paths standing ahead of me and there are limits to the control I have over which path I take.

That said, the effect on Bluebird will be minimal because I focus on short-term plans in my close companion Filofax. I’ve already printed out my monthly horoscope summaries and these live in the first section of the Filofax. When it comes to the diary, I have filled in broad brushstrokes for the entire four months. These include my 9-day fortnight work schedule (so I know which week I get my day off) and any annual leave booked. Mostly, though, the 4-month “planning” is around birthdays, holidays and celebration days. These are not linked to a workplace and most of them will be unchanged under any circumstances. It could be argued that the countdown to my retirement could become irrelevant in terms of how many more weeks I have to work, but then it would also work as a countdown to when I expect to receive my pension. To augment these top-level items, I add more granular plans on a weekly basis, filling them in on a Friday night and fleshing them out each day. A sudden change from work to “early retirement” would not have a huge impact on these routines.

The rest of my plans live in my two Filofax project notebooks. “Pam Allison Scribbles” is set up to urge me towards a regular creative writing routine and keep me on track with that aspect of life. I have a week to view insert in a horizonal format in this book, helping me to focus on creative writing with the aim of it effectively becoming a part-time job. When I retire, I hope to earn some money from writing to eke out my pensions; indeed, I have been looking at my retirement as a move from a formal work regime to a life of creative work. I’ll only manage this if I map out what I intend to do, and put some strategies in place to keep me on the path.

The main item I’m currently concentrating on is a month-long writing challenge run by The National Centre for Writing. This was supposed to run in May, but was postponed by a month due to technical issues. I see this very much as an opportunity to kick-start a regular writing schedule and jolt my imagination back into life. I was disappointed not to be able to do it through May, but in the end all the kerfuffle around the workplace reorganisation would have got in the way. Hopefully June will be better.

The second project notebook has the happy title “Come the glorious day” and holds my retirement planning using the week to view vertical insert. Quadrimester 1 was an opportunity to gather information and check facts around pensions I am due. I also put in a fair bit of thought around things it makes sense to stockpile whilst I have a regular income. As the future of my current job is likely to consume June and July, I think it’s likely to be August before I resume my planning here. By that point there will be things which need to be sorted regardless of the state of my work life – making sure everything is in place for me to receive my pensions when I hit the milestone birthday. I know when I reach for this notebook I’m going into future-proofing mode. Of my three planners, this is the one I use the least, but it’s the one that is tracking the most important information. It’s likely to become much more to the forefront as we head towards Quadrimester 3.

It is tempting to look at a big change, or a period of uncertainty, and ask why bother to plan when you can’t see what’s coming? The key thing to bear in mind is that planning should not lead to inflexibility. A plan is just some ink on paper. If circumstances change, plans can be adapted. The very worst that can happen in planning terms is that we have to rip up our pages and start again. That is no hardship; indeed, it can be cathartic to let go of a future which will no longer work and write a new one. I think that a strong planning system can make it easier to cope with change because it allows us to clearly see where we were heading, and what impact the change of circumstances will make on the destination, the route, or both. In an unsettled period it can be helpful to see some things, however small, that we can still control. Just having the physical presence of a planner such as Bluebird can help to ground us, to calm our minds, and to reassure us that things pass but the future is still there. June and July might be very chaotic, but if we look forward to September we may find we are through the worst of the uncertainty and are facing Quadrimester 3 with a renewed sense of purpose.